Self Harm Awareness Month is observed in March in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. There are two-million cases, mostly youth, reported annually in the United States. The stigma of self harm needs to be broken.

Self Harm Awareness Month recognizes that self harm happens across all genders, races, beliefs and ages. According to the organization Healthy Place, one in five women and one in five men engages in self-injury. Some 90 percent of self harm starts in adolescence, usually around age 14, and continues into the 20s. It may even continue or start later in life. Because self harm is more common among girls, it has led to the gender-based stigma that girls who self injure are attention seekers.