Community: Polls & Surveys

Self harm and online advice

TheSite.org has been carrying out research to explore the potential for a new website offering advice and support on self harm. As part of this we asked you questions about self harm, online advice and your favourite websites.


The basics

  • 139 people participated in the survey
  • Over half the respondents were female
  • 20-21 year-olds were the best represented age group
  • 3% of respondents were under 16 and 14% were over 25

Advice about self harm

Four in ten of you were either self harming at the time of the survey (14%) or have self harmed in the past (28%). One in five of you were supporting somebody who was self harming when you completed the survey. A third (33%) of you have used the internet for advice on self harm.


Sites you use to find self harm advice

A new website

Half (51%) of you would use a new website about young people and self harm. While some of you would find it helpful "to get support from people who understand," others are keen to "understand it more" or "to help support friends and family members with problems."   

Those of you who wouldn't use such a site said it's because you don't self harm so it wouldn't be relevant to you.

What should be included?

Self help advice is by far the most appealing type of content and was given the thumbs up by 65% of you. This would include distraction or harm minimisation suggestions. Half of you would like to see online counselling and 43% thought a message board would be important. You also offered your own suggestions including success stories, information about looking after cuts and links to support clinics.

As well as content, we also asked you how you would like to receive personal support on a self harm website.


Preferred ways to receive support

  • By email: 58%
  • Via a message board: 52%
  • Through instant messenger: 36%
  • Through a chat room: 29%
  • By text (SMS): 14%

What shouldn't be included?

You wouldn't like to see patronising, unsympathetic or judgemental content on the site. Triggering or gory images would also be unwelcome, as would tips on how to self harm.


Top five favourite websites

  • TheSite.org
  • Facebook.com
  • MySpace.com
  • BBC.co.uk
  • YouTube.com

What do you like about them?

Here are some of the comments you made about TheSite.org

"It's full of helpful people and offers lots of advice."

"It's a great little community."

"It's very informative, honest and amusing."

Here's what you had to say about social networking sites:

"I can interact with friends abroad."

"You're able to spy on everyone's pictures and see what everyone's been up to."

"I can talk to new and old mates."

"It's your own personal page and you can add friends."



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Also on TheSite.org