A Silent Epidemic: Schools and Self Harming Students

Shona Swartz

English II – B4

Ms. McKoy

11 September 2013

A Silent Epidemic: Schools and Self Harming Students

Mary Hillery claims, “You can't just tell someone who self-injures to stop – it is not that easy.” How could ending self harm be so difficult? Many people that have never encountered self mutilation do not understand the struggles that may happen during or after harming their bodies. I believe that students should be more aware of self harm, but others may think differently. Some have an idea that if students learn more about self mutilation, then they will want to try it out or think it will solve their problems. However, if you are to make people aware of the dangers self harm causes, then they will try to stay away from it, and adults could be able to read the signs from a child who does self harm. I want students to be aware of this silent epidemic because I know many people that have gone through self harm, and even the happiest looking people have their secrets.

Schools should create awareness about self harm. The article, “Deliberate self harm in adolescents: self report survey in schools in England”, states, “Deliberate self harm was more common in females than it was in males. In females the factors included in a multivariate logistic regression for deliberate self harm were recent self harm by friends, self harm by family members, drug misuse, depression, anxiety, impulsivity, and low self esteem” (DSHA1). Self harm impacts students in school because in many PE classes they are forced to wear short sleeves, therefore, it would reveal their personal secret to other students. That may cause bullying, resulting in more self harm. Self harming students could have difficulty keeping up their grades because of stress or pressure. The quote shows that many experiences can cause somebody to harm their own body, meaning schools should not ignore the possibilities of a child self harming. Many students have no clue of self injury policies that are in place for schools, or in fact if there are any at all. This information is important because it lets readers know why some people might start self mutilating. It also says that female self injuries are more common, but it should not be forgotten that males self harm as well.

I want to research more on self harm awareness in schools because there are several teenagers who are dealing with self injuries that want help, but are not sure how the schools can or will handle it. Should schools have assemblies to create awareness about self harm? One perspective is that schools should hold assemblies to create awareness about self harm to decrease the amount of self harming students. Others would disagree because they believe that telling young adolescents about self harm will cause them to want to test it out. This may be true in some cases, but I think if the school's employees are well trained and taught about self mutilation and the protocols on self harm, then there could be a less amount of teenagers who harm themselves.

Work Cited

“Deliberate self harm in adolescents: self report survey in schools in England.” bmj.com. 23 Nov. 2013. BMJ. Web. 29 Aug. 2013. <http://www.bmj.com/content/325/7374/1207>.

Hillery, Mary. “Self-Injury - a short guide for Schools and Teachers Including how to write a self-injury policy.” Scar-tissue. 2007. LifeSIGNS. Web. 29 Aug. 2013. <http://www.scar- tissue.net/schoolsipolicy.pdf>.