Know a Young Person Who Self Harms? This App Might Help
While self-help is no substitute for professional support, digital tools can enable young people to channel overwhelming emotions into something less harmful.
The Samaritans define self-harm as ‘any deliberate act of self-poisoning or self-injury without suicidal intent’, and a worrying number of young people are doing it. Hospitalisations of nine to 12-year-olds because of self-injury has doubled in the last six years, while doctors are reportedly seeing self-harm in children as young as ten.
Estimates show that around a quarter of 14-year-olds self-harm. But these figures are just that — estimates. The true number is, unfortunately, much higher. Statistics rely on people coming forward, yet so many people will never seek help. This isn’t much of a surprise, since self-harm is still often treated as taboo; something to be ashamed of.
While it would be reductive to suggest that Covid-19 has caused a spike in self-harm cases, lockdown and a lack of access to NHS support have caused many people to relapse. Myself included.
Relapses are terrifying because it can feel as if all of that time in recovery has been wiped away like a smudge on the lens. But it hasn’t. Urges can be overwhelming, and sometimes we have a wobble and give in. That’s OK.
