“Do you know anyone in your town
who self-harms?”
“Not in my town… nearby; why?”
“There’s a group of young girls
encouraging each other to self-harm and for a while now, we’ve thought you were
the ringleader!”
And
that little quote, ladies and gentlemen, came from a Northumbria Police officer
once he’d detained me under the Mental Capacity Act.
Now,
does anyone remember #Cut4Bieber? If not (I wrote a post on it!), came off the
back of a photo surfacing online of Justin Bieber taking drugs and his fans
somehow interpreted it as a cause to feel hopeless and therefore a reason to self-harm.
I think that when that occurred in 2013, it was the first time that I’d
witnessed/experienced someone encouraging another person to do such an act.
But
then as I spent more time in Hospital, I gained a whole new insight into the
workings of the ward. When I was first admitted in 2012, I kept myself to
myself and didn’t make the effort to get to know the other inpatients because I
really didn’t think I’d be there that long (two and a half years in the end).
When I realized I was in it for the long haul, I made friends with all of the
girls and with one in particular. The upside to this was having someone to talk
to who could identify with and understand me. The downside? I became part of
the ‘club.’ Adopted the ‘us versus them’ mindset. It was this new insight that introduced
me to the dark side of service user relationships with one another. Rather than
supporting one another and bonding over our similar experiences and mutual
thoughts, feelings, and coping mechanisms; some of the girls were encouraging
one another to copy their own unsafe, and unhealthy coping skills of self-harm.
