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Letter to teacher about self harm

Jacob101Jacob101 Posts: 687 Incredible Poster
As some of you may know from the live chats that i have written out a letter to give to my college teacher about my self harm. Here is the letter:

I want to talk to you about something private, can we arrange a one to one?, hoping that after telling you all of it im hoping that you will support me and give me extra help with my work and let my other subject teachers know so they all understand as well, all I want to happen to feel more relaxed and not like im keeping this crazy secret at college, I feel like if I tell you then it would be a massive weight off my shoulders.

I want to discuss with you about what I have written below in private so I can talk about it more and to get you to understand more with what happened since May, I understand that you are only a teacher but Childline has helped me to write up this letter and they told me to just talk to someone who I feel most comfortable talking to and someone I trust.

Hello,
I am writing to you because I feel there is something which is important which I feel you should really know, I have been thinking about if I should tell you or not since August because it’s a very personal and quite upsetting topic but I thought to myself that if you knew then you would understand my behavior better and why I am so withdrawn.

I really don’t know how to tell you this so I will start from the beginning and then get to the main problem, as you may know one of my friends took his own life on the last week of the last academic year and it hit me like a tonne of bricks and has brought up many bad emotions and I haven’t been coping with these very well, before losing my friend I had been coping with panic attacks due to an hidden issue which I now know is generalized anxiety disorder and I am more sensitive to stress and I find talking to a group of people more daunting than most other people. Anyway, after my friend took his own life a week after that another one of my friends tried to take her own life and that only made me feel worse and I started to feel more upset and began to get worried about myself as I found it hard to even get out of bed in the morning sometimes so that was the point when I knew things had to change for the better so I started talking to Childline.

But then realising that talking to people around me was a lot harder than I thought and trying to tell people around me seemed like an impossible task, I turned to self-harm, I took my upset, frustration and anger out on myself, I know it is wrong but it feels like the only way which I could release those emotions, on the 7th August I finally went to see a doctor and my cousin came with me as I told him everything via Facebook and the doctor basically told me that I need to stop, diagnosed me with depression, generalized anxiety disorder and gave me a leaflet about self-referring to a local cognitive behavioural therapy service so I done that and when writing this letter I still haven’t started therapy. My parents know that I have self-referred for therapy and that I have anxiety issues but that’s it and if possible I would very much want to keep this confidential but at the very most I wouldn’t mind my other subjects teachers to know about this matter.
I am improving and going more and more days without self-harming and I have today (14th august) been 10 days clean and I hope it stays that way but I do have tough days and I go through rocky parts…I am still the ambitious and hard working person that I used to be but I just wanted you to know about this.

I hope you understand

Kind Regards
Jessica People

''You were in the wilderness
Looking for your own purpose
Then you became a butterfly, a butterfly
I knew you always would''

- James Arthur (YOU)

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hi, the letter sounds great. It's great that you've taken these steps to get help. It's quite a mature thing to do for your age as well. Teachers and colleges are well trained to help people like you and so they should be supportive of your case. I hope it goes well for you.
  • Jacob101Jacob101 Posts: 687 Incredible Poster
    Thank you Ybe7, im crazily nervous about giving my tutor the letter but i guess i need to get over that barrier to start getting help
    ''You were in the wilderness
    Looking for your own purpose
    Then you became a butterfly, a butterfly
    I knew you always would''

    - James Arthur (YOU)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Maybe you could leave it on their desk in their office if you don't want to give it to them in person? Or you could go to their office when they're there and hand it to them?
  • Jacob101Jacob101 Posts: 687 Incredible Poster
    yeah good idea, i might put the letter on her desk just before i leave the lesson or pass it to another teacher and tell them to hand it to my tutor
    ''You were in the wilderness
    Looking for your own purpose
    Then you became a butterfly, a butterfly
    I knew you always would''

    - James Arthur (YOU)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I wouldn't leave it on a desk in a classroom though. If you do leave it on a desk, make sure it's in her office or a staff room where other students can't get to it and it would be a good idea to tell another teacher that you're putting it there as well.
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