Understanding and supporting young people who self injure in social care settings

Abstract: this article provides a brief discussion on the issue of young people who self injure in social care settings. The discussion identifies this issue to be extremely challenging for social care workers caring for clients presenting with self injurious behaviour. The article focuses on providing some key definitions of self injury, identifies some key concepts in helping professionals understand the functions and reasons for self injurious behaviour and finally suggests some practical guidelines for social care workers in responding to young people in their care who harm themselves. The underlying ethos of these guidelines being the importance of using a listening, practical and supportive approach in attempting to understand self injury and care for young people who engage in self injurious behaviour.