{"id":13866,"date":"2016-03-10T11:22:55","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T11:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?p=13866"},"modified":"2016-03-10T11:22:55","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T11:22:55","slug":"lets-talk-about-self-harm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/politics-social-justice\/lets-talk-about-self-harm","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s talk about self-harm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Self-harm is a major cause of concern yet it’s rarely spoken about. Head Above The Waves wants to bring a change, by starting a conversation.<\/h2>\n

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It’s something you don’t talk about, something you don’t discuss in public. That’s the reason self-harm has negative connotation attached to it. It is seen as depressed people cutting themselves or taking drugs. A wrong assumption, a bad stereotype.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is more than people cutting themselves. \u00a0There are different behaviors that are harmful. That could be, physical, emotional, eating disorders, substance abuse and many more,”\u00a0says Hannah Morgan, co-founder of Head Above The Waves.<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds, \u201cI feel self-harm is something that affects everyone. Whether you are doing it yourself or you know someone who is doing it or if you don\u2019t realize that what you are doing is harmful to yourself.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Heads Above The Waves(HATW) is a not-for-profit organisation founded by Hannah Morgan and Si Martin three years ago. Through HATW, they aim to make it easier for people \u00a0to talk about self-harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set up the organisation three years ago. It was born from personal experiences. Si and I have experienced self-harm behaviours while growing up. Now, we provide youngsters with the support that we didn\u2019t get. We wanted to form an organization that can speak to young people on their level, \u201csays Hannah.<\/p>\n

Everybody has bad days and it helps if you talk to someone about it, she adds. \u201cPeople start harming themselves for different reasons. A way to control your emotions or to feel something if you are feeling emotionally numb or taking out your aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Though they started in a small way, they have come a long way in reaching out to people. \u00a0\u201cIt started with Si (Martin) wanting to make t-shirts with cool designs that would start conversations. But we also wanted to start a website to share stories about how they had overcome self-harm issues and young people could see the different ways people had coped with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based in Cardiff, they conduct workshops with secondary schools around Cardiff. They make the students understand creative coping techniques as an alternative to self-harm. Through discussions and self-assessment, they encourage the students to talk about negative emotions and learn how to deal with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do activities in the schools that has worked for people and we have discussions. It\u2019s a mixture of everything. It has been very effective. People ask us to do more workshops,\u201d says Hannah.<\/p>\n

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