How can I help a student who seems to be self-harming?

[M3lon]

I've just encountered a student who seems to have cut/scratched a word into their arm and who seemed to be pinching themselves constantly all the way through the time I was in the same room with them...sometimes under their top and sometimes on their arm. By the end their arm and chest were red.

Firstly - am I right in thinking this is anxiety driven behaviour? Secondly what if anything can I do to help?

They are a young adult rather than a child.

How old? Is it a safeguarding issue? Have you told the lead?

Offer to help them seek help - local "healthy minds" or "young minds" depending on age.

Notify the safeguarding team, don't keep this to yourself

Safeguarding team tonight. Send the email now and ask for this to be deleted.

Are you at a university or college? Do you have any on site counselling or student support available? If not do you have a school nurse anybody who has been trained in supporting students who self harm?

I self harm, when I was at school and they found out I had some sessions with a teacher who had been given some training on the issue. When I was at university and they became aware I was referred to the student support services and given counselling through them.

Self harm is fairly common in teenagers and young people so I imagine your service/ setting will have dealt with students who harm themselves before and hopefully have a policy and support available. Pass the information on to the safeguarding lead and to your line manager to find out how to signpost this person to the right place.

it is a university setting. I've contacted our student counselling service but just got some standard advice about self-harm being a coping mechanism and not to disrupt it...and a link to a pamphlet on how to do it safely.

They didn't seem interested in having the student referred or anything else really. Is this now so common that we are just supposed to ignore it?

If this was a student that I know reasonably well I would have initiated a conversation in private about their general well being, any problems they’re having and tried to probe a little bit without bringing the self harm into it. It is a coping mechanism and the release from doing it can enable some students to get through difficult times. I have to say that the first time a student told me they were self harming I needed to talk through my own feelings about it with our counselling service. I’m by no means a mental health expert, just a lecturer. Maybe if you see them again you can gently probe how they are feeling, if they open up you can recommend counselling, or their GP, but it’s only going to be successful if they want to go. The counselling service can’t make contact with students who are referred to them.

I’m guessing this student was in a tutorial with you? I would probably try and have a word with them privately at the end of the next session, if nothing else you will feel you have tried to help. Your university should have guidelines for helping distressed students, it’s best to follow the advice there.

I find that so many students have mental health problems now and generally if I have a one to one with any of them for any reason it’s useful to have a chat about how they are coping. I do the same if I have a small group in my office. I think my students expect it so they don’t feel singled out and do feel able to come to me for help. However, that means I deal with a lot of difficult cases.

Thanks for the advice. I will see if I can get a private meeting organised.

That sounds like a good idea. It sounds like they want to be noticed if the cuts were visible to you and especially if they’re pinching themselves in front of you. Hopefully that means they want some help and support and will be receptive to a private conversation and any help you can signpost them towards.