Shaping Families

Cutting and Burning

“Cutting and burning in my life made the pain that was going on in my mind real. By taking a curling iron and just … shoving it into my arm, taking a razor blade and just … ripping it across my arm, that released the endorphins that kind of made me feel like it’s okay.” –Kari

This week on Shaping Families we take you into the world of self-injury – cutting and burning oneself – that affects an estimated two million people in the United States, most of them women. In our interview we talk with Kari, who used cutting and burning herself as a release from the deep emotional anguish she experienced every day.

Listen - Transcript - Study Guide

Just Sayin'

Emily Ralph

It’s one of those days … one of those weeks actually, or even one of those months or years. You feel like you can hardly keep up with the craziness of life, like the world around you is spinning out of control and there is nothing you can do to stop it. The anxiety is building inside of you, the pain becoming a tangible pang in your heart. The tension in your head is constant these days, and the thought of getting up tomorrow morning and starting the day all over again? It’s too much to bear.

VIDEO
The documentary Shadow Voices: Understanding Mental Illness  offers an inside look at what it is like to live with a mental illness and how individuals and their families find their way through medical, governmental, societal and spiritual issues. 

WEBSITE
To Write Love on her Arms This non-profit movement is dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

BOOK 
Cutting: Understanding and Overcoming Self Mutilation – This book by Steven Levenkron was mentioned by Kari in the program.

RADIO SPOTS
Unsung: Family Voices on Mental Illness Twelve radio spots featuring Kari and others talking about their experience with stigma and a difficult-to-navigate mental health system. The spots are available free of charge to be used as public service announcements on radio stations. Listen to the spots at this site or request a free CD of spots to take to your local radio station.

Cutting and Burning

Burton Buller

Kari, the young girl featured on this week’s Shaping Families, is remarkable if only for her persistence. Talented and popular in high school, she hit the ropes in college when her depression landed her in the psych ward of the local hospital.

Obsessive compulsive disorder” or OCD, is nothing to joke about. Find out why on next week’s Shaping Families program as guest Debbie takes us inside the mind of a person suffering from this condition, and how friends, neighbors and church friends are helpful for those with this potentially lethal disorder. Shaping Families’ month-long emphasis on mental health issues continues for this third week in May.

Oven French Fries

This is the recipe from Elva Honeyager, who was a cook at Melodie's elementary school in Middlebury, Indiana, and a neighbor of hers. Melodie says, "For my own family, I started with this basic recipe, but in more recent years I’ve used olive oil instead of butter or margarine. These can also be cooked in a pan on the grill for yet another taste. As 'homemade' potato chips or oven fries, these are a special treat."

• Shaping Families Update - May 12
• Shaping Families Update - May 5
• Shaping Families Update - April 28
• Shaping Families Update - April 21

The Shaping Families free offer from this week’s program is no longer available. Visit our online store at www.MennoMedia.org/store if you would like to purchase the item offered. Some items are not offered on the store.