A new poll, commissioned in the run up to Self-Harm Awareness Day has shed light on the number of 11-21 year olds exposed to online self-harm images.
Organised by ChildLine, selfharmUK, YoungMinds and YouthNet, the research found over half of 11-14 year olds have either self-harmed themselves or know someone who has self-harmed, whilst eight out of every ten 18-21 year olds say they have self-harmed or know someone who has self-harmed.
Key findings
- One in every four 11-14 year olds and seven out of ten 18-21 year olds said they had seen images online showing someone self-harming
- Of those who had seen an image of someone self-harming, over half of all 11-14 year olds and one in every four 18-21 year olds said they had 'felt like hurting themselves' after seeing these images
- Of those who d seen an image of someone self-harming, nine out of every ten 11-14 year olds and eight out of every ten - 18-21year olds said they had found the images upsetting
- Of those who had seen an image of someone self-harming, six out of every ten 11-14 year olds and one in ten 18-21 year olds said they had shared images of someone self-harming on social media
- Over half of all 11-21 year olds said they wouldn't know how to report an image of someone self-harming on social media
- Around a third of 11-18 year olds and 69% of 18-21 year olds said they would go online for support and information about self-harm
One of the other issues, worrying youth charities is the number of young people who are being exposed to self-harming through social media.
Almost three quarters of 18-21 year olds said they'd seen images online showing someone self-harming and one in four said they had felt like hurting themselves as a result.
Speaking on Premier's News Hour, Rachel Welch called on those in churches to do more to understand what's happening so they can make a difference.
She said: "They're all engaging with social media so it's critically important that youth workers and other people from within the church are using those same places.
"It's important we go to where the young people are; we can't just take a step back and be really passive about this,
"The fact is all young people...are going to be seeing things, whether it's self-harm or anything else, that at some point are going to cause them distress.
"It's absolutely critical that the church is right there in the middle supporting young people."
The research has been released to mark Self-Harm Awareness Day taking place on Sunday March 1.
Listen to Rachel Welch speaking to Premier's Marcus Jones: