Advice on what to tell a teenager who cuts herself?

i work in the mental health field and was given a client who cuts herself, im just wondering what people find helpful to tell someone who cuts- what advice and words of wisdom should i tell this young lady?





also, what should i avoid saying and doing?





id rather err on the side of caution b/c i dont want to give her unnecessary negative attention b/c she cuts but i do not have experience with anyone who cuts.





thanksAdvice on what to tell a teenager who cuts herself?
My sister's psychologist made her sign a contract for 90 days promising not to cut herself but to call her whenever she felt like hurting herself. Inconvenient for the psychologist, but she stopped for about a year, calling the psychologist less and less over that time. The psychologist later moved on to a better position in another state and she hasn't yet found another shrink she trusted. She calls me and sometimes I am able to help her and sometimes not.





Asking her why it made her feel better seemed to make her want to do it even more. The reasons for wanting to do it never make sense to any of us. The reasons she wants to hurt herself never seem to be as dramatic as the actual cutting. Also the more we pay attention to the cutting, the more it happens. When she does it, we bandage her, hand her a journal, and leave her alone. We spend all day talking to her to help her if she doesn't cut herself though.Advice on what to tell a teenager who cuts herself?
Please do not ignore the fact that she cuts because of the attention factor. Sometimes people cut because they aren't getting the attention they need regularly. As social creatures, there is a need a certain kind of attention. Talking to her about normal things in life and helping her cope with these things in positive ways might help, but completely ignoring the problem could lead her to cut more severely.





Other times people cut themselves because it's the only way for them to feel real pain. They have sometimes been through too much crap to handle and unconsciously blocked all receptors of pain and in more severe cases even good feelings.





There are some serious risks involved with cutting such as too much blood loss (even if not at one time) can lead to permanent brain damage. If she doesn't already know this, it MAY scare her out of cutting, or at least into something more positive. It is going to take a very long time to fully recover, and there is a high chance of relapse.





I hope this helped. Best of luck.
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Help her understand why she cuts herself, then when she comes to the realization, show her alternative methods of release.