Structured therapy several days a week, including DBT skills groups, while you live at home. A strong fit when weekly sessions are not enough.
What we treat
Self-harm treatment
in Houston
Hurting yourself can start as the only way to get through a feeling that has nowhere else to go, and over time it becomes its own weight to carry. Self-harm is more common than most people think, it is treatable, and you do not need a diagnosis or the right words to reach out. We help you find steadier ways to cope, and we treat what is underneath it.
Outpatient care in Montrose, Houston. Most major insurance accepted.
Understanding it
What self-harm is,
and why it happens.
Self-harm is deliberately hurting your own body as a way to cope with pain that feels unbearable in the moment. It is not about seeking attention, and it is not the same as wanting to die.
For a lot of people, self-harm is a way to cope with emotional pain, a way to turn overwhelming feeling into something they can see and control, or to feel something when everything has gone numb. It can bring a brief sense of relief. That relief rarely lasts, and it is usually followed by guilt or shame and the return of the same painful feelings, which is part of why the cycle is so hard to break on your own.
Self-harm often travels with something else: depression, anxiety, past trauma, or the intense emotional swings that come with conditions like borderline personality disorder. It is best understood as a signal, a sign that a feeling has grown larger than the tools you have to hold it. That is also why it responds to care. When you learn steadier ways to ride out distress, and when the pain underneath gets treated, the urge to hurt yourself loses its grip.
Self-harm is different from a suicide attempt, though it does raise the risk of suicidal thoughts over time. If those thoughts are ever present, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is there around the clock.
Knowing the signs
How self-harm
shows up.
Self-harm is often hidden, even from the people closest to you. These are some of the signs, in yourself or someone you love.
-
Injuries that get explained away
Marks that are brushed off, or covering up with long sleeves and pants even in Houston heat to keep them hidden.
-
Emotions that swing hard and fast
Intense feelings that arrive suddenly and feel impossible to sit with, often followed by a flat or numb stretch afterward.
-
Pulling back from people
Withdrawing from friends, family, and the routines that used to help, and spending more time alone than usual.
-
A private mix of relief and shame
Describing the behavior as the only thing that helps, alongside a guilt about it that is hard to put into words.
Levels of concern
When it may be time
for more support.
Self-harm exists on a spectrum. Some of it can be worked through in weekly therapy. Some of it needs help right now.
-
The urges are getting stronger or more frequent
You are turning to self-harm more often, or it takes more to get the same relief, and stopping on your own has not held.
-
It is affecting your health, work, or relationships
The emotional weight behind it is pulling apart your days, your sleep, or the people around you. A more structured level of care, like an intensive outpatient program, can give you support several days a week without stepping away from your life.
-
It is an emergency
If you are thinking about suicide, or you have hurt yourself and cannot keep yourself safe, do not wait for an appointment. Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline any time, or call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. Once you are safe, outpatient care can take over the ongoing work.
Our approach
How Lovett treats
self-harm.
We treat self-harm as part of the whole picture, not in isolation. That means helping you stay safe, building real skills for the moments the urge hits, and treating the depression, anxiety, or trauma underneath.
Most of our work with self-harm happens in outpatient care, once you are safe and stable enough to do it. The core of it is dialectical behavior therapy, a skills-based approach built to help you get through intense emotion without making things worse. DBT teaches distress tolerance and emotion regulation, the exact tools that self-harm has been standing in for, and it has the strongest evidence base for reducing self-injury. Alongside it we use cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma-informed care, and EMDR when past trauma is part of the story.
Your care is led by licensed clinicians who work with this every day. Noemi Chenu, LCSW-S, for example, is trained in the collaborative assessment and management of suicidality as well as cognitive processing therapy for trauma. From your first conversation, the plan is built around what you are actually dealing with, and it changes as you do.
Levels of care
Treatment options
at Lovett.
Where you start depends on what you need to stay safe and make progress. Most people begin in one of these. If you need more support, our partial hospitalization program offers a full treatment day while you still go home each evening.
For self-harm alongside a mental health condition, substance use, or both, treated together in one plan.
Individual and group therapy on a weekly rhythm, for ongoing work once you are stable or as a step down from more intensive care.
How we work
Therapies we use
for self-harm.
Care is matched to what is driving the behavior for you. These are the approaches we most often draw on.
-
DBT for self-harm
The primary approach: skills for distress tolerance and emotion regulation that give you something to reach for instead of self-harm.
Explore DBT -
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Naming the thoughts and patterns that lead into the urge, and practicing different responses to them.
About CBT -
Trauma-informed care
When self-harm is rooted in past trauma, care designed to treat the trauma without re-injuring.
About trauma-informed care -
EMDR
A structured, evidence-based way to process the traumatic memories that keep driving the pain underneath.
About EMDR
Common questions
Self-harm,
answered.
No, self-harm and a suicide attempt are not the same thing, though they can overlap and both are serious. Most self-harm is a way to cope with overwhelming emotional pain rather than an attempt to end life. That said, self-harm does raise the risk of future suicidal behavior, which is why it is worth taking seriously and getting support for. If you are ever unsure whether you are safe, call or text 988.
Most self-harm can be treated in outpatient care, as long as you are safe enough to live at home while you do the work. The Lovett Center is an outpatient provider, and our intensive outpatient program adds structure several days a week when weekly therapy is not enough. If you are in immediate danger or cannot keep yourself safe, that calls for emergency care first, through 988 or 911, and outpatient care can take over once you are stable.
About our IOPDialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, has the strongest evidence for reducing self-harm. It teaches concrete skills for getting through intense emotion, the very thing self-harm has been standing in for. We also use cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma-informed care, and EMDR, and we match the approach to what is driving the behavior for you.
Explore DBTSelf-harm is usually a symptom of something deeper, not a condition on its own. It commonly occurs alongside depression, anxiety, past trauma, and borderline personality disorder, because each of those makes painful emotion harder to manage. Treating the underlying condition is a core part of helping the self-harm ease, which is why we look at the whole picture rather than the behavior alone.
No, you do not need a diagnosis or the right words to reach out. You can start with a conversation, and the assessment happens with us, not before you call. If a specific condition turns out to be part of what is going on, we will talk it through and build care around it.
Start by staying calm and letting them know you are not there to judge them. You do not have to fix it or fully understand it to help, and listening without panic already matters. Encourage them toward support, and if they are in danger or talking about suicide, call or text 988 together or call 911. You can also reach out to us to talk through options for care.
You are not alone
There is a way through this,
and a way to reach it.
The urge to hurt yourself is not a life sentence, and you do not have to face it by yourself.
When you are ready, a real person at The Lovett Center will listen and help you find the next step. No pressure, no commitment, just a conversation.
Every conversation is confidential. In a crisis, call or text 988 any time to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.