Self Injury

The mission of this website is to help teen boys, their parents, teachers, and health care providers improve their understanding of normal health and development, as well as of specific diseases and conditions. We want to empower teen boys and young men around the world to take an active role in their own health care. The self-injury section of the website includes a series of questions written from a young person's perspective, with answers and information for getting help, other websites, books, and related links.

The mission of this website is to help teen girls, their parents, teachers, and health care providers improve their understanding of normal health and development, as well as of specific diseases and conditions. We want to empower teen girls and young women around the world to take an active role in their own health care. The self-injury section of the website includes a series of questions written from a young person's perspective, with answers and information for getting help, other websites, books, and related links.

The Needham Health Department offers a range of mental health services for citizens of the town. Public Health Nurses provide confidential counseling and referrals to all ages. Short-term home-based services for at-risk teenagers and their families are provided through Riverside Community Care's Alternative Youth Services program. The program includes family counseling, advocacy, information, and referral. Call the Health Department for more information on these free services. The town's Substance Abuse Prevention and Education program provides informational programs, educational resources, and confidential substance abuse support services for Needham youth, adults, and seniors. Contact Carol Read at the Health Department to find out more about inpatient and outpatient treatment, individual and group counseling, and peer support resources regarding substance abuse, addiction and chemical dependency.

This is a town-funded department which provides professional and confidential mental health services to youth and their families in Needham. It offers support, information, and direction on issues such as peer relationships, stress, grief and loss, substance use, suicide, and other concerns. Most services are free of charge. The department collaborates regularly with civic and community organizations on a variety of projects.

The Cornell Research Program on Self-Injurious Behavior in Adolescents and Young Adults has two primary goals: a) to conduct cutting edge research on self-injurious behavior (also called non-suicidal self-injury) and b) to translate research findings from their studies and other studies into usable knowledge for parents, youth-serving professionals, individuals with self-injury experience, medical professionals, and others. The program's work is also intended to explore the relationship of self-injury to other mental health conditions (suicide and eating disorders, for example) and to shed light on contextual conditions that increase and reduce the likelihood that young people will engage in self-injurious behaviors. The website includes factsheets for parents and teens on helping friends and loved ones with their behavior, learning alternative coping strategies, and treating self-injury in a professional context. There are also listings of the latest research articles on the topic.

S.A.F.E. ALTERNATIVES is a nationally recognized treatment approach, professional network, and educational resource base, which is committed to helping you and others achieve an end to self-injurious behavior. The website offers information about the treatment approach, referrals to local mental health providers trained in S.A.F.E., and resources related to self-injury.