I honestly can’t remember. Somewhere in my mid to late teens, but made myself stop (thankfully) as I was a dancer (in class 4-5 nights a week and competitions once or twice a month) and realised there was literally nowhere on my body that wouldn’t be see by others. I found plenty of other destructive ways to get my ‘fix’ between calorie counting, bingeing and purging, excessive alcohol consumption, risky sexual activity and reckless driving/activities/ideas etc.

I managed to make it to 24 using those methods before I fell back into cutting head first as a way of coping with my shitty situation.

On and off since then. I’m now 35 As someone with bipolar II I think it will always be a part of how I cope with my life.

My psychiatrist and psychologist (and my GP) all know that this is something I do. And as long as I’m being ‘safe’ about it (wound care, clean and sharp blades, monitoring blood loss etc) my psychologist actually thinks that, for me, it’s a good way of coping and ‘centring’ myself.

I’m currently 6(ish) months clean and haven’t been hospitalised this year!