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	Advertising executive and part-time psychotherapist Mairead Carey (27) from Dublin self-harmed as a teenager. She says:</h2>
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		&quot;I self-harmed throughout my teenage years. I&#39;d never learned how to put my emotions into words and going through a number of childhood traumas reinforced the idea in my head that I had to hide what I was feeling.</p>
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		&quot;I was bullied at school and started cutting myself at 16; it felt like the only way to release emotion. I hated doing it and I hated me.</p>
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		&quot;It was only much further down the line, when I got in touch with Pieta House, that I got a therapist who helped me articulate my emotions and put into words all the things I&#39;d been feeling throughout my childhood years.</p>
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		&quot;Before I went there, I was so worried that people would think I was crazy for what I was doing to myself. But instead I was never judged.</p>
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		&quot;I think what I always needed from someone was to listen to me, show compassion and not judge.</p>
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		&quot;My years of therapy have been hard but they have also been the most rewarding.</p>
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		&quot;From being in a very dark place I now feel amazing and I&#39;m so glad I took that first step to getting help.</p>
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		&quot;I want people to know that, even though it&#39;s really hard to see it in that dark moment, there is help out there and you can get through it.&quot;</p>
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		<a href="http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/health/i-started-selfharming-at-16-i-hated-doing-it-and-i-hated-me-29582074.html">http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/health/i-started-selfharming-at-16-i-hated-doing-it-and-i-hated-me-29582074.html</a></p>
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