Emily’s story

Before I reached out to Penumbra, I was quite nervous and anxious. I didn’t know what to expect as I have never been part of a self-harm service, so I thought that I would be told that I have to stop self-harming, that I’d have to throw away my materials etc. and I didn’t want that. However, when I started to get support, I met Martha – she was the sweetest, kindest person ever.

Martha ran me through what I should expect and told me that she wouldn’t force me to do anything and that everything would be my decision and would be at my pace. This gave me relief and comfort and I was excited for our Zoom calls. She supplied me with so many good information sheets and booklets which I could use, write on and put up as reminders. These helped me more than I expected – I never realised that very simple things like keeping notes of positive things about yourself could have such an impact on your wellbeing.