I often am asked to provide resources for pastoral caregivers and youth workers that can be distributed within faith communities. Since it's hard to find resources on self-injury from a faith-based perspective, I am making some myself! I will be adding content here as often as I can. (For additional resources that can be used in group settings, check these out)

 

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Resource #1: Q & A Document for Pastoral Care Teams and Youth Workers 

 

Hot off the press! I have just finished this document on self-injury that can be downloaded and used with youth leaders or with the wider pastoral care team. It focusses on what self-injury is, how it differs from suicide, warning signs to look for, and how to talk with a young person who you think may be self-injuring (amongst a few other things). A PDF version is available here for download. 

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Resource #2: Interview Pack with Discussion Questions. 

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These interviews with adults who used to self-injure as adolescents could be great for generating discussion with youth workers and pastoral care team members about how youth cope using self-injury and how faith factors into it. If you prefer to show them on a screen directly from this site, they are also available here.

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Here is a quick synopsis of the contents of the interview pack:

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1) Interview 1 with E.: Focus on growing up in a conservative Christian home, developing more positive coping mechanisms, advice on how to talk with youth in faith communities who may be currently self-injuring.   

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2) Interview 2 with S.: Focus on growing up in a Korean faith community, images of God and also her understanding of sin.

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3) Interview 3 with L.: Focus on growing up in a conservative faith community as an LGBTQ youth, being bullied while growing up, and reflections on why she thinks youth are self-injuring now more than ever before. 

 

4) Questions to generate conversation and reflection following the reading of the interviews.

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Download the PDF below:

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Resource #3: A Poem About Self-Injury

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I follow the r/selfharm subreddit and user u/oneactualhuman posted a poem recently entitled"That Quiet Feeling After Self-Harming". This poem is great discussion tool to use in order to better understand the effect that self-injury has on calming negative emotions, and could generate some excellent discussion.

You can also download a PDF of the poem below.

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