This is Karline. =) I left safe on the 27th of June and have been pretty much SI free since May. I’m still struggling with SI with food. I have had 3 or 4 days in the last month when I desperately missed the SAFE program and the support I felt there. I have individual sessions once a week and group sessions every other week. I’m still doing the logs. I’ve tried to set up a structure with my therapist where we go over logs. The structure is really important to me. I bought my own pink metallic dry erase board and want to start doing my own “check ins.” The step out onto my own was hard because the responsibility to do my own check ins and care was rather overwhelming. I opened up to my support group and shared about SAFE and asked for what I needed but I was shaking and on the verge of tears. I guess there’s nothing wrong with the emotions that came with that…. One big decision I’ve made is that I don’t want to be labled as a “injurer” any longer. I want to be seen as me, not a self injurer. I’m wearing sweaters until the scars fade. It seems to be helping me focus on just being me and not worrying about hiding scars or wondering what people think. I also don’t want my pain to take up 100% of my brain power. Sue, if you read this, I want to say thank you. You helped me SO much. You have such a wonderful combination of honesty and sympathy. Thank you so very much.
Karline!!! I am so glad you are doing well. I was thinking about you the other day and wondering how you were doing 🙂
Sounds like you are making progress in the “real world”, which is great! I can’t imagine my life without self-harm, but I dream about it everyday. Glad to know your experience at SAFE changed your life — it makes me even more hopeful that once I am able to go, my life can be changed around too.
It’s good to hear that the program was so helpful for you. It sounds like they really help you to put some tools in place and help you plan for those tough times after the program. Congratulations on your success so far and know that you deserve to be happy and pain free. You are a survivor. Karline, you sound like a wonderful person and your blog makes me look forward to the program even more. Keep up the great progress and I hope to hear how it’s going for you when I return home from S.A.F.E.!
Karline!!!!! (was going to use exclamation points before I saw the previous post, but they got to it first. Ah well.) So glad to see you’re doing well.