School gives AS girl razor deliberately to self-harm

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/99 ... pupil.html

I couldn't believe this could actually happen. Words fail me. The fact that the mother agreed to this is horrendous.

Better that she self harms in a controlled way than for her to let it build up and do it when she's unsupervised.

I have been in this situation, and found it helpful, but it wasn't my school who allowed it. I didn't know schools could implement this sort of thing...

I disagree. What if she'd melted down and cut her wrists deep or her throat. They were checking every 2 minutes, with a severe enough cut she could have bled out in that time.

It's atrocious. There must be alternatives.

Last edited by whirlingmind on 29 Mar 2013, 7:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

As shocking and seemingly backwards this seems at first glance, I am actually very curious to know what the thinking and science behind this idea is. Clearly they seemed to think that they knew what they were doing, and the schools seems to be otherwise outstanding, so perhaps there is something more to this story. To be clear, I am not saying that I agree with or support this program; I would just like to see the evidence and reasoning behind it.

From the article:

I am also curious as to what would be done in the case of the student inflicting serious or even lethal wounds to herself. What exactly are the safety precautions? How effective is this method compared to more traditional ones?

Look beyond what journalistic sensationalism wants you to think.

I view those who facilitated the method as trying to do something helpful for the girl and probably the mother too. Those who became shocked and wanted it stopped are more likely worried about their own image or that of the school rather than concern for the girl. Obviously the news got involved and influenced many of the views of those in charge. It is unlikely that some teacher was allowing this for their own personal amusement or psychological gain: they are more likely to have been trying to control the situation and perhaps those letting her do it this way might have eventually had some success in getting her to discontinue in the future. I wonder how much this news story is going to help the girl...

I don't think the article is sensational. It is pretty straightforward descriptive with minimal editorializing. Unless you mean to say that the article shouldn't have been published at all, which is debatable. I found it interesting and informative, but I can't speak to what its real world implications are on those affected.

Agreed. It's better that it's done in a controlled manner than for her to do it and either cut too deep or get an infection.

When I was in elementary school in the early to mid 1960s, the entire class (i.e. everyone in my grade, not my classroom) went to the park one day. At the park, the principal put boxing gloves on me and another kid and made us fight in front of everyone else. The other kid was the star athlete of the class. Needless to say, it wasn't even a contest.

In this particular article I get the impression that the writer is pushing the idea of self-harm in such a way that suicide is the connection made in the mind of the reader (even though that is not what they specifically said.) Some of the posters above naturally were lead to this perception by the author. They never mention why the child was performing self-harm or explained it so that most people who do not understand self-harm will be shocked.

The definition on Wikipedia says: "Self-injury (SI) or self-harm (SH) when a person hurts their body on purpose. It is not suicidal.[1] In fact, many self-harmers hurt themselves because they feel it is the only way to stay alive."

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-injury

Given that the school treats those with Asperger's or HFA, and this is a forum for Asperger's and Autism, how does self-harm lead the reader to think suicide rather than an extreme case of stimming?

The quote which the writer chose to include from their conversation with Selfharm.co.uk is a very poignant thing, but it could have been left out of the article because suicide was not an issue until the author chose to bring it up. When you put razors into a girl's hand, omit why she might be harming herself, and then mention suicide it is clear the author is trying to pull on the reader's heartstrings.

This is true, at least for me.

Yeah, you know, I'm not really shocked or outraged at this story. It reminded me of a program being run here in Vancouver-- the Vancouver Coastal Health needle exchange. Drug usage is a major issue here, particularly in the lower-income Downtown Eastside neighbourhoods. To stem the tide of infection and disease, the local healthcare system has instituted a needle exchange to supply users with sterilized needles. I suppose it's a controversial program, and you could argue that it's enabling-- but honestly, from what I've seen in the DTES, it does make a difference in the quality of life for the people who have substance issues.

I have a volunteer position in an artist-run gallery in the DTES whose mission is to open up avenues of communication to people struggling with mental issues of all sorts. I've been in contact with the people who live there. Furthermore, one of my best friends has struggled with bipolar disorder, OCD, and off-and-on addiction problems for years. We like to think we all have control over what we do, but I've seen firsthand the way that addiction or compulsion can leave someone feeling vulnerable, and lead them to do things which they may or may not fully recognize as irrational and harmful to themselves and the people who care about them. People who self-harm are often caught in the same sort of cycle. It's not as easy as saying, "Don't do that." Once a path has been conditioned, unconditioning it can take time-- maybe years and years.

The story doesn't say what, precisely, was the school's rationale behind instituting this policy for this girl, or whether the girl is truly compelled to cut. Without those pieces of information, I think it's premature to make any judgments about their decision. For all we know, The_Walrus and Wandering_Stranger may have perfectly valid points here, about the school trying to at least make the practice safer.

I agree with this comment under the article:-

"How desperate is our society when we allow a troubled young girl no help or professional care apart from a sterilised Bic razor? We should all feel ashamed."

Controlled manner, yeah right. Like I said, she could have bled out in the 2 minutes between which they checked her.