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Hello my lovely people, I hope your all well and your having a really nice day.
This video is gonna be about another one of our factsheets.
This one is about self injury for an employer
Basically it's from the perspective of, if you think that one of your workers is self harming, how you should go about it.
And how you should help them. Basically this is a really good leaflet, well fact sheet, it's not a leaflet, it's a fact sheet.
Because it sort of tells you what self injury is, there is a whole section on that, and we see self injury as a deliberate form of someone hurting themselves,
causing harm to themselves, it doesn't mean the person needs to be mentally unstable, so they are still fit for work, so you shouldn't worry about that.
You shouldn't judge them on that front,
also it talks about the TYPES of self injury, which is mostly cutting but is also not limited to cutting.
It can be burning or bruising yourself intentionally. It sort of gives you an idea of what to look out for in a way.
What this sheet will emphasize to you I think if your an employer is that anyone can self injure, it is literally anyone that can self injure
so if you think that a person "isn't that kind of person" - rubbish! Of course they are, everyone is potentially "that kind of person"
It is not a problem, it is not an addiction so to speak, it's a coping mechanism, a way someone is choosing to deal with stress or an emotional distress in their life
they are turning to self injury to cope with that distress. It's not some mental disease if you will, it's not something like that as a lot of media will have you believe
it's not something that means someone is unfit to work and this is the thing we need to stress to you here, is that just because a person self injures does not mean
they are unfit to work, they are.
If you suspect that an employee is self harming then you should first consider, if you suspect that a employee is self harming and it is not affecting their work
your first and only concern should be for their emotional welfare. Technically you have nothing to suspend/discipline/question them for
the only reason you should be concerned is for their emotional welfare, and that is great.
Because, people need to know that there are people behind them that are there to support them.
It would be really good if you could let them know that you are concerned for them and that you are available to listen.
If there is anything at work that can be changed a bit that could potentially take the stress off them a little bit, or help them. Working at home or something like that for a day or so, or a week.
Just little things like that, that can help a lot to an individual.
What I would like to stress though is if self injury is disclosed to you then please keep it confidential as you would with anything else if an employee would come to you.
You have to remember, that this is a matter of personal health, it is not a matter of gossip. It is not something you can spread around the office, at all.
This person has come to you in distress and they are expecting professionalism and confidentiality so please follow through with that.
If work IS affected, basically an employee can't be sacked simply because they self harm, end of.
Whatever your opinions of self harm are, that is NOT grounds for dismissal.
But if it is affecting their work and other colleagues you may have to discuss with them, other ways to manage their stress,
or how they might manage their self injury while continuing to work there.
You know, it's about an open dialogue, it's any problems you have with an employee that is self injuring you need to keep an open dialogue
as to what you can do to help them, what you CAN'T do to help them, that's an important one.
You need to know your own limits and make sure this person knows them too.
An employee who is using self injury often is very, very dedicated and is generally just trying to be a good worker and find the best way to cope.
So, keeping this open dialogue with them is a great way to make sure that you know everyone gets what they want out of a situation,
and maybe you can help them a little bit. Which is great!
This fact sheet is brilliant, it is one of our fact sheets, we have got quite a few.
This is a non color version cause I'm a student and I can't afford color printing (laughs) but the real version is really colorful.
I'll put a link down below in the description as to where you can get it, where you can download it and where you can print it out.
It's full of information of what you need to know, what you can help with, it's really good basically. So yeah, I'll put the link to that.
If you would like to talk with like minded people please go onto our forum, you can talk to people on there, get a discussion going.
It's a really nice community when you self injure, or again are an employee you can get insight, shall we say.
You can also follow us on twitter, tumblr or facebook. We are everywhere you could possibly want us on social networks, we are there.
So please, give this video a like, share it with your friends and maybe add to favourites if you enjoyed it or thought it was useful.
So thanks a lot guys and I hope your all okay, stay strong.