Self Harm Awareness in Schools?

[beebs]

Something ive been thinking about alot recently is how little ive learnt about self harm/depression at school, i am in year 10 and have had a few 'life skills' lessons about depression but nothing about self harm.

I really think the teachers and other pupils at my school should know and understand more about the issue. Alot of other pupils make jokes about self harm, and obviously i dont find it funny and i think its just going to put other people from seeking help when they have similar problems.

Ive been trying to think of how i can improve this, the only ideas i have are maybe seeking permission to put posters around the school...

(bear in mind my friend recently got permission to put Gay Pride posters up and the pupils reacted badly, pulling them down and generally talking about how they thinks its wrong, basically showing there homophobia)

Any ideas/comments about this would be lovely?

[ImCoolBeans]

Last year (grade 11, in the US) we had a unit on depression in health which lightly touched on self harm. I agree that it should be something that more people are aware of, including teachers. I recommend speaking to your health teacher about it and asking about how it could be incorporated into the curriculum and if they agree with you. If he or she does, you could have your teacher bring it up to the department head or whoever else may be in charge of the curriculum and propose that it be added in.

[beebs]

we don't have a 'health teacher', im not even too sure what that is...

[UnknownError]

We had a unit in P.S.E on mental illness and they talked about self harm for like 2 minutes but it was just awkward.

[DerBear]

In Scotland we get something called PSE which stands for Personal Social Education. We covered self harming slightly in deepth and by this I mean we did 2 hours of being talked too about it and it was brought up throughout the year when we did work on Depression and Stress.

I think it needs to be tought more in high schools from around the age of 13.

[xXl0sth0peXx]

In Scotland we get something called PSE which stands for Personal Social Education. We covered self harming slightly in deepth and by this I mean we did 2 hours of being talked too about it and it was brought up throughout the year when we did work on Depression and Stress.

I think it needs to be tought more in high schools from around the age of 13.

That's the most I've ever heard of a school talking about it. I'm impressed. Props to your school.

My school doesn't touch on it at all, and I think they should. It's a topic that probably more people at the school struggle with than they know, and it'd be a good class topic for the people who don't.

@ the op - unfortunately, your school sounds like it's full of pricks (no offense). Posters or having a teacher do a lesson on it is probably the only way. But it sounds like posters wouldn't go over well. Maybe talk with some kind of teacher who might be able to work something like that into her plans.

[Rayquaza]

We touched on it in PSHE last year. Biggest fucking trigger I've ever come across.

Although they did touch on it, I think they should actually teach it. It would be a good idea to tell people that there are other ways of coping, rather than finding out the hard way and leaving their body to slowly deteriorate.

[Whiskey-Lullaby]

Nope, never.
Not once did they mention it. So kids at my school are FULL of misconceptions about S-H.
If only I had known it would turn into an addiction before the first time...

[workingatperfect]

My school never even talked about mental health in health class. It was talked about in Psychology class, but just depression and anxiety, not self harm or anything.

[CyanideGoodnight]

My school did all the main stuff with self harm and eating disorders when I was in 7th or 6th grade. Then you have to take health again (kinda sorta) in 9th or 10th grade but sometimes people take it 11th grade but they only touch on eating disorders and alcoholism with that.

I think you should talk to a teacher or principal about getting this worked into any program you have because it should be touched on more than it is.

[VictoriaGotaSecret]

All my health teacher might have done was mention self harm

[FullyAlive]

I might be wrong but I don't think it's ever come up. We do stress and depression etc and ways to cope in our PSHE lessons but self harm specifically isn't ever mentioned.

I think I'm one of the few who don't think it's a good idea to be taught in schools, yes I would agree teachers need to be more aware but for it to be given class time would just create awkwardness for those suffering from it but also I think it would cause a rise in the number of teenagers self harming. If they were feeling depressed and told that self harm is a way some people escape their depression I honestly feel like they might try it at least once and that just wouldn't be a good thing. (I know most people will probably disagree)

[Fiction]

We had a 2 days PSHCE (Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education) "conference" that lasted for two days in year 8. We had counsellors come into talk to us about coping which pretty much hinted at depression as far as I remember, and we had a woman come in who talked about eating disorders and self-harm for about 30 mins I think, but that was it. At the time I didn't self-harm, so it didn't bother me, but i'd hate it if when I was at my worst they'd have said anything about it. I would have gone red then been convinced everyone knew I did it because i'd gone red. I still get panicky when that type of thing is mentioned (It gets mentioned in Psychology sometimes) and i've stopped apart from the odd urge. So I think it would just make it difficult for the people who do self-harm, and I don't think any amount of awareness would have stopped me doing it, it would probably have made it seem more mainstream and acceptable.

[Ashleigh]

In my last year of high school I organised a non-uniform day in aid of the indigo project - a group of people who support self harmers. While a few people at school knew about my little problem with sh the majority did not. I put half the year into my campaign sent out a presentation to every student and teacher to be shown in tutorial and put posters up around the school. I even did an assembly on it to the whole year. While a few people were keen to broaden their minds and learn about it in tutorial a friend who didn't know stood up when my presentation was being shown and yelled out "oh great so I paid today to help attention seeking emos I want my money back!". I realised that day people are ignorant and will forever remain so as long as they have narrow minds.

[jayyy-lmao]

I think it needs to be taught more in schools. In my school, it's just not mentioned. The teachers are afraid to teach it, as they think it will shatter the illusion of a perfect life parents have shown their children.

[Harley Quinn]

Personally, I don't think it should be taught. Most self harmers find out about self harm awareness and other things by themselves. Teaching it in schools will just lead to a higher trigger rate and the amount of teens that do end up cutting, will increase. I have had self harm awareness taught at my school, yet it did more harm than good. I think it's better if you personally talk to someone in school, if you need that help that is. Anyway, with this changing society also, most teachers do understand that teenagers aren't 'happy' and that there is problems. They're human too you know, it's not like they don't care. They are trained to deal with these issues, recently schools did do a training day where they had mental illnesses' as a discussion topic. They are well aware. I just don't think it should be taught, support should be shown yes, taught no.

[UnknownError]

In Scotland we get something called PSE which stands for Personal Social Education. We covered self harming slightly in deepth and by this I mean we did 2 hours of being talked too about it and it was brought up throughout the year when we did work on Depression and Stress.

I think it needs to be tought more in high schools from around the age of 13.

Same, except my PSE teacher only talked about it for like 3 mins during the mental health unit.

[Desuetude]

The only thing I've seen in my school to do with self harm is that it can be an affect of being bullied and that was on a movie maker I made for anti-bullying week. We haven't done anything on depression, self harm or mental health for that matter in lessons, not even in PSE last year. Whether they think we're too young or they don't understand themselves I don't know. When creating the movie maker I was told that there were things I couldn't include due to triggering some of the students and I know some of my teachers understand so I don't think school is all that bad. It's just a bit of a touchy subject people don't always know how to approach, especially with children.