Key rings, recruitment and your experiences
It’s Self-Injury Awareness Day on the 1st of March, so please take a minute to see what you can do right now to help the global movement, and check out our SIAD page.
We have nearly run out of wristbands – in fact, by the time you read this they may be all gone!
But we do have orange key rings available! They’re identical to the orange wristbands, but with a handy ring for attaching to your keys – or more likely, your bag / rucksack :)
They are £3 and you must order them on or before Tuesday the 26th of February if you want yours to arrive before SIAD. It’s cheaper if you buy more than one.
Sadly, we can only send them to people in the UK – if you live outside the UK we hope you bought one early, because it is now too late to send them out. We’re really sorry if you missed out, it’s just a timing thing.
Not just for SIAD
The only reason our website is so popular at this time of year is because we work tirelessly throughout the year! If we didn’t, then we simply wouldn’t exist. So really, for us, every day is SIAD. We work all year to raise awareness about self-injury and to support those affected by self-injury in any way.
We’re currently recruiting for project managers to join our team, to help keep LifeSIGNS on track and heading in the direction we’re aiming for.
So if you care about self-injury and the people who suffer, and would like the opportunity to join us in making a real difference, not just for SIAD, but every day, then we’d love to hear from you.
Peer support
As you know, we offer many resources for people who self-injure and for people affected by self-injury. But sometimes, all you really want is for someone to listen. Someone who won’t judge you, but will be able to empathise with how you’re feeling because they’ve been in a similar place. Sometimes you just need a place to vent and self-express and talk about the things you feel you can’t talk about anywhere else. Our Support Forum offers this support.
Our Support Forum is simple to use, and full of friendly, kind, warm-hearted people of all ages and backgrounds. We’re all different; but one thing we all have in common is an understanding of what it feels like to rely self-injury in order to cope with emotional distress and difficult life situations.
We don’t all talk about self-injury. Some of us prefer to only support others, either by offering perspectives and ideas, or simply by listening and virtually nodding in agreement or offering a virtual hug. Some of us prefer to use the Support Forum as an escape; posting about life and the universe; anything *except* self-injury. And that’s OK too, because all need a place where we feel we can belong, fit in and just be ourselves.
Our Support forum is pro-recovery, and although our members are all at different stages along their journey towards recovery, and some have not even started yet, we all share an ambition to find healthier coping mechanisms and to seek health and happiness in life.
If you’d like to join us, you can be sure of a warm welcome from us all.
Your words are important
Every single one of our members and supporters is important to us. We’re a user-led organisation, so we know from first-hand experience what it means to self-injure. And we really feel for you; every single one of you who hurts yourself in order to cope. That’s why we exist, and that’s why we want to grow – so that we can reach out to every person in the world who suffers as we have done.
One of the ways we reach people is by publishing blog articles from guest writers. I say ‘writers’, you don’t have to be a writer, you just need to be willing to express yourself in words. The reason such articles are so valuable is because although we all have self-injury in common, we are all unique individuals with different life experiences. In some respects we are all alone. But no matter what you’ve been through in life, and what experiences you have had that may have led to your self-injury, there will be people in the world who can relate. People who will read your words and think “I get that; I know what this person means, I feel that too.”
Such empathy and understanding can be incredibly valuable to a person who feels alone, and your words might be able to reach someone that we haven’t yet reached.
So if you’re willing to write a few hundred words for us, a non-triggering article based around the subject of self-injury, then we’d love to publish it on your behalf. We will publish it with only a first name or nickname, so you can remain anonymous.
