Girls Xpress! Self Injury / Harm Support | İlgi Alanları
Genel
1st March 2009
(wristbands sold at £1 each)
www.thewishcentre.org.uk
Support:
The group is a Self help and Support group. This means you need to be ready to help yourself. We are not a counselling service.
We offer one to one support with a facilitator.
We can help you find counselling outside the group.
We offer friendship, understanding and a place to talk without being judged and gain some support.
I'm Dannie a support worker and facilitator at Girls Xpress! I'm not a counsellor but can listen to anything you want to express and give you advice and information. Everything is confidential. You can also use this myspace to rant if you don't need or want a reply, message me with the title rant - I will always read them but I wont reply.
I will try to get back to everyone but I'm only in the office one day a week so it's difficult. I read all your messages, so know that you are heard! I will try to get back to all of you as soon as I can.
Awards!
• Runner up in the Deutche Bank/ Common Purpose Spotlight Awards for young campaigners.
• Bright Young Things Harrow Observer Award.
• Princess Diana Memorial Award, Silver Award for Services to the community.
• Salesforce.com International Youth Media Maker Award in San Francisco.
• The founder of the group won a Harrow youth achievements award and an award for Services to the Community from Stanmore College.
• Girls Xpress! have also addressed World Leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2005, about the growing international issue of Self Injury.
Projects and Workshops:
• Self Harm to Self Healing, Film and Music Making.
• Secret Soul, Creative Art workshop.
• Writing workshop, Creative writing and exploring different methods of writing.
• Reiki, a type of ancient healing involving gentle massage therapy and deep relaxation.
• Indian head massage.
• Tapping, Thought Field Therapy (TFT)
Quotes from Self Injurers:
"Self Injury is a distraction and it’s easier to deal with physical pain rather than emotional pain. When I cut myself I feel in control and have something to concentrate on rather than the painful emotions in my head."
“Self Injury for me is seeing my emotional scars physically, a form of release from bottled feelings.”
“Self Injury for me is a way of getting my emotions out. Mostly feeling angry and hurt leads me to injuring myself because I feel that the situation at hand is my fault.”
“When I’m angry I can’t release my emotions. It’s not easy for me to go for a walk or have a cigarette, watch TV or trash something! For me, these normal ways of coping would cause me more problems due to my parents. Cutting myself is the only thing I am in control of, it calms me down and forces me to take a step back and think rationally about my problems.”
Testimonials
“Girls Xpress! Is the only place where I am comfortable talking about Self Harm.”
Group User
“Without Girls Xpress! I don’t think I would have overcome a lot of self doubt I had.”
Group User
“Being in the Girls Xpress! group has definitely helped me deal with Self Harm. The best thing is that I am around girls around the same age as me and who are going through similar things. I get motivation, advice and support from the other girls without being judged. I can talk about how Self Harm affects me really comfortably and I don’t feel stupid about the things I say. Girls xpress is the only place where I can do this without feeling like an outsider or someone not normal.”
Group User
“Setting up Girls Xpress! Has been a great experience for me; it has helped me to overcome my own demons as well as helping other girls with theirs. Girls Xpress! helps show that we’re not alone!”
Loz Mills
“I’ve come a long way since setting up the group. I feel that it empowers people and helps the girls through the issues that lead them to Self Harm. I have overcome a lot of issues of my own through the group and made many friends. Self Harm is no longer something I’m ashamed of.”
Dannie Robinson
Girls Xpress! Self Injury / Harm Support | Detaylar
Please read the before you add us blog. This is very important.
Girls Xpress!
Girls Xpress! is a self help and support group for young women Self Injurers aged between 13 and 19. The group consists of a mixture of girls from a variety of backgrounds. Many have been referred through other agencies or schools, although some are self referred. Everything is completely confidential.
Girls Xpress! provides support through group sessions, TXT, Myspace, Facebook and MSN messenger. There is also a crisis programme. We run workshop programmes where girls can find creative outlets for their emotions such as; photography, art, poetry, writing, film making and music etc…
“We believe that through creating other outlets for our emotions we can start the road to recovery”
Dannie Robinson
The group was set up in September 2003 by three school girl Self Injurers. Through our own research we discovered that 1 in 10 girls in years 9, 10 and 11 were Self Injuring. We received a grant to make a short documentary and music video, and got a lot of media attention from local newspapers. We attended the launch of the National Inquiry into Self Harm at the House of Commons and won several campaigning awards.
Girls Xpress! also attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 2005, to address world leaders on the growing international issue of Self Injury.
Girls Xpress! Campaigns to improve awareness of Self Injury and better services to support Self Injurers.
What is Self Injury?
There is some confusion between Self Injury (SI) and Self Harm (SH).
Self Harm is an act which harms over a long period of time. Such as; Smoking, Drinking, Drug abuse, Staying in unhealthy relationships etc.
Self Injury is the intentional cause to injure one’s own body, and includes: Self Injury, mutilation, self abuse, self wounding, and Self Inflicted violence. This is an immediate cause and effect harm.
We use the term Self Harm loosely and many use it to mean Self Injury. The two meanings overlap. E.g. If you are using drugs regularly it could be seen as SI. Girls Xpress! Uses both terms in relation to Self Injury but this is the definition between the two.
Actions of Self Injury include cutting and burning skin, insertion of foreign objects, bone breaking and wound interference.
Self Injury is often thought of as a mental health problem but in fact Self Injurers do so out of choice, it is a symptom of unhappiness or anger and Self Injury is sometimes a cry for help but often a release for emotional pain or frustration. There is no one reason why Self Injurers do so as it depends on the individual. One of the problems Girls Xpress! are tackling is stereotyping among Self Injurers. In cases where Self Injurers are found out we are trying to prevent them being put on medication as medication is seen as the front line of “curing” Self Injury, and trying to prevent them being expelled or suspended from school.
“Research shows that medication and anti depressants mask the causes of Self Injury and do not stop it.” (NICE 2002)
Self Injury also depends on intent. “I met a boy who had cigarette burns on his arms and assumed he was Self Injuring. He was shocked at my concern and explained that it was just a test of pain amongst him and his friends. He said he was proving his ‘manhood.’” It’s important to seek the motivation behind the injury before labelling it as Self Injury.
How Common is Self Injury?
Research Suggests That:
• 1 in 9 teenagers Self Injure (National Inquiry into Self Harm, 2006)
• Over 24,000 teenagers are admitted to hospitals in the UK every year after deliberately injuring themselves (National Inquiry into Self Harm, 2006)
• 7 in 10 Self Injurers are female
• 50% of young people who commit suicide carry out an act of Self Injure in the preceding year (Mental health foundation, 2004)
• The average age for children to start Self Injuring is 13 (National Inquiry into Self Harm, 2006)
• Often children will start Self Injuring at the age of 7 (National Inquiry into Self Harm, 2006)
• In Harrow, research by Girls Xpress! In one high school indicates that over one in ten girls in years 9, 10 & 11 are Self Injuring (2004)
• Media and health sources report that Self Injury amongst young women and schoolgirls is an alarming and growing trend in the UK. Rates for boys have doubled in the last decade. (National Inquiry into Self Harm, 2004)
Who Self Injures?
All different kinds of people Self Injure, with all different backgrounds, in all different social classes and cultures. There are some common factors among people that Self Injure. Many of them are women, but not all, and most of them begin to Self Injure in their early teenage years, but not all. Chances are that more men Self Injure than we know about, but are less likely to seek medical and emotional support.
People who Self Injure generally share many of these characteristics:
• Have low self esteem
• Get angry, often at themselves
• Tend to suppress their anger
• May turn aggressive feelings inward
• Can be depressed with frequent suicidal thoughts & feelings
• Suffer from anxiety
• Do not feel in control of anything
• Feel restricted and isolated
• Do not see themselves as empowered
• Feel neglected and ignored
Why Self Injure?
Self Injury is a coping mechanism. People that Self Injure use Self Injury as a way to deal with emotions that they feel they cannot cope with other ways. If you took away Self Injury for Self Injurers, you take away their coping mechanism. Suicide rates would probably rise. Self Injury, although not an ideal coping mechanism, serves a purpose and it works.
• Self Injuring has been linked with the start of difficult things in a young persons such as; being bullied, child abuse, rape, not getting on with parents/carers, parental divorce, entering care, bereavement, relationship problems and many other distressing or traumatic experiences.
• Self Injury is the result of intense emotional pain.
• Self Injury can release feelings of self-hatred and anger.
• It is a way of communicating distress about feelings that are difficult to cope with and that cannot be expressed in other ways.
• Self Injury alters their state of mind.
• It can be physically, emotionally and behaviourally addictive.
• Self Injury releases endorphins into the blood stream which reduces the sensation of pain and affects emotions.
Brief History of Girls Xpress!
2003 –
Dannie did her work experience at WISH and recruited 2 other Self Injurers, Loz Mills and Steph Long.
They carried out a survey in Hatch End High School for girls in years 9, 10 and 11 to scope the extent of Self Injury. Findings showed that 10% of respondents had Self Injured.
Set up the Girls Xpress! Group, to support school girl Self Injurers.
2004 –
Girls Xpress! Received a grant from Salesforce.com / foundation to make a short documentary and music video about Self Injury, working with volunteer film and music developers. Film now shown on youthspace.net and Youtube.
Attended House of Commons – 2 year National Inquiry into Self Injury among young people launch.
Girls Xpress won the International Youth Media Festival in San Francisco.
2005 –
Girls Xpress! Presented their film to the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland.
Tammara Mattingly, Light and Colour Work Shop started working with Girls Xpress! To develop creative workshops based on light and colour and its psychological effects.
WISH launched the Self Injury Practitioners forum funded by the Camelot and Mental Health Foundation.
2006 –
National Inquiry into Self Harm launched its findings. Girls Xpress! Recommended as a national model of best practice.
WISH launches the first UK boys Self Injury group based on Girls Xpress! model, funded by Comic Relief.
Girls Xpress! continue their campaigning and project work.
2007 –
Dannie works 2 days a week at WISH specifically on Girls Xpress!
Dannie starts Girls Xpress Myspace support.
2008 –
Applying for funding to support real time instant messenger peer support sessions for those who cannot access group directly.
WISH Moves premesis to Peel Road from Kodak.
Operating on no funding, not even for staff wages.
Supported by Comic Relief. in Contact with BBC on documentary with Meera Syal to be shown on BBC 1.
Attending several upcoming womens campaigning events.
Throughout this time Girls Xpress! have done talks and training for a number of agencies including;
teachers in schools, PHSE students, connexions, Harrow young Persons Centre and many other statutory and voluntary sector organisations.
Kimle tanışmak isterim:
Anyone seeking advice or information about Self Injury. People who do Self Injure. Are at risk of Self Injury or are Recovering Self Injurers. Organistions that work with Self Injurers.
Girls Xpress! Self Injury / Harm Support | Arkadaşlar (En İyi 4)
Last year I contacted you asking for tips on starting a similair project like yours.
After recovering from my own self harm problems and closing a 5-year lasting time of self-harm we are finally starting.
We are writing the text now for the myspace ( in Dutch because it is for the Netherlands.) and we have already found a name, logo and we will be making stickers and flyers to let us be heard.
As soon as the myspace is up, we would like to have you in our friend-list.
hey hope everyone's okay...right i have this lil problem okay its i'm goin out with this guy and he's really nice to me but its jst i have this feeling that is doing my head in because i like him but i keep gettin paranoid bout him dumping me and its all grr cos its triggered my selfharming and i was in hospital last week because of it xx okay i'm finished comments are warmly welcomed xx
i just wanted to say that i have gone two months approx ( i gave up counting the days) since i have last self harmed. I wanted to let you guys know that it is possible no matter how hard it may get. You are strong and as twloha says hope is possible. There is not only light at the end of the tunnel but also within it! x
hey i could do with someone t talk to because i jst feel like i'm dying inside and i jst wanna cut but i know if i do that then i'm breaking a promise i made to my sister and that would be worse than cutting
thankyou hun...i dnt knw what i would have done without the support of people who know what i'm going through...sorry if theres any spelling mistakes im nt tht gd at spelling...y r men such idiots?
HEY I REALLY LIKE THIS PROFILE. ITS A GREAT WAY TO MEET OTHER SELF-INJURERS--OR PEOPLE WHO HAVE RECOVERED, OR ARE IN THEIR WAY! I STILL SELF INJURE AND IM STARTING THE ROAD TO RECOVERY! WISH ME LUCK!
ive been doing really well lately w/o hurting myself. its hard tho. im trying to stay away from it...but i dont know how to deal w/ anger. and for the past year thats all ive felt was anger. its hard bc ive never had to deal w/ it. it scares me bc i dont know how to control it. i need some tips on how to control it so i dont cut. can any of you guys help me out one that?
Having a bad day, well, not a bad day, just a hard time sort off, I don't deal with things very well, and feel like si is around the corner, I stopped for four years, then late last year something really bad happened and here I am again.
You guys really are my last resort...I do think that this will help...>.> Thank you for having this site in the first place. It gives me and Im sure tons of other girls...hope.
I stopped self harming 5 months ago now, and im willing to help people through it, as i may know what your going through. I wont judge anyone by anything, im just here to help.
Add me as a friend and/or message me if anyone wants any help or support from someonee who may have gone through the same things as you. xxx
why is it soo hard to stop injuring its suck i mean i told my friend that i stopped and then i started is there hope can i get better i would relly like to know any advice you guys later judi
Self Harm 2 Self Healing
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