Self-harm

How wide-spread is self-harm?   Kiss of Broken Glass is a heart-breaking, but hopeful, but realistic, story of a girl who cuts.  We meet fifteen-year-old Kenna when she is being admitted to a hospital psych ward under Florida's Baker Act.  The Act means that she must stay for seventy-two hours under watch.  So the book takes place in seventy-two hours.  And what a seventy-two hours it is.  This is the first book I have ever read by Madeleine Kuderick.  And I can't wait to read another.  I see from her webpage that this is her first book, but it can't be her last.  The voice of Kenna is one that will stay with me for a long, long time.  I loved that there were no easy answers.  I loved the form in which it was written and then I loved, at the end, how Kuderick shared that writing this book was a personal journey, because of her daughter, who experienced an addiction to cutting.  How painful it must have been to write this book, but I hope at the same time it was helpful.  I am sure this book will be helpful to many, many others.  You know...I started this post with a question...but I think I know the answer.  Self-harm is pretty darn wide spread.  It just happens in so many different ways.  Drinking, drugs, sex, eating, cutting, smoking, bullying, gosh...anything and everything we do to demean ourselves.  To deny that we are children of God.  It is wide-spread.  It is everywhere.  That's why we need to be kinder to ourselves and to others.