Self-Injury Recovery & Awareness: Discover Your Layers and Heal from the Inside with Amanda Beausoleil (Episode #108)

Amanda BeausoleilDr. Lynn Hellerstein of Vision Beyond Sight speaks with Amanda Beausoleil, founder and Executive Director of Self-Injury Recovery & Awareness (SIRA), to talk about self-injury or nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Discover eye-opening and empathetic insights on this often-considered taboo topic through Amanda’s own experience with it and her inspiring recovery. 

Self-injury knows no age and face, and we should all break away from the stigma of talking about it. Learn the signs and symptoms to look for in your loved ones and ways to approach them. Know that you are not alone and you can find help through peer support groups and the nonprofit SIRA with its programs and weekly Zoom meetings. Check out SIRA's “Layers to Discovery,” a tailor-made literature for the self-injurer psyche, guiding those in need to find freedom, power and healing from the inside.

🔊 Click here and tune in to the show now to explore:

  • What is self-injury or NSSI (nonsuicidal self-injury)?
  • Why are people engaging in self-injury and why could it be habit-forming?
  • Amanda’s own experience with self-injury
  • How she found help through her pediatrician 
  • Finding community and connection in peer support groups
  • The taboo around self-injury
  • How to be aware of loved ones engaging in self-injury and how to help them
  • How to find help for NSSI
  • SIRA nonprofit and how to get involved
  • Self-injury has no age or face
  • The stigma of self-injury
  • SIRA’s ebook “Layers to Discovery”
  • Amanda’s recovery
  • SIRA’s goals and programs
  • Finding power within yourself

About Amanda Beausoleil:

Amanda Beausoleil is the Founder and Executive Director of SIRA, a nonprofit that helps people recover from self-injury through an effective and powerful peer-group support model. Amanda struggled with self-injury for 15 years. She found recovery through a self-injury peer support group in New York. In 2019 she left the corporate world and a longstanding career in fashion working for the industry’s most respected brands (Saks Fifth Avenue, Tory Burch, and Coveteur) to take the peer support group and launch it into a full-fledged 501(c)3. She now brings her lived experience and professional expertise as Executive Director.

Connect with Amanda Beausoleil and SIRA:

Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

SIRA offers weekly meetings via Zoom. For a schedule, visit www.thesira.org. SIRA meetings are one hour in duration. For information on how to join, email SIRA at info@thesira.org for the password.

SIRA’s Layers to DiscoverySelf-injury is complex, dynamic, and multi-layered. Self-injury has much to do with inner-child work, which is why we believe that the layers discussed in this book will help you understand and discover the “why” of your self-injury.

 

Other Resources for Self-Injury Support:

The International Society for the Study of Self-Injury (Itriples.org)

Cornell's Self-Injury & Recovery Resources

The Psychology of Self-Injury Podcast by Dr. Nicholas Westers

“If you’re someone listening engaging in self-injury, know that you are not alone. You are always welcome to come to one of our peer support groups. If you are a parent, loved one or partner of someone engaging in self-injury, you’re not alone either. There are other people out there that are trying to find the answers. Just know, focus not on the answers necessarily, but the support and listening.” – Amanda Beausoleil

🔊 Click here to play this show now!


Dr. Lynn Hellerstein, Developmental Optometrist, co-owner of Hellerstein & Brenner Vision Center, P.C., award-winning author and international speaker, holds powerful and inspiring conversations with her guests in the areas of health, wellness, education, sports and psychology. They share their inspirational stories of healing and transformation through their vision expansion. Vision Beyond Sight Podcast will help you see with clarity, gain courage and confidence. Welcome to Vision Beyond Sight!

Dr. Lynn’s books are available at Amazon.com and www.lynnhellerstein.com/shop.

Dr. Lynn is available for speaking engagements and consulting. For more information, visit www.lynnhellerstein.com.

To learn more about vision therapy or to find a doctor providing vision therapy in your area, visit COVD.org.

To learn more about vision and the impact in concussion/brain injury, visit Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association.

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About Dr. Lynn

A pioneer in vision therapy and developmental optometry, for more than 30 years, Dr. Lynn Hellerstein has helped thousands of children and adults improve their vision and transform their lives — at home, in the classroom, and most recently on the playing field. Her breakthrough methods unlock barriers to learning and “rewire” around brain injuries, and vision perception or processing deficits. But you don’t have to have a vision problem to benefit: her brain training strategies may be the missing magic if you’re an athlete trying to nail a tricky shot or stay cool in competition. If it’s a skill you can visualize, Dr. Hellerstein can help train your eyes — and mind’s eye — on success.

Award-winning and #1 bestselling author, Dr. Lynn has published numerous professional peer reviewed articles, chapters and four books.

See It. Say It. Do It! (2009) - How to see/recognize your goal, declare your intention, and taking action to achieve your vision.

See It. Say It. Do It! Organize It! (2011) - How to create a step by step process to make achieving your goal a reality.

50 Tips To Improve Your Sports Performance (2013) - How to improve your sports performance today by enhancing eye-mind-body coordination skills, achieving the mental edge, and preventing injuries.

Expand Your Vision (2021) - Discover the power of the seeing brain…the creator of your true vision. Gain Clarity, Courage, and Confidence. In this #1 Amazon best-selling innovative newest book, the power of visualizing and believing in the process to break through internal barriers and create new possibilities for achieving your goal is explored. Visualization can be used to increase creativity, to reduce stress and anxiety, and to build confidence in all of the things that they do.