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Tubing Cutter

 

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Cutting and hiding sharp objects?

In the next week or so I am bringing my best friend's 17yr old daughter into my home. Her daughter has a few problems (eating disorder; she is being fed with an NG tube right now, depression, anxiety so bad that she can't go to school and is home schooled, cutting, PTSD, and BPD). My friend and her daughter are not getting along right now, so to help the situation her daughter is coming to stay with me (I am close to her and I'm like her 'aunt,' she has stayed with me for long weekends before too). My husband and I are preparing for her arrival next week (ie cleaning the spare room). My question is since she is a cutter, should I hide the knives and sharp objects? I know her mother hides the knives... but to what extent should I hide other sharp objects?

i would say hiding most sharp objects. it depends on how bad she cuts. if shell use anything then hide the knives as well. otherwise hide sharp things that are in the bathroom (such as shaving razors, scissors, nail clippers, so on) so she cant get to them while using the shower. dont leave anything that can easily break in areas that arent watched that often. if you find out she is still cutting in some way even when youve hidden everything, you could take away earings, belts, anything metal and/or plastic that can be used as is or can be broken. thats pretty much what they do in hospitals but if you need to go that far, do it. shes not going to like it. but its for her safety. dont let her go in the kitchen alone, even if you hide the knives she could go for normal silverwear and things like that. she could say shes getting a drink and "accidently" drop the glass cup on the floor while youre not looking and grab a peice before you come in the room. dont leave her at home alone as much as possible. have her keep her bedroom door open at all times. dont let her lock the bathroom door even if shes taking a shower. for shaving you can get her an electrical one that is meant to not be able to cut you while using it. dont let her have things in her room she could possibly use. if shes desperate because you dont leave anything out for her, shell find something that you didnt think of. (take out the glass from picture frames in the whole house, dont let her have metal paperclips, metal hair clips/bobby pins/hair ponies that have a metal peice to hold it together, only let her use pencils) if it gets really bad you could check her body every morning and night. of course let her keep on underwear and bra, but check her whole body to be sure. for school supplies dont get her notebooks with the metal spiral holding it together or have/use pencil sharpeners of any sort without supervision because she could take the blade out of it then put it back in so no one notices. check her bags when she comes to your house to make sure shes not hiding anything. go through her room and bathroom, mainly, looking under her mattress, drawers, inside jewelry boxes, journals (dont read it, but blip through it to make sure theres nothing taped in it), anything small that isnt normally closely paid attention to to make sure she doesnt put things there because she assumes you dont look there.it sounds like you really might have to go this far since her own mom is hiding the knives and stuff and she is still finding things to cut. if she ends up breaking things like a mirror or tv, anything big like that, you should have her go to a mental hospital. youd have to talk to her mom about it and she has to say its okay to go and everything.

do your best to keep things hidden, even the simplest things you wouldnt even think of her using. you can hide things but still keep a good relationship with her. make sure she knows exactly why you are doing this, dont yell at her for any of this, have conversations with her every day--about anything.

these are the things i know because i cut and my mom doesnt hide anything from me or check my stuff so i cant easily get to alot of stuff. if she did hide things, she prob'ly wouldnt get every little thing hidden because she wouldnt think of those things. thats why im telling you what i can get to so that your friend has no way to get to anything sharp. you cant protect her from every thing so you have to do your best to stop her as much as possible. this might sound a bit dramatic to do right away, but if you start out with these rules and stuff from the very start itll help prevent her from getting things from around your home and hiding them from you. if you give her a chance at first then she will be able to get something and hide it from you and when you change the rules she will still have it.

i hope this helps. i really hope that your friends gets better!! good luck!

Tubing cutter


 

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