There’s a new article by Kelli Woodard at Youth Ministry Exchange about a disturbing, confusing, and surprisingly common phenomenon among young people: self-mulitation, or “cutting.” It can be hard for a parent, youth minister, or other adult to understand why a teenager would hurt themselves; and if medical resources about self-mutiliation are scarce, resources exploring the spiritual side of cutting are even more so. But cutting is a serious issue and a symptom of very real emotional problems that must be addressed.

Woodard’s article is a good primer on the cutting phenomenon, and offers practical guidelines to help you respond appropriately if the issue ever crops up in your family or youth ministry.

By: Andy. This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Youth Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.