Support Students Who Self-Harm: 8 Ideas That Work

Finding out a young person is hurting themselves can leave you frightened, upset or baffled. Many adults worry most about making it worse, so they say very little, or far too much.

You'll get eight practical ideas, none of which risk making things worse. The first is to listen without judgement: calm on the surface like a swan, even if you're paddling hard underneath. You'll learn to get curious about what the self-harm is doing for them, and to talk calmly about their injuries and help them keep wounds clean. You'll also learn to notice when your kindness at the moment of harm may be feeding the cycle. There's help with your own distress too, and with building small "I can" moments.

If you can't be the one to support them right now, that's all right. What matters is that you pass it on to someone who can.