Battle Scars Self-harm Support Charity

Battle Scars was formed because of the need of one person to find support for her self-harm. Starting as a peer support Facebook group in January 2016, we formed the Battle Scars community group (Unincorporated Association) in April 2016. Fast growth resulted in Battle Scars becoming a registered charity (CIO - Charitable Incorporated Organisation) in England and Wales on February 6th, 2018 and subsequently in Scotland in 2023. We are based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, running local face-to-face services, and national virtual services alongside our ever-growing worldwide Facebook group. Everybody in Battle Scars has been affected by self-harm, either as something they do/have done, or by supporting a loved one who self-harms. We operate on a genuine peer support model, everybody supporting everybody within the team. It's vital to us to build strong links, to form partnerships and work together with other organisations, whether they are the NHS, the DWP, local councils, 3rd or private sector as well as our funders. As we are expanding out of Leeds this is becoming increasingly challenging but even more important. We may still be a small organisation but we have a lot to offer and we build such partnerships based on honesty, openness and transparency. We support anybody affected by self-harm: those who self-harm and those supporting them (family, friends and professionals) to make sure they no longer feel alone. We build better awareness of self-harm's complexity, roots and reasons resulting in anybody affected by self-harm receiving non-judgemental, genuine peer support, acceptance and understanding so they can build a healthier future for themselves. We educate, influence change and break down the self-harm stigma. We encourage our service users, volunteers and staff to live life despite the self-harm, to achieve whatever they can manage and continue inspiring others. We create safe environments where people affected by self-harm can be themselves.