David:
A safe place—I’ve never had one. My home was a very fearful place. I could tell when violence was going to occur in my house just by what I’d done that day. I knew when my dad was gonna pick me up after work, I knew what was gonna happen.  Living with that for 12 years is complicated especially when you have no one to talk to about it. And when I did it to myself, it was really at the point where I realized that I was at this point in time feeling either depressed or frustrated to the extent that it was just overwhelming to no end. Just to get through the night or the rest of the day or whatever the case, just to get your mind off of it, I think, it helped.

Gina (playwright, recording artist):
The biggest issue for me was that in high school I was coming out.  I think that a lot of the fights that I was having with parents and teachers were totally centered around that, were just centered  around “surprise, I’m different” you know, and um, I definitely didn’t have access to any kind of queer community or resources and so there was definitely a feeling of, like, “Oh, great, I have this thing that I can’t do anything with and now I’m, like, completely isolated and I have to somehow deal with this, you know?

Shirley (recording artist):
I think one of the reasons it’s prevalent with women is because the way our culture is at present, it’s really unacceptable for girls to be violent. Boys and men have very acceptable means by which they can get rid of any aggression they may have whether it’s on the soccer field or if it’s basketball, usually it’s in sports. For girls, I think it’s really frowned on if a girl is violent. If she is, she’s seen as a freak. Girls are labeled bitches if they have any kind of fighting spirit, and therefore I think it’s an aggression in women that comes to the fore.

Kaylee:
Cutting, for me, was the only control that I really thought I had actually had… but in the end you just wonder if that is actually your control because you can’t stop sometimes or you need it… it’s the only thing that will make you feel better—and you shouldn’t let something like that control you.

Rachel:
People that think of kids that self harm, probably already think that they’re crazy. Really, that’s probably the main part, or that they’re looking for attention. Y’know. I think those are the two main ones that I would have to say. People that I’ve known just don’t cut to get attention. I think they’re trying to reach out and tell someone to help me, but they can’t actually put it into words themselves.

Lexii:
I had a couple friends that I shared it with that had also cut, and until I had spoke up about it, they had never said anything about it to anybody, so we all had shared that secret.

Ryan:
I would characterize it as just the y’know, manifestation of self hatred that I really had going for me at the time. I really just didn’t feel like I fit in anywhere, I really was just full of all sorts of resentment about people, in general, y’know.

Jacklyn:
I think honestly, right now, a lot of girls, they’ve got so much to live up to. Their self esteem has to be skyrocket, in order for them to fit in, and be this person that they can be comfortable, as long as they are a size 5 and 5’11”, and you know what I mean, that’s not right.

Anna:
Everybody thinks that y’know, cutting yourself, you must be nuts. Why would anybody sane want to do that? But you’re not crazy. You’ve got stuff that’s going on, and you don’t have a way to express it. I’m not crazy.

Marcia (mom):
Right, she’s got everything that you’d think you’d need to be successful, and yet she’s killing herself. She’s not killing herself in a terminal sort of way, although that happens frequently, and becomes the crisis , but it’s the… I’m killing what is me. I’m cutting this it’s the arms, the legs, the abdomen, the… everything I can hide inside of me is hurting so badly, but I’m destroying it.

Karen (Director, S.A.F.E. Alternatives®):
Teachers are in a very unique position because often times they’re going to be the first ones who notice this behavior. Kids tend to hide it more at home… If it’s not the teacher that notices it, it might be a friend. Bottom line, you have to talk about this. Self Injury is speaking to a lot of things
that are wrong in our society.

Tiffany (recording artist):
I noticed on the message board when I was getting ready to write for a record that I had a girl say, “Any cutters out there?”  And she was certainly not the first person that brought up self-injury, but for some reason just the way she said it and the response to her question… It was quite a response. It wasn’t just a girl showed up and said, “Me, too” It was, ‘me too’, ‘me too’, ‘me too’.

Nikki (counselor):
Look at society, we don’t handle, we don’t accept negative emotions. And so many times teens come to me just crying and so upset and tey can’t stop that. And all they need from me in that moment is for me to say, “it’s okay, you’re safe here and you can cry until you’re done.