The School Social Work Office is a resource for students, families, faculty and staff. Social work services provide support in the areas of social/emotional development and social interactions. Services may include group or individual counseling, as well as consultation with parents, teachers, administrators and community service providers. The school social work office also provides referrals to community agencies when appropriate. carving scratching branding marking picking, and pulling skin and hair burning/abrasions cutting Why do adolescents self-injure? Self-injury is a complex behavior and symptom that results from a variety of factors. Adolescents who have difficulty talking about their feelings may show their emotional tension, physical discomfort, pain and low self-esteem with self-injurious behaviors. Although some teenagers may feel relief following the act of harming themselves, others may feel hurt, anger, fear and hate. The effects of peer pressure can also influence adolescents to injure themselves. Even though fads come and go, most of the wounds on the adolescents' skin will be permanent. Occasionally, teenagers may hide their scars, burns and bruises due to feeling embarrassed, rejected or criticized about their physical appearance. biting head banging bruising hitting tattooing excessive body piercing What can parents and teenagers do about self-injury? Identify feelings and talk them out rather than acting on them. Distract themselves from feelings of self-harm (ex. practicing breathing, exercises, journaling, drawing,) Stop, think, and evaluate the pros and cons of self-injury. Practice positive stress management. Develop better social skills. Self-injury Self-injury is an act of deliberately destroying body tissue, at times to change a way of feeling. Self-injury is seen differently by groups and cultures within society. This appears to have become more popular lately, especially in adolescents. The causes and severity of self-injury can vary. Some forms may include: Evaluation by a mental health professional may assist in identifying and treating the underlying causes of self-injury. Feelings of wanting to die or kill themselves are reasons for adolescents to seek professional emergency care. A child and adolescent psychiatrist can also diagnose and treat the serious psychiatric disorders that may accompany self- injurious behavior.

Advice For Parents Sometimes parents tend to react before they think things through, when it comes to their children. If they feel a set of friends are not who their children should be around they forbid them to ever hang with them again without coming up with the best solution. Sometimes telling an adolescent that they cannot see a certain group of friends leads to rebellion or loss of communication between the parent and child, which is never good. Here is some advice for parents dealing with children with friends that they think are bad influences: Get to know the friends of your teen. Learn their names, invite them into your home so you can talk and listen to them, and introduce yourself to their parents. Do not attack your child's friends. Remember that criticizing your teen's choice of friends is like a personal attack. Help your teen understand the difference between image (expressions of youth culture) and identity (who he or she is). Keep the lines of communication open and find out why these friends are important to your teenager. Check whether your concerns about their friends are real and important. Talk to your teenager about behavior and choices -- not the friends. If you believe your concerns are serious. Encourage your teen's independence by supporting decision-making based on principles and not other people. Let your teen know of your concerns and feelings. Encourage reflective thinking by helping your teen think about his or her actions in advance and discussing immediate and long-term consequences of risky behavior. Remember that we all learn valuable lessons from mistakes. Peer Pressure Peer pressure is influence on a peer group, observers or individual exerts that encourages others to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform to groups. Where does peer pressure come from? Peer pressure can be present at school or within a broader community. It can affect people of all ages and backgrounds. Peer pressure can affect you in a number of different ways: Directly. Peer pressure can be as simple and direct as someone telling you what to do. It might be a good idea to talk to someone you trust if you feel threatened, or if you are being hurt or pressured into something you don’t want to do. You could talk to a family member, friend, teacher or counselor. Check out the Get Help section for more information about how they can help. Indirectly. Peer pressure might not always be obvious to you. It’s not uncommon for a group of friends to have particular habits or activities that they do together. But when you’re with a different group of friends, it might be unlikely that you do those same things. For example, you might only smoke when you are with certain friends, or you might be more likely to study when you are with other friends. Individually. Sometimes the pressure comes from you. Feeling different from a group can be hard. Sometimes this happens when people move to a new city or start a new school or job. This often means having to make new friends and fit into a new environment. To avoid feeling out of place, you might do things to make sure you feel like the rest of the group. When people feel unsure about themselves, they might be more likely to feel the effects of peer pressure.