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The Healing House offers up-to-date knowledge and educational resources for helping professionals in the field, study and practice of self-injury.
Consultation services include a comprehensive model of care, an examination of major theoretical underpinnings of self-injury and support services for those who work with self-injurers. The training seminars have been designed for nurses, social- workers, mental health workers, doctors and administration personnel connected with hospitals, community service agencies and private practitioners.
Community Connections is a new service that brings understanding and education to community groups, schools and organizations. The primary objective is increasing the public’s awareness and sensitivity to self-injury and its sufferers.
This following contains information designed to familiarize you with basic self-injury information and helpful way’s to conceptualize this clinical phenomenon.
Professional Training Goals
·To promote safety and support in working with people who self-injure and to encourage appropriate support and educational resources for workers in this field.
·To provide a forum for discussion and the sharing of information, ideas, services and literature about the treatment of self-injury.
·To provide ongoing community resources for those working in the practice and study of self-injury and deliver the most up to date knowledge, experience and clinical expertise.
Self-Injury: The facts
Self-harm isn’t a failed suicide attempt.
Sometimes people injure themselves because they want to die. But often, it’s more about staying alive. People may hurt themselves to help them get through a bad time. It’s a way to cope.
People self-harm in different ways.
Some cut their arms or legs; others bang or bruise their bodies. Self-harm also includes burning, scratching, hair pulling, scrubbing, or anything that causes injury to the body. Some people take tablets, perhaps not a big overdose, but enough to blot things out for a while.
It doesn’t mean you’re crazy.
All sorts of people self-injure, even people in high-powered jobs. It’s a sign that something is bothering and upsetting you, not that you are mad.
Lots of people self-harm.
You may not have met anyone else who self-harms and may even think you are the only one who does it. There’s a lot of secrecy about self-harm. But millions of people cope in this way.
It’s not ‘just attention-seeking’.
People self-harm because they are in pain and trying to cope. They could also be trying to show that something is wrong. They need to be taken seriously.
It can happen once, or many times.
Some people attempt suicide or hurt themselves just once or twice. Other people use self-injury to cope over a long time. They might inure themselves quite often during bad times.
People do stop self-injury.
People stop self-injury.
They sort their problems out and find other ways of managing their feelings. For some people it might take a long time and they might need help for years. For others, needed intervention comes at the right time extinguishing the behavior more rapidly. It is most important to know that people do get better.
Other things can be ‘self-injury’ too.
Things like starving, overeating, drinking too much, risk-taking, smoking and many others are also types of ‘self-injury’. Some coping methods (like burying yourself in work) may be more socially acceptable, but can still be harmful.
If you or someone you know has any questions regarding consultation or self-injury please call The Healing House for free and confidential assistance.
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