Coping Strategies

Positive Journeys

Have you experienced self harm but now found ways to cope? Would you like to share your experiences with people who may be struggling? We’re looking for people who can share their positive journeys and messages of hope with others. Please email [email protected] with your story.

Every week the Gloucestershire Self Harm Helpline helps hundreds of people across the county who may be thinking of self harming or need support and information to help them cope in a crisis. Below is an example of how we helped one of our callers:

A young female caller contacted the Helpline for the first time having found our contact number on the internet whilst looking for sites that could provide some information / support in regard to her self harming behaviours.

She told us that she had been the victim of bullying and this was causing her significant distress. She told us that she felt isolated and alone. She then went on to share that she had hurt herself many times over the past couple of weeks. The self harm was a way that she felt she could express her mental anguish. She told us that she was desperate to talk to someone about what was happening in her life and to discuss her self harm.

What we did

This was the first time the caller had contacted anyone about what was happening and initially she was wary about how much she could share. We worked with the caller via the text service – providing a non judgemental and support response to her disclosures in relation to her self harm, whilst at the same time offering her empathy and compassion about how she was feeling. Approaching the caller in this way established a very caring and open conversation. The caller felt able to share fully what was happening in her life.

The difference it made contacting the Helpline

The caller said she would not self harm that evening, she told us that she felt a huge relief in being able to talk to us about what was happening and in particular about her self harm. The caller told us “I have never done anything like this before, I don’t know how to thank you “.