Self-Harm Awareness Day
Hi everyone :)
If you haven't heard already, tomorrow is self-harm awareness day!
No, that doesn't mean you have to bring it up in every single conversation you have - it just means you should try to do your bit for raising awareness of it. An estimated 13% of teenagers are said to have self-harmed (or still do), although that figure could be higher as many teenagers don't open up about it.
Self-harm is an increasing issue, and one that is being largely ignored by many in society and media.
It has a lot of stigma surrounding it, and has become a "taboo" topic in social interactions. Self-harm awareness day is all about trying to break down those barriers and make it a more open topic, so that people feel more comfortable talking about it and admitting to it (if they self-harm).
There's lots of ways you can try and do your bit - a Facebook status, a tweet (use our hashtag #imfineslashimnot ), a conversation in class or with friends/family, a blog entry (like this one) or any other way you want to say: "Hey! This is self-harm, not something to be scared about!"
After all, we can't help people effectively if they're scared to admit because of stigma and judgement. Let's try and make tomorrow a productive day.
It's time we talked more and judged less.