How can I find healthy alternatives to self harm?

A healthy alternative to self harm is to JOURNAL, yes i know it sounds strange but getting your thoughts out onto the page and seeing what you are thinking can help you understand yourself better. There are many different types of journaling if you are stuck there are prompts and it helps you gain perspective and gives you the outlet to refer to if you are feeling like you are unable to talk to somebody.

Talk to someone about your feelings, let someone talk you through the hard times and help get you back to thinking straight before acting.

Self-harm is a coping mechanism and is used as a form of relief. By pushing these feelings towards doing something productive, like writing, singing, painting, anything really, as a way to get the emotions off of your chest, you'll find healthy alternatives :) Stay strong!

You can snap a hair tie or rubber band on your arm instead of regular self hair. It cause the same pain, without the damage.

Some healthy alternatives can be identifying what keeps your head clear. For some people it can be a sensation, like hotness (eating jalapenos) when they feel the desire. For others it can be a certain activity, which helps you forget the time or relax, like a coloring book, swimming, walking outside.

Find things you love doing and channel whatever feelings cause you to self-harm into that thing or set of things. For me, I write a lot when I feel overwhelmed by feelings that would have caused me to self-harm in the past. Or I'll set up my camera and record myself for as long as it takes for me to get all my feelings out. I never save the footage or upload it anywhere for clear reasons, but it helps to just get everything out. Some people paint or do other forms of art, some participate in sports, some play video games. Just have to find what works for you.

Have you had a look at the self help guide on self-harm? It has some healthier coping methods on their. Many people i`ve spoke to have found it really useful to draw on the area of their body that they want to harm, how about giving this a try?

If I feel the urge to harm myself, I usually try to find something positive to distract myself. Talking a shower and washing everything (make sure you're squeaky clean before getting out), writing, drawing, reading, talking to someone who calms you or makes you feel happy, etc. I've heard that drawing on yourself with non-toxic markers sometimes helps. Figure out what calms you and do it whenever you feel the need to self-harm.

There's a ton of resources online, but one that I've found really helpful is using a red pen to draw lines where I would have harmed. Washing the lines off once the urge has faded gives me a sense of pride and satisfaction.

Try to relieve the urge to self-harm by exercising, dancing, singing, taking a warm calming shower. You could even scream into a pillow to let your frustrations out. One thing I love to do when I'm feeling down is to take 15 minutes of my time to meditate, and just focus on my breathing, letting my mind wonder.