Student project cuts to the chase

College of Health and Nursing Sciences program is earning widespread recognition for its informational project on the phenomenon known as self-harm, which often is referred to by young people as “cutting.”

Students in UD’s community clinical group, an honors nursing program, interviewed two young women who have been involved in cutting, a practice in which they injure themselves using sharp objects.

The students gathered information on resources that are available to deal with the problem, published a brochure and created a powerful video titled Self-Harm: Cutting to the Chase. The brochure and video are being made available to area middle and high schools.

“We had been researching the topic of self-mutilation and decided to do a documentary that could be shown to health classes in middle and high schools in the region,” Lisa McBeth-Snyder, an instructor in nursing, says. “We want to tell friends how they can help friends, teachers how they can help students and parents how they can help their children.”

McBeth-Snyder recommended the project to the group based on the experiences of her daughter, who first heard about cutting when she was a student in middle school and who was not sure how to deal with others who were becoming involved in the practice.

Although some of the UD nursing students in the group were aware of the problem before McBeth-Snyder began discussing it with them, they say they still have found the project to be an eye opener.

“The main thing I have learned through the project, and also through the cutters we interviewed, is that there are many different reasons why people choose to mutilate their bodies, but mainly it is because they have no other way to release or show their emotions,” Lindsay Fanelli, CHNS ’05, says.

“Therefore, they inflict pain on the outside to match the pain they are feeling on the inside. Others feel dead on the inside, and seeing the blood from the cuts reminds them they are alive. It is a growing problem that is affecting more people.”

Meredith Reardon, CHNS ’05, says she knew several cutters before the project and now “understands a little better what they were going through.”

Reardon says she has learned that there are no “typical” cutters but that each person among the estimated 2 million in the United States who engage in self-harm has her or his own story and reasons.

“It can happen to anyone, all races and backgrounds,” she says. “Some self-injurers have been sexually or physically abused. Some feel so much emotional pain that they can’t put it into words. I have learned not to ignore it or minimize it because it is often a cry for help.”

Through previous work with psychiatric patients, Ashley Borkowski, CHNS ’05, says she was well aware of the problem before the project but now has gained additional understanding.

“I have learned that it isn’t something that should be hidden,” she says. “It should be out in the open, no matter how scary it might be to a parent, friend or the cutter him or herself.”

The video urges teens to help a friend involved in self-harm by telling a trusted adult without delay. “This may be their only chance for help,” it says.
Dawn Chernokal, CHNS ’05, says working on the project has taught her that the healing and recovery period for cutters is often “long and hard” and that they need a great deal of support.

Fanelli says the goal of the project is to increase awareness throughout the community by getting the information into the hands of school officials, students, parents, teachers and guidance counselors.
“We thought if we could get the information out there, we could help others notice if their friends or family members are cutting and get them help before it gets too involved,”
she says.

“We also tried to target cutters and convince them there are other ways to cope and that they need to tell someone they trust in order to get help,” Fanelli adds. “The main message is to tell someone to break the silence—because that is the only way to start the process of getting better. If no one knows, then no one can help you.”

For more information on the project, contact McBeth-Snyder at (302) 831-8395.

—Neil Thomas, AS ’76