Watch the video above


Then work through the section below

Audio and text only versions available below

Hear

What are the young people saying to you here?

Make a note of what they are telling you, or asking you to do, in your own words.

Reflect

  • Each experience of self harm is different and the young people want their unique experience to be heard

  • Often, we become reactive because we find listening to the experience challenging

  • If we can slow down and listen, we model that “sitting with” distress and uncertainty is possible.

Respond

  • Take time to listen to the experience of self-harm

  • Don’t talk young people out of their feelings

  • Show the young person that it is possible to sit with difficult feelings

Audio only version

"I guess franticness, that’s the best way to describe it"
"Everything’s just going 1000 miles per hour"
"When it all goes away everything comes back"

  • “I guess franticness, that’s the best way to describe it"

    "Everything’s just going 1000 miles per hour and it’s really hard to concentrate on anything else"

    "When it all goes away everything comes back so you use it more and more"