For many students, university can be a time of loneliness, isolation and unfamiliarity. Often, students are moving away from home to a new place, surrounded by new people and new ways of living, leaving behind the comforts of home and what they know. It’s therefore not surprising that many also struggle with their mental health during this time. In particular, self-harm is used as a method of coping by around 20% of students (Sivertsen et al, 2019) and, of those, very few receive help for it (Gollust et al., 2008; Fitzgerald & Curtis, 2017). While this can be due to a lack of accessibility and availability of support (Thorley, 2017), another common reason is that many students don’t feel comfortable or able to ask for help for self-harm.
I recently interviewed students who have struggled with self-harm, and a common theme was the difficulty talking about it. One student even said that they felt able to discuss suicidal thoughts with a mental health professional, but not to talk about self-harm. This is consistent with research that has found that, of students who self-harmed and were receiving therapy, only half actually discussed self-harm with their therapist (Whitlock et al., 2008). So, what is it about self-harm that makes it so much harder to talk about than other mental health difficulties? The students who I interviewed had some ideas.
- Feelings of guilt around burdening friends and family, or about taking professional help away from others who they believed might need it more.
- Following on from the previous point, participants also mentioned not realising how much they were suffering, or how bad their self-harm had gotten. Some participants discussed having been in denial about their self-harm even being a problem.
- Self-harm not being well-understood by others. Some participants said they struggled to understand self-harm themselves, so wouldn’t expect others to understand it either. There were also concerns around it being misunderstood as a suicide attempt.
- The stigma associated with self-harm, for example not wanting to come across as an ‘attention seeker’ or being perceived in a negative way.
The interviews clearly highlighted some key barriers that people face in talking about self-harm. If you or somebody you know is struggling with self-harm and wants to seek support but is hesitant to take the first step, LifeSigns have put together a useful guide for ‘coming out’ with self-harm: https://www.lifesigns.org.uk/coming-out-with-si/
“There’s no denying it’s a very hard, nerve racking thing to do, but it’s also very validating, and can lead to feelings of relief and can develop into help and support. It is one of the first steps on your journey to move away from self-injury.”
While it is highly recommended that people struggling with self-harm seek professional support, it is understandably a difficult step to take. So, in the meantime, there are some great alternative sources of support that might be worth exploring.
Helplines:
Samaritans – 116 123
Samaritans are free to call, and are open 24/7, 365 days a year, and are there to support anybody with any problem: “People contact us with all sorts of concerns and what might be a small issue to you may be huge to someone else. You could be going through something new or have been struggling to cope for some time, either way, we’re here if you feel you need some extra support.”
Papyrus – 0800 068 4141
Papyrus offer HopeLineUK, a helpline for people under the age of 35 struggling with thoughts of suicide. They are open 9am – midnight 265 years a year and are free to call. “Are you, or is a young person you know, not coping with life? For confidential suicide prevention advice contact HOPELINEUK”
Self-Injury Support – 0808 800 8088
The Self-Injury Support Helpline is a free helpline specifically for women struggling with self-harm or supporting a loved one with self-harm. It is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 19:00-21:30. “Call us for free, confidential, non-judgemental emotional support around self-injury. You don’t have to be in crisis or distress at the time you call, and you can talk to us for up to half an hour each time we are open.”
CALM – 0800 58 58 58
The CALM helpline for men is open 17:00-Midnight 365 days a year and it is free to call. “Our helpline is for people in the UK who are down or have hit a wall for any reason, who need to talk or find information and support.”
Texting Services:
SHOUT – 85258
SHOUT is a free texting service that is available 24/7 and for a range of issues, including self-harm. “By texting the word ‘SHOUT’ to 85258 you will start a conversation with a trained Shout Volunteer, who will text you back and forth, sharing only what you feel comfortable with… Shout 85258 is a free and confidential text support service is there for moments when you are dealing with self-harm and need support to get to a calmer place.”
Self-Injury Support – 07537 432444
Self-injury support also offer a text service as well as their helpline, for women struggling with self-harm or supporting a loved one with self-harm. It is also open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 19:00-21:30. “All messages are answered by female volunteers who have received specialist training. If you don’t know how to start talking, just text “hello”. We reply to all messages. Our aim is to text back within half an hour during our opening times.”
Webchats:
CALM: https://www.thecalmzone.net/help/get-help/
The CALM webchat is open 17:00-Midnight 365 days a year and it is free. “Our webchat is for people in the UK who are down or have hit a wall for any reason, who need to talk or find information and support.”
Self-Injury Support: https://www.selfinjurysupport.org.uk/Pages/FAQs/Category/webchat-support
Self-injury support also offer a webchat for women struggling with self-harm or supporting a loved one with self-harm. It is also open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 19:00-21:30. “All messages are answered by female volunteers who have received specialist training. You don’t have to be in crisis or distress when you get in touch and you can talk to us for up to half an hour each time we are open. When we are open, please click on the sign/’click to start live chat’. If you don’t know how to start talking, just message “hello”.”
Websites:
On the below websites you will typically be able to find information about self-harm, self-help resources, personal stories, blogs and other resources.
Harmless: https://harmless.org.uk/
Self-Injury Support https://www.selfinjurysupport.org.uk/
The Tomorrow Project http://www.tomorrowproject.org.uk/
Self-Injury Self-Help https://sishbristol.org.uk/
SHOUT https://giveusashout.org/get-help/issues/help-self-harm/
Smartphone Applications:
Calm Harm: https://calmharm.co.uk/
This app is freely available for iOS and Android devices. It has passed certain safety checks to be listed on the NHS apps library (https://www.nhs.uk/apps-library/calm-harm/). It contains a range of activities lasting five or 15 minutes that aim to distract you, comfort you, help express your feelings, and find other ways of feeling ‘release’. Calm Harm reports good statistics indicating it is effective on their website, but it is worth noting that no clinical trials have taken place yet.
DistrACT: https://www.expertselfcare.com/health-apps/distract/
This app is freely available for iOS and Android devices. It has passed certain safety checks to be listed on the NHS apps library (https://www.nhs.uk/apps-library/distract/). It contains information about self-harm, self-help techniques, resources to make you feel better, and details of support services available. It is worth noting that no clinical trials have taken place yet.
