Cast Your Vote for Self Injury Support This March in Honour of Self Injury Awareness Day

Self Injury Support aims to improve the support and knowledge available around self injury. Supporting women and girls affected by self injury, the charity provides safe, non-judgemental spaces where individuals will be listened to, as well as tools and information, and training for health and social care workers to ensure better models of support. Additionally, they work with researchers and policymakers to ensure that any feedback from the people they support is put into practice.

How Do Self Injury Support Work Towards Their Vision?

The charity’s vision is for anyone who uses self injury to know that they are not alone, for everyone to understand that self injury is a complex issue that needs to be talked about, and ultimately, tackling the causes and stigma around it. They work towards their vision in the following ways:

Support Service: They provide a UK wide, multi channel support service for women and girls who have been affected by self injury, accessible by text, webchat, email or phone. 

Information & Self Help Tools: Self Injury Support has a library of up to date, free resources that are accessible to everyone. This includes a self help diary, information on distraction and alternatives, and support for getting help. 

Training & Consultancy: The charity shares their knowledge and expertise with staff, in particular those working in education and health and social care. Self Injury Support also offers consultancy for individuals and organisations who work with those using self injury. This includes policy development, skills development and emotional resilience sessions, as well as bespoke resources.

Additionally, they partner with researchers and other organisations in order to find out from those with lived experience of self injury what methods of support and information they find most helpful.

The Charity’s Impact

Since 1988, Self Injury Support has supported women and girls in distress by offering education and information on self injury on the reasons behind it, as well as the best practice when it comes to support.

• Since 2013, they have responded to over 91,000 texts, emails and web chat messages from those in need of support.
• In 2017, the charity have supported 65% of clients to reduce or stop using self injury altogether. 
• In 2017, they also trained over 200 health, education and social care staff to help provide better support for those affected by self injury.

While Self Injury Support gets funding from a number of sources, such as one-off grants from charitable trusts and government agencies, it's also through additional support from individuals and organisations that the charity can continue providing vital support to women and girls affected by self injury, as well as helping to reduce stigma and improve understanding. 

In honour of Self Injury Awareness Day on the 1st March, we are delighted to be supporting Self Injury Support in this month's charity poll. Cast your vote for them this March and help the charity continue providing their vital support to women and girls affected by self injury. 

Find out more about the charity by visiting their website: https://www.selfinjurysupport.org.uk/.