Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) has evolved into a serious issue for adolescents, and is encountered in school systems across the United States. The ability of school counselors and other professionals working in the school environment to understand and assist students who exhibit signs of NSSI is critically important. Research remains minimal on…

Schools have a demonstrated need for student non-suicidal self-injury protocols and school counselors play an important role in the development and implementation of such procedures. This article presents an overview of school counselor considerations related to developing and implementing a self-injury protocol. It provides an example of a…

The relationship between self-injury (SI) and suicide is largely unclear. However, researchers have suggested that clients who self-injure are at a heightened risk of suicide (Chapman & Dixon-Gordon, 2007; Toprak, Cetin, Guven, Can, & Demircan, 2011]). Thus, it is important that college counselors be knowledgeable about both SI and…

The purpose of this article is to present creative ways that chain analysis techniques, an intervention used in dialectical behavior therapy, can be used to address clients' nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors. A description and rationale for using chain analysis techniques with clients who self-injure is provided. An illustrative case example is…

This article presents guided imagery as an intervention that can be used to address clients' nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors. Guided imagery is a behavioral therapy technique that involves the use of positive thoughts or images to regulate negative emotional experiences, and it can be used to prevent and manage impulses to self-injure.…

One of the more controversial issues in working with people who self-injure is whether counselors should use no-harm contracts. Important therapeutic considerations include the efficacy of such contracts or agreements in preventing self-injury, the emotional and behavioral responses of clients, and the perceived protection these contracts or…

In this article, self-injurious behaviors are examined through the conceptual framework of relational cultural theory (RCT). As an emerging theoretical approach that takes into account the importance of relationships and relational goals, it is suggested that RCT be used in conjunction with mainstream approaches to treat self-injury.

This article provides readers with an understanding of self-injury assessment. The article begins with a critical review of a number of self-injury assessments. The latter section of the article introduces a comprehensive two-tiered approach to accurately assessing self-injury. Implications for counselors related to the assessment of self-injury…

When students reach adolescence, they have often been known to devise destructive outlets for their self-expression (e.g., suggestive dress, tattoos, piercing, and sexual risk-taking). Recently growing in popularity, to almost epidemic proportions in the general adolescent population, is the act of self-injury. Self-injury refers to the…

This article presents a family competency-based treatment approach that capitalizes on the strengths and resources of self-injuring adolescents and their families. Throughout the article, the author provides therapeutic tools and strategies that he has found effective in his clinical practice of working with self-injuring youth and their families…

Family therapy can be an important component of a comprehensive treatment plan when counseling adolescents who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury. The authors provide a rationale for the use of letter writing as a therapeutic intervention when counseling families in which an adolescent engages in nonsuicidal self-injury. Descriptions of types of…

This article offers a guide for using the Safe Kit when working with clients who self-injure. The Safe Kit can be used as a supplement to more traditional approaches to counseling and offers clients alternatives to self-injury when they need alternatives the most. The Safe Kit works under the assumption that individuals differ in the meaning they…

This article proposes a framework that can be used by college counselors to assist in the development and implementation of a campus wide intervention that is congruent with sound clinical and administrative practices. A view of self-injurious behavior (SIB) informed by trauma theory espouses clinical treatment and a community response that has a…

In this book, group work and college counseling leaders offer step-by-step instruction in the effective use and processing of structured group activities on topics such as test anxiety; stress and anxiety management; ADHD; career development; substance abuse; eating disorders; and the unique concerns faced by GLBT students, first-generation…

This article reviews current literature on self-mutilation, comprises a definition, examines gender differences, and describes the profile of the self-mutilator in order that school counselors and other personnel may make accurate risk assessments. Precipitating events are described to aid school counselors in anticipating a harmful event.…