What is Self-harm?

Self-harm is when you harm yourself on purpose. It is important to recognise that self-harm doesn’t indicate that you want to die, there are a number of reasons why people self-harm. You may choose to self-harm as a way to release feelings and cope with a situation. It can be difficult to talk about and you may feel you’ll struggle to break the cycle of self-harm but, it can get easier and finding the right help is important.

You may be experiencing some personal stuff that impacts your ability to cope and self-harm feels like the only option to relieve those feelings. It is common and it’s important to get to the root of why you are self-harming first, it is a temporary relief and there are other ways that can help you cope.

We want to emphasize that you should speak to someone to make sure you get the right help you need, particularly as self-harm is usually the result of something else going on.