Hi all ~

I am here with hopes of obtaining an understanding to the act of self-injury.
Although I do not resort to the act myself, I do know a few youths who do. All are online contacts who contact me for occassional support, as I am far older..and they feel comfy confiding in me, which I not only think is great, but am honored by.

I do my best to be supportive, attempt to direct them to addressing these issues with their parents, or seeking counselling (whether privately, or through school), I feel that because of my ignorance of self-injury I cannot provide them with enough understanding TO be of more help to them.

Many, if not ALL of these youths express to me that addressing their parents is simply out of the question, each having their own reason. And because they are all online contacts, I am extremely limited with the help I have to offer.

So, I thought I'd take a different approach and seek out understanding from the sources itself, thus my request from all of you, to hopefully explain to me the causes, reasons, circumstances, how you deal with it, and what resources you take to cope with preventions?

I am trying to encourage as many of these youths to join this forum as another resouce for them to hopefully find some means of relief, as well as to encourage them to use the chat sessions. I'm hoping that with the help of y'all it will provide me that lil extra leverage of understanding TO encourage them to join.
So far, 2 of the youths have joined...I'm hoping to recruit others as well.

I have done some reading about self-injury, which I have found somewhat helpful, however, I have discovered that direct responses through this site, (even regarding my own personal issues), have provided me with a much more in-depth understanding...which I hope to pass onto these youths.

Thank you all for any help you may offer me.

Shangrala