Cutting is Not an Outlet. It is a TRAP

Ask Now: Can you imagine emotional pain so deep it seems only physical pain can alleviate it? Can you imagine cutting yourself to ease tension? One out of eight people in the United States practice NSSI, or Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, and it is most common among adolescents, generally starting between the ages 12 and 15.

Eleven-year-old Nancy Njoki of Namelok Junior Academy in Kisamis, Kenya chooses writing to express her pain. She wrote a poem titled, “I Really Do Exist,” and in it, she personifies the HIV Virus. In essence, she becomes her pain.

Read Nancy’s poem to see how she releases her anxieties without harming herself.