I understand why you are so worried about your granddaughter. Any self-injury by a teen is very concerning. It sounds like your granddaughter is hurting a lot right now, and she's lucky that you care so much for her and are willing to do anything to help. Now more than ever, teens are turning to self-injury as a way of coping with stress, anger, hurt, and depression. It's hard to tell what feelings your granddaughter is experiencing right now, but regardless, she certainly isn't expressing them in a healthy way. Some teens even use self-injury as a way to cry out for help and attention. The concerning part about teens self injuring is that they often don't know when or how to stop. Although most teens that use self-injury as a coping skill don't do it as an attempt to end their life, cutting can lead to unintentional life threatening injuries. In the heat of the moment teens can be unaware of how deep they are cutting, or how much they are really hurting themselves.

The key to helping a youth that self-injures is to get them counseling from someone that can help them learn healthy ways of dealing with their negative feelings. You mentioned that your granddaughter won't talk to a counselor because she won't open up to a stranger. It's understandable that she would feel very apprehensive about doing this. In fact, many teens that are in counseling are not there by choice. Encourage her to remember that it take a few sessions to get comfortable with someone. Also remind her that an outside counselor is a great person to talk to because they won't bring their emotions to the session as they might find when talking to parents or other close relatives.

If your granddaughter still refuses to talk to a counselor, have her come up with another trusted adult she feels comfortable talking to. This could be a youth group leader, a coach, or a neighbor. Your granddaughter needs to guarantee her mom that she will spend a specific amount of time with that adult talking about her feelings every week. It's also important that your daughter finds out what your granddaughter is using to self-injure and eliminate those objects.

Again, it's great that your granddaughter has someone like you that cares so much and wants to be a part of her recovery. Please feel free to call us if you want to talk to us further about your situation.  Take care.

Boys Town National Hotline
1-800-448-3000