About Us
This is a new and innovative service for young self-harmers providing information, support and suggestions. These web pages were put together and designed by a number of people, including young people who self-harm.
- 170,000 people each year
attend A&E departments with self-inflicted injuries.
- 24,000 are teenagers.
- Many more people are thought
not to access help and support for fear of being
judged and dismissed
by those from who they seek help.
- Many of these people are
young people.
What is self-harm?
Self harm is any form of physical injury we deliberately do to ourselves.
Why self-harm?
Self-harm is a way of coping. Most people who self-harm
say they feel overwhelmed by painful and disturbing
feelings or are frightened that they might be. Often
these feeling come from traumatic experiences people
have had in the past. Sometimes it's in response to
what's happening now. It is when people remember them
or are reminded of them (sometimes called triggered) that people are flooded by these terrifying feelings. People
say that self-harming provides a sense of relief from
these feelings. Some people describe it as a way of
making their feelings on the inside visible on the outside.
Other people say they feel numb and cut off from their
feelings and that when they self-harm they feel something
again. This too can be a relief.
The relief
sadly tends to be short lived and can come at a price.
People often say they feel extremely guilty and ashamed
of self-harming. These feelings of shame and guilt can
lead to people self-harming again and people can feel
trapped in a cycle of self-harm.
This can make people feel very hopeless.
However people have found and continue to find alternatives to self -harming. As people try to feel better about themselves, struggle to accept their wish to self-harm and try some of these alternatives, often they start to feel more hopeful.
By reading this, you have already started.
What's New Horizons about?
At the start of the project young people attending the project said what they wanted was:
- Information, support and
help on self-harming
- Alternatives to self harming
- Getting in contact with other
people like them
So,
we came up with these.
New
Horizons Handbook >
This is a
guide to services for people who self-harm. There will
be ones we have missed and we really want to hear about
them. Please let us know so that we can keep the handbook
up to date. Again we hope that you find the services
helpful. They don't however come with the endorsement
of Islington MIND, though we have made every effort
to check them out. We really want your feedback,
both good and bad. If your experiences were not good
we can look at removing them from the Handbook.
Leisure
Lounge >
Explore our
Leisure Lounge and hang out with Lisa and James. Check
out all the different things you can do when you aren't
feeling too good by searching round the room with your
computer's mouse. Click on the links you discover to
find out what's out there.
Though we
spent ages looking for these websites and checking them
out, they don't come with the endorsement of Islington
MIND. That's why we really want your feedback
on anything you find, good or bad. If their bad, we
can take them off our pages.
Peer
support group
Meets every Wednesday from 2-3.30pm.
The group
is a chance to meet up with other young people who self-harm
and talk about what ever you want. Sometimes this might
be about what's causing you grief, or might be who you
want to win X-factor. It's up to you. To find out more about the group, where and when it happens and how to
come along click here
for contact details.
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