Two weeks ago, Sonia from Life Love and Hiccups started the story of her scars. In the comment section of her blog, I also shared a little of the story of my scars, of the feelings that I had towards them and the stigma that followed. I have been thinking a lot about this recently, and a reaction from a man in the supermarket last week has renewed this desire to share.
Bio Oil have launched the Skin Stories Campaign in the hopes that through stories shared will help to rid the shame surrounding our differening skin conditions. To help get the conversation started, Bio Oil is donating $5 for each story shared on the Bio Oil Facebook Page, to the organisation ‘Look Good, Feel Better. Look Good, Feel Better is an initiative started by the Cosmetic Industry Community that helps cancer patients.
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If the ‘fashion world’ is to be believed, plus size starts at size 12-14. I call fucking bullshit! How on earth are we supposed to portray to our children that size isn’t everything, when a world that is so dominant to a teenager is telling them that they are ‘overweight’ at a size 12-14. There is so much outrage…and yet nothing is done.
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*The following post may be triggering to those who are struggling with self harm thoughts. Please make sure you are feeling safe before reading.*
If you or someone you know is contemplating hurting themselves please get in contact with a GP, go to your closes ED or give the wonderful people at Lifeline a call. On 60 minutes on Sunday, they did a story on Self Harm. I will admit that I was apprehensive about it and didn’t actually watch it until it was available online. After I knew that other people had watched it. After I knew whether they had portrayed it in an understanding light. I just knew that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with it, if it was anything else. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I have self harmed in the past. It is something that I deal with on a constant basis. It is something that I will probably deal with for the rest of my life. Was it easy to stop? No. Not at all. Self harm has been toted as ‘attention seeking’ among other derogatory things. Things like that do nothing for the shame and guilt that someone who self harms or has self harmed feels. The worst comments I have received have actually been from ‘professionals’. The pearlers have been when presenting to the local Emergency Departmet with injuries that needed medical attention ranging from ‘so’, ‘you know you’re doing it the wrong way’ to when presenting with self harm thoughts and not actions ‘just come back when you’ve done it’. Emergency Departments are the first port of call for mental health patients and really need to be trained in ways to deal with these patients. Psychiatrist Professor Graham Martin talks about it during his interview.“I hear of therapists running away. I hear of people in hospital running away. Nursing staff who can’t face up to somebody who has cut themselves deliberately. Because they’re not important, and they did it to themselves, and they’re just attention seeking. I don’t believe any of that. I think when somebody goes to these lengths, they need help.”
Staff in the emergency departments of hospitals are reported as being negative or ambivalent toward suicidal or self-harming individuals. According to the literature, these patients are subjected to stigmatization and lack of empathy. This phenomenon has been linked to a decreased quality of care offered to these individuals and to missing an important opportunity to prevent further suicidal behavior or repetition of deliberate self-harm’
