The Family Foundation School
In my life before The Family School I was extremely self-centered. I hurt everyone around me to get what I wanted and got a lot of negative attention by acting like a psycho. I had no interest in God because he probably didn't want me to steal, lie, cheat, or use substances.
My life became unmanageable early on. I was kicked out of 8th grade for drinking and drugging, and a year later was thrown out of 9th grade for the same reasons. I also owed thousands of dollars in gambling debt and spent my life running from those I owed money to.
Before FFS, my life was unmanageable and out of control. I was shooting heroin, selling drugs, stealing, and lying to my parents. I did anything to blind me from reality because I hated who I had become.
At home I was an overeater and extremely overweight. Going to school was the last thing on my mind. I stayed home and slept all day, then got up and stayed out all night. I was rude and disrespectful and had fits of temper.
At home I perfected the art of quitting. My attempts at sports, school, and relationships amounted to nothing but pathetic stories because I never followed through. I did not like myself and wanted to escape the judgment of others.
My life at home was full of lies and deceit. I became part of the tough crowd in middle school, and in high school I was in and out of detention, got into bad relationships, ran away and was sent to a psych ward.
To put it bluntly, I was a drunk. I didn't care about my family, or God, just drinking and smoking. I was drug-tested for the first time at 12, at 13 I was in outpatient rehab, and at 15 I was sent to wilderness and then to The Family School.
I was 15 and my mother was driving me to the hospital. She was crying, but all I could think of was what a good job I had done not eating. I felt no remorse, only the desire to leave and continue killing myself.
I am an alcoholic and a drug addict who couldn't live life on life's terms, so I drank. When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I was introduced to heavier drugs and started stealing and selling his pain medication.
I was empty, angry, miserable, and lonely at home, and used any means possible to numb my feelings. I dropped out of school. Nothing really mattered, and I was quickly using up my friends and family.
Understanding Self-Injury in Troubled Teens
Ginny Schneider, LMSW
An increasing number of adolescents, particularly females, secretly cut, scratch or burn their skin in an attempt to feel better. They damage their skin purposely and voluntarily as a way to cope with overwhelming emotions they simply cannot verbalize. This behavior is referred to as cutting, which falls under the larger umbrella of self-injury or self-harm, and has also been called self-mutilation. Although these adolescents are causing bodily harm to themselves, they typically do not want to die.
Self-injury is shocking and confusing to outside observers. Parents who discover their child is repeatedly and deliberately hurting his or her own body are usually alarmed and frightened. Most adolescents attempt to hide their behavior from their family members and parents are often completely unaware of it, even when the teen is doing it at home - in the very home they share.
What is self-injury?
Self-injury or self-harm is the act of deliberately harming your own body, such as cutting or burning yourself. It's not meant as a suicide attempt and isn't part of a socially acceptable cultural or artistic expression or ritual, such as tattooing. Rather, self-injury is an unhealthy effort to cope with overwhelming negative emotions, such as intense anger, tension and frustration (Mayo Clinic, 2008).
Self-injury can be broken down into three categories:
- Superficial/Moderate. The most common form of self-injury and the focus of this article, it involves superficial to moderate lacerations (cutting) or burns to one's skin.
- Stereotypic. Repetitive, rhythmic self-injuries (e.g. head banging) often seen in autism or mental retardation.
- Major. An extremely rare form of self-injury involving the severing of limbs and genitals, most associated with psychotic disorders.
Methods of self-injury
One of the most common methods of self-injury is cutting, which involves making cuts or scratches on your body with a sharp object. But there are many other forms of self-harm, including burning, poisoning, overdosing, carving words or symbols on the skin, hitting or punching, breaking bones, pinching, biting, pulling out hair (trichotillomania)
and interfering with wound healing (picking at scabs).... More>>
