[Jamie21]

my biological dad has been around for about 2 years
he has only seen me with long selves on he don't know that i self injure
i don't know how to approach the subject without upsetting him also my mum thinks i have stopped doing it the last time i self injured was a week ago
dont want him to have a heart attack because av told him this

Your parents are a lot stronger than you give them credit for. Yes it will hurt them. It's their job as parents to feel the pain you are going through. If you really want to get help for this, open up to them. They will stand beside you.

[Bewilderbeest]

Is there a trusted third party that can help you tell them? I knew nothing about SI until my daughter told me that she had been harming herself - at the time she had quit for about 5 months, so she was not active, but even then it was not easy to hear. I think it helped a lot because we had a meeting with her and her youth pastor.

As someone who completely did not understand, it took a while to comprehend that SI isn't about suicide at all. I'd bet your father might have that misconception, so I would advise that you start off explaining that.

Regardless, Chaotic's advice above is still sound.

[Achy Turtle Armor]

I agree that the hardest part for my family to understand was that my SI was not a suicide attempt.