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Rex
UK News

"Christians make a huge amount of mistakes" when talking about self-harm, says counsellor

NHS statistics reveal that the number girls under 18 admitted to hospital after self-harm have doubled in the last 20 years - there were 13,463 treated last year, compared to 7,327 in 1997.

Annie Cluley has been a counsellor for 30 years, with most of those visiting her being Christians who want her to include the gospel in their sessions.

She told Premier that a lot of her time is spent on correcting things that her clients have heard at church which haven't helped:

"I think I've had to undo an awful lot of very unhelpful remarks that Christians make and I think what I want is a good pastoral training in every church because I really feel quite strongly that people are so uneducated in this area.

"Christians make a huge amount of mistakes, and people out in the world, and thank God the (government) are spending £300 million on educating in schools - and I think I don't care where they get good education from about what's going with self-harm and bullying as long as there's good input.

"On the whole I would say Christians can be quite un-doing of some of the good works - they just say - 'Oh, let's pray about it'"

Cluely explained what other phrases can be unhelpful but are commonly used:

"'Bring it to foot of the Cross' or 'You shouldn't be doing this, you're a Christian', 'You should know better'...it's all out of ignorance because they don't know how to deal with it and actaully the more useful thing for people in churches to say is 'I really don't understand, I can't help you but I know someone who can'".

Listen to the full interview here: 

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