Laura Harmon started harming herself during her freshman year because of stress and depression.
“Last year I changed majors. I had no idea what I was doing. It was so overwhelming,” said Harmon, a 20-year-old UF wildlife ecology sophomore. “By the time I knew about the resources on campus, I was already too far into it to go for help.”
March is Self-Harm Awareness Month, and for UF students considering harmful actions, Harmon said she recommends they seek help from the resources found on campus.
Self-harm is an issue that affects the entire community, said UPD spokesman Maj. Brad Barber. In his 18 years with University Police, Barber said he’s seen an overall rise in the number of self-harm incidents.
Between 2012 and 2013, there were more than 230 self-harm situations that resulted in police intervention and potentially more that were never reported, Barber said.
But these numbers might be starting to decrease with the use of resources on campus as well as crisis intervention training for UPD officers, he said.
“If you are one of those seeking help or feel like you are in this type of situation, please reach out,” Barber said. “Contact someone who can provide you with the resources you need.”
These include the U Matter, We Care program and the Counseling & Wellness Center.
The center is a resource that offers individual counseling and group sessions to help students build stress tolerance and find healthier mechanisms for dealing with problems, said Ju-Ri Joeng, a psychology intern at the wellness center.
What motivates people to harm themselves varies, she said. Some people never had the chance to develop healthy coping strategies, and some received attention or other reinforcement to lead them to it.
“We try to do our very best to have every student meet their needs here,” Joeng said.
In the initial counseling meeting, students discuss confidentiality with their counselors before personal information or stories are shared, Joeng said.
But simply having a friend to talk to can make all the difference for self-harming students, Harmon said, especially because it can be intimidating to talk to counselors.
That was true for Harmon, who said a good friend helped her through by suggesting healthier alternatives to stress-relieving.
Harmon no longer hurts herself.
“Just give different options, and don’t be confrontational,” Joeng said.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 3/24/2014 under the headline "Gators raise self-harm awareness"]
