Self-injury occurs among adolescents and young adults for the most part with 17 to 18 percent of young people reporting they have engaged in self-injury at least one time in their lives. This injury can take the form of burns, cutting, hair pulling, interfering with wound healing, ingesting harmful substances and on and on.

In this 90-minute WebRemix, Kim Johancen, LPC discusses the forms and functions of self-injury. She provides an overview of the prevalence of and mental health connections to this behavior. Discover the whys behind SI and understand the risk factors. Kim explores successful strategies for helping students engaging in SI that educators can put into practice in their schools and classrooms.

Learning Objectives:

» Understand the function and forms of SI

» Know the definition of SI

» Understand why people engage in SI

» Mental health conditions that may contribute to the behavior

» Risk factors

» Discover the differences between internalizers and externalizers

» Know the difference between life-threatening SI and Non-Suicidal SI

» Explore skills and strategies that work to help curtail SI

» Communicate understanding

» Externalizing the behavior

» Change the relationship with SI

About the Presenter

Kim Johancen is a licensed professional counselor with over twenty years of experience working with clients who have experienced trauma. Her career includes working with adolescent and adult survivors dealing with complicated grief and loss – including sexual trauma, relationship loss, individuals and families who have been impacted by suicide, and clients struggling with self-injury. In addition to seeing adolescents, adults, and families, Kim also has experience facilitating both small and large groups including crisis debriefings at local agencies in Durango, Colorado where she resided until recently. Kim has been invited to present at numerous conferences and seminars both locally and nationally and has presented her work on self-injury at Harvard University and her work with suicidal patients at Stony Brook University in New York. In addition to her clinical work Kim has also been asked to contribute a chapter to Matthew Selekman’s Adolescent and Young Adult Self-Harming Treatment Manual and has published over nine articles with the American Counseling Association. Kim currently has a column on the ACA website and continues to offer both counseling and consultation services to various agencies both nationally and locally.