Self-harm or self-cutting is defined as the intentional way of hurting yourself without any suicidal intentions or thoughts. Self-harm is also a way of expressing and dealing with deep distress and emotional pain. It can be done by: cutting or severely scratching your skin, burning or scalding yourself, hitting yourself or banging your head (Helpguide.org, 2018). According to MFMER, there’s no one single or simple cause that leads to someone to self-injure. It also stated that mix of emotions that triggers self-harm or self-injury is complex. A person can feel that he/she is hopeless, rejected, confused, angry, and many other emotions. It could also be caused by the pressure he/she is getting from the school, his/her parents, and the society. Untreated depression and other mental health challenges may also be a cause to self-harm or self-cut.
This advocacy blog will help stop self-harming or self-cutting among teenagers, especially high school students. This presents steps of identifying the number of cases regarding self-harm/self-cutting, ways of stopping or decreasing the number of cases, and school engagement that may help students lessen their experience of emotional distress.
MISSION: To look for remedies for increasing number of students engaging themselves with Self-harm or self-cutting while dealing with emotional distress and create programs in school that will make them productive and forget about the emotional distress they are experiencing.
VISION: To become an organization or community that monitors the condition and issues of high school students, especially those who are often experiencing emotional distress.
Stakeholders: High school students, Teachers, Administration of the School, Local Government
Set-up/Structure: Select 30 random students to be surveyed in the High School department for determining the students who often experience emotional distress due to the pressure in school, teachers, school works and at home and some other issues.
Action Plan:
Objective: Lessen the cases of high school students who are self-harming or self-cutting by creating programs and activities in schools
Target Audience: High School Students
Messages: According to Healthy Place, 2017, self-injury statistics show that this disturbing phenomenon is a real and present danger to vulnerable people worldwide. This is also prominent to high school students since it is the stage wherein they are starting to experience reality and begin to encounter great amount of stress in school. In this, we would be able to look for remedies to the increasing number of cases involving students who self-harm or self-cut through school-engagement programs/activities.
Messengers: The partners are the parents, teachers, school administration, and other advocates.
Activities and Opportunities: The teachers, school administration, and local government will be working together to trace the cases of high school students who self-harm or self-cut and create programs in school that will lessen the cases regarding this issue.
Resources: Resources and funding will be coming from the local government that will aid in creating this project.
Costs and Risks: There must be risk-managing units coming from the primary source to weigh in the risks and costs.
Indicator of Progress: Participants (teachers and school administrations) should administer a system as to which the project is monitored for progress.
Discussion:
This project aims to lessen the cases of Filipino youth experiencing deep emotional struggles and find themselves in a situation wherein all they can do is to self-harm or self-cut. It will be initiated with a survey in High schools with 30 students participating this survey. Questions to be asked will be about Emotional Distress and factors contributing to what they are experiencing. Teachers, school administration, and local government will then evaluate the current state of the issue that is being brought; which is the issue about Emotional Distress.
After evaluating its current state, coordination with the local government will result to an organization that aims to build programs and activities for the students to be engaged and somehow forget about the burden they are getting from those factors contributing to their stress; whether it’s about school, family, and/or society. A unit of it will then sustain and monitor the said project to get to its own vision.
After doing this project or study, local government is to address some regulations for the schools. It should be regulated around the schools and should be maintained for the students. These remedies will help the students to be more productive and engaged in school works while not thinking of the stress they are experiencing with their lives; it will also help them to not see the school as a burden, but a place where they can express whatever they think and/or feel.
Action Plan Template:
Disclaimer: This advocacy blog is form compliance to our requirements in the course Academic Writing only. It is a concept paper for presentation purposes only. It is a nonfunctional advocacy campaign.
Sources:
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/cutting-and-self-harm.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-harm
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/cutting-self-harm-signs-treatment#1
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/self-injury/symptoms-causes/syc-20350950
https://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/self-injury/self-injury-self-harm-statistics-and-facts/
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/23/nhs-figures-show-shocking-rise-self-harm-young-people
Images:
https://whyuniverse.com/why-do-people-cut-themselves/
https://vantagepointrecovery.com/self-harm-treatment/
http://www.dths.com.au/activities-events/
http://chs.cusd.com/athletics/cougars/activities
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