Self-injury isn’t all about cutting yourself.

If you scratch or prick or bang or pick at yourself, or any of the hundreds of ways you can hurt yourself on purpose to help cope with stress and emotional distress, you deserve just as much support and care as anyone else in distress.

At LifeSIGNS, we don’t focus on the methods you use to hurt yourself; we focus on the emotional reasons behind the injurious behaviour and how we can all cope with life’s traumas. We understand self-injury from the inside; we want you to be safe when you hurt yourself, and we want you to be without shame about your struggle. We want to help you seek health and happiness each day – that’s all.

If you pinch or stick or scratch yourself, or bang your head or hit yourself, you mustn’t worry about whether it ‘counts’ as self-injury just because you don’t cut yourself. Nobody should ever worry that they’re not hurting themselves ‘enough’ or cutting themselves ‘bad enough’ for care and support. It’s all self-injury, and we’re here for you. It’s not about the method or any judgement about the severity – it’s about the urge to hurt yourself when overwhelmed with emotional pain, stress, mental distress and worry.

You matter – the way you hurt yourself at the moment doesn’t matter beyond how your care for yourself during and after. You matter; we know your distress is real.