New Signs of Self-Injury prevention program
teaches high school students how to recognize and respond to the signs of
self-injury in themselves or a friend
You open an envelope, accidentally slice your thumb, and shake your hand in
pain. While you rue the cut, there are others who self-inflict cuts, burns,
hair pulls and punches. And they do it on purpose. They do this not to cause
pain, but to escape it.
Each year, hundreds of young people deliberately hurt themselves. A recent Brown
University survey of high school students revealed 46 percent had injured
themselves in the past year on multiple occasions. Moreover, the incidence of
self-injury has increased in the U.S. during the last five years.
Self-injury is defined as deliberately harming one’s body, usually without
suicidal intent, in order to reduce psychological distress. Common examples
include cutting, burning, picking, and self-hitting.
To address this problem, Screening for Mental Health®, is launching
the new Signs of Self-Injury prevention program, designed to tackle self-injury
in the high school environment. The program uses principles of modeling to
teach youth to recognize the signs of distress, in either themselves or a
friend, and to respond effectively using the ACT® approach
(Acknowledge, Care, and Tell).
The goal of this school-based prevention program is to train students to
recognize the problem and empower them to intervene when a friend is in
distress. Simultaneously, the program lets students who self-injure know where
they should turn within the school system and provides comforting reassurance
that a request for help will not be ignored.
“Self-injury has raised a lot of questions among school professionals,
particularly in terms of how to tackle the problem without causing more harm.
By teaching both school personnel and students how to help and direct those in
need to the appropriate treatment resources, the Signs of Self-Injury
prevention program can start to effectively address some of these questions,”
said Barent Walsh, PhD, executive director of the Bridge of Central
Massachusetts and an expert on self-injury.
Schools that order the new Signs of Self-Injury prevention program will receive
an implementation guide that includes step-by-step instructions, staff training
materials, educational resources, lesson plans, and templates. Also included in
the guide are reproducible self-assessment forms for students, guidelines to
plan a parent training and the SITBI-short (Structured Interview Assessment for
Clinical Professionals) form.
Along with the implementation guide, the new program comes with the Signs of
Self-Injury educational DVD and discussion guide, which includes training and
educational segments for high school personnel and students. These tools are
targeted for use by students, school staff and parents, but can be adapted to
many educational or clinical environments where groups of adolescents are under
the care of adults.
To learn more about the Self-Injury Program and/or to register, go to
https://gold-barracuda-130963.hostingersite.com/selfinjury or call 781.239.0071 or
email [email protected]