An epidemic. That’s what its become. It is now estimated that 105 of kids in the U.S. deliberately engage in self-harm. Far too many are cutting. I’ve blogged on cutting in the past. We’ve had a “Youth Culture Matters” podcast discussion with my good friend Marv Penner, an expert on the issue of self-injury. And, we’ve led numerous seminars on the issue.
Youth workers and parents. . . when it comes to the declining state of the mental and spiritual health of way too many of our kids, we need to sit up and take notice. And then, once we’ve noticed, we need to act. We need to point our hurting kids to the hope and healing offered by Jesus Christ. Youth workers, you sit a position between students and parents, which offers you a wonderful opportunity to raise the awareness of moms and dads.
To get you started on the journey of informing parents about the realities of self-harm, I’m sharing a helpful infographic (see below). Distribute it to parents. Then tomorrow, I’m going to share a blog on what we know about cutting and self-harm. And, if you live near central Pennsylvania, I want to invite you to join us for a 1-Day CPYU Youthworker/Parent Training Seminar. . . Hope and Healing for Broken Kids. . . on Saturday, March 10, from 8:30am until 5pm, in Paradise, PA. You can get more information and register here.