[godfrey]

It's extremely difficult to stop people self-harming. They need a lot of help by skilled therapists. They have undergone a lot of abuse in the past and find self-harm the only way to release the build-up in tension and feelings from that abuse and lack of self-worth.

After serious incidents of cutting they either cope with the damage in private or attend accident and emergency where they often get little sympathy and often expressions of disgust.

There again I do not see automatic provision of the means to harm as necessarily helpful. How they harm is quite varied and inventive and they need, at some stage, to develop a protective awareness of possible fatal consequences. I suppose if they request blades then they are aware.