SELF HARM TRAINING FOR TEACHERS

Self harm training for teachers has proven to be very effective and productive strategy in terms of offering the technical know- how in which teachers or trained personnel are able to identify and manage early symptoms with expected results. This is usually a confusing behaviour which can be a bother and will require the presence or attention of a well – trained teacher or personnel with first aid training to deal with self injury cases. This may be the same personnel as an approved or designated Child -Protection member of staff, or entirely someone else, while it might also be possible to have both male and female staff-members.  Experts have enumerated on some of the known signs that someone is self – injuring, which are: people who self-injure often go to great lengths to conceal their injuries so it can be hard to know if a person does self-injure: People who self-injure can seem withdrawn or depressed: you may notice cuts or bruises that are always accompanied by excuses that don’t seem to fit: many people who self-injure will cut their arms and so they may wear clothes to conceal them, even when it is very hot: within school, pupils who self-injure may look for excuses not to have to wear short outfits and therefore may try to avoid activities like PE or swimming: etc…..          

SELF HARM TRAINING RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

There are quite a number of available resources for teachers to help them effectively identify and manage issues relating to self injury among students. These resources afford both teachers and personnel the opportunity to be confident enough to demonstrate that they have followed the advice of other professionals and undertaken an appropriate assessment of the risk and considered the least invasive interventions. Below are some of the training resources available to teachers:

1. Information for children and young people about self-injury and suicide
2. Help For Self Harm
3. Boosting Self – Esteem
4. Tips for Controlling Anger
5. Self-Injury – a short guide for Schools and Teachers

Childhood neglect is the most prevalent form of child maltreatment and its long term effects are many and serious. It can come through any means, from leaving a child home alone to even the very worst cases where a child dies from conditions of malnutrition. Neglect is simply seen as the ongoing failure or inability to meet a child’s basic needs, as they may be left hungry, without adequate clothing and shelter, supervision, medical or health care. Unfortunately, neglect most frequently goes undetected, unreported and historically has not been acknowledged as extremely severe or publicized as greatly as child abuse.

In other to address the resultant effects of such situations, it is important to try out some re-parenting resources available to both teachers and parents. The following are a few of the available resources:

• Individual psychotherapy
• Group therapy
• Couples therapy
• Parent education
• Find an older friend
• Spiritual practice or religion
• Read etc… So it is very important to understand that experiencing abuse and neglect in childhood can invariably lead to adverse outcomes in adulthood.

Emotional distress is said to involve some kind of conduct which is so terrible that it causes severe emotional trauma in the victim. Some of the early symptoms of emotional distress can appear through the following ways: issues with sleeping, which means sleeping more than expected or less than usual, if they can’t ordinarily fall asleep or wake up after quite a few hours and can’t sleep any longer, it shows signs and symptoms of emotional distress in the life of the individual. Another symptom is the constant weight fluctuations coupled with frequent changes in eating patterns, which is where an individual is gaining or losing some significant amount of body weight without changes in diet or their exercise regime. The signs of unexplained physical symptoms arise when after professional diagnosis; no one can find a reason behind an individual’s physical complaints, so it may be the body’s way of alerting that the person’s mind is in distress. Some level of difficulty with managing anger or controlling temper is another known symptom or sign that an individual is battling with emotional distress, which also means inability to manage feelings.

A more serious symptom is compulsive or obsessive behaviour, meaning the compulsion to do a lot of things even when there are no logical reasons for it, then it is said that the person has more anxiety prevalent in their life than the body can actually handle.

Self harm which is relatively synonymous with terms such as deliberate self injury, is seen as an act with a non-fatal results in which persons intentionally harms themselves through a number of methods. This is a very complex thing to understand and individuals will often have their own reasons for wanting to subscribe to such means or consider suicide.

Many young people do say that it is a way of dealing with emotional pain which they struggle to talk to others about. It can be hard for family, friends, and professionals to handle a young person’s disclosure of self-harm but the reaction a young person receives when they eventually speak up on their condition can have or be a deciding factor as to whether they can go on to access medical services.  For some, it can be the only way that they can ask for help and yet many avoid it because of their fear of how they will be treated.

SELF ESTEEM

Self-esteem is seen as the level of emotional value, importance or worth individuals place on themselves. Self-esteem can practically impact a person’s beliefs about what they can achieve in life, what they deserve in relationships, as well as how they approach challenging situations.

There are generally about six known pillars of self esteem which must be put to practise in other for one to overcome the lack of it. These pillars are:

1. The practice of living consciously,
2. The practice of self acceptance,
3. The practice of self responsibility,
4. The practice of self assertiveness,
5. The practice of living purposely and
6. The practice of personal integrity

It is important to note that self esteem is a concept distinct from self-efficacy. It influences everything you do, how you think and as well as how you feel. However, if one is not either happy or satisfied with their life for reasons yet unknown or unclear to them, it’s probably because their level of self–esteem might be extremely very low.

Available links for more resources and general advice for both teachers and professionals on self harm:

Truth Hurts: Report of the National Inquiry into Self-harm among Young People (2006).

Ordinary Days & Shattered Lives (2001)

Youth and Self-Harm Perspectives (2002).