The Somerset Youth Forum met over Zoom in autumn 2023 to discuss why Somerset young people self-harm, and do they have the right support?
The group considered:
- Where do you come across self-harm?
- What can you do when you spot it?
- What support is there in schools, colleges and the community?
Young people in the group discussed that the biggest cause of self-harm is down to poor mental health and these mental health issues can take the form of depression, not being understood, and pressures at home or school.
Download an read the full presentation from the Somerset Youth Forum HERE
Past traumas can also manifest physically by self-harm. When young people don’t feel in control of parts of their lives, they may self-harm as a way of taking back control. It’s a difficult topic to talk about, but the participants handled it really well.
“Certain pressures from home, maybe parents not supporting them the way that they should or putting academic pressures on them. And they’re not aware of where they can go to for help or what help there is.”
“Sometimes people are in abusive situations, and no one sees the consequences of that, so it’s showing physically the mental harm that they’ve had.”
Somerset Youth Forum members
Most young people were aware of self-harm taking place in their school, college and community, and had been seeing an increase in it. They had seen an escalation in types of self-harm, moving from one form to another – for example, cutting themselves leads on to burning themselves, drug use or unsafe sex.
“There’s a cycle around friendship groups taking on responsibility instead of a member of staff. I see that a lot, young people find it easier to talk to a peer rather than a member of staff because if you talk to a member of staff you have to go through official channels and it’s got to be done all by the book.”
Somerset Youth Forum members
Download an read the full presentation from the Somerset Youth Forum HERE
