Surge in teens seeking help for self-harm, says charity

The number of people under the age of 18 seeking help for self-harm has surged over the first two months of this year, according to the chief executive of a charity for the prevention of self-harm and suicide.

Joan Freeman, who set-up Pieta House in 2006, said she had noticed a "huge increase" in the numbers of emails to the centre from young people who were self-harming and asking for help.

"We’d try and encourage them to get an adult, a parent or a school teacher, to contact us. We always say in the email that we’d be delighted to help you."

The qualified psychologist said the numbers of people contacting the service — which has centres in Dublin and Limerick — was increasing each year. 

Last year, almost 2,000 contacted the service. She said they hoped to open a facility in Cork, with a "strong possibility" it would happen this year.

Ms Freeman, who is giving a talk tomorrow at Maryborough House Hotel, Cork, said it was very important not to implicitly associate self-harm with suicide.

"The way we would look at self-harm is not as a suicide attempt. It has two functions: to communicate distress — they are unable to verbalise their distress so they use the body to describe it — and, furthermore, it is often far easier to focus on physical pain than on emotional pain."

Ms Freeman said the only way to reduce suicide was to educate everybody so they are aware of the signs and symptoms of suicide and can seek help for the person who is in distress.

"The person who is suicidal doesn’t see any source of light: I’d say to friends and family to email us, to pick up the phone no matter where they are."

The key in schools, she said, was to teach young people skills so they can cope with issues in life such as bullying and depression.

* www.pieta.ie 

* 01 6660000