Dear FLA,

Alice supports you as you deal with your grief and sexual abuse issues. You also have been reaching out for help with your self-mutilation, also known as self-injury, self-harm, or self- abuse. Self-injurious behaviors can be symptoms of other issues, such as past emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse (as in your case). It's good to deal with these issues first in order to help you recover from self-injury.

In your question, you mention S.A.F.E. Alice assumes you are referring to the Self-Abuse Finally Ends Alternatives Program located at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Illinois. S.A.F.E. offers a variety of services for people who self-injure, including group and individual therapy, in- and out-patient treatment, and a partial, or day, hospital. S.A.F.E. also provides education and support for people who self-injure. In particular, you may be interested in their therapy groups. At the present time, S.A.F.E. may be the only center in the U.S. to offer therapy groups dealing specifically with self-injury. Even if you are not located near them, you can contact their information line at (800)-DON'T-CUT / -366-8288. You can also check out the S.A.F.E. website for more information about the S.A.F.E. Alternatives Program, which is in the process of branching out nationwide.

At the present time, few self-injury specific support groups exist. According to S.A.F.E., since the structure and philosophy of many of these groups may end up doing more harm than good for self-injurers, S.A.F.E. recommends that support groups be attended, if at all, after going through an intensive inpatient and/or day treatment program that addresses the self-injury.

In addition to S.A.F.E., you may also find the following resources helpful:

• Bodily Harm

by Karen Conterio and Wendy Lader

• Women Who Hurt Themselves: A Book of Hope and Understanding

by Dusty Miller

• Self-Mutilation: Theory, Research, and Treatment

by Barent W. Walsh and Paul M. Rosen

• Self-Mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry

by Armando R. Favazza

• "Cutting: The Thin Red Line"

by Jennifer Egan

in The New York Times Magazine

July 27, 1997

• The Luckiest Girl in the World and Cutting: Understanding and Overcoming Self-Mutilation

both books by Steven Levenkron

• The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis

S.A.F.E. and these other resources provide information, suggestions, insight, and/or resources that may be useful to you.

For the benefit of Alice! readers unfamiliar with self-mutilation, according to S.A.F.E., it is the deliberate, repetitive, impulsive, non-lethal harming of one's self. Self-injurers can also have an eating disorder at the same time. People who self-injure (as well as people with eating disorders) often inflict harmful behaviors on themselves to help gain a sense of control in their lives, to take away the pain, to cope with the stresses and anxieties of life, to comfort themselves, and/or to punish or blame themselves for what happened in their past.

Alice will be thinking of you.

Alice

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