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Though I have recently been in intensive Chaplaincy training and have hundreds of hours serving as a Chaplain in the Emergency Room (one of the busiest in Georgia), your input and or guidance would be much appreciated. This is concerning young people, and some adults, who are cutters.Last night, as I was making rounds in the ER, a Charge Nurse asked to speak with me. She said, Chaplain, we have a young man, 17 years old, in room #xyz. He has come in because of some deep cuts he’s made on his arms. However,’ she shared, there are 20 or 30 other cutting-scars that have healed from past cuttings; arms, legs, chest. I think he’s in deep emotional trouble.As I entered what our staff calls the garage, an area where those who have attempted or threatened suicide, cutters, and some psych patients are held, instead of seeing some wild maniac, a wacked out person who was emotionally climbing the walls, in the bed was a kind, handsome young man who spoke quietly and calmly.Just outside the; garage, a room with nothing in it but the bed; no TV, no phone, no photos on the wall, was what is known as the Sitter. Sitters are those hired by the hospital to sit either in the room or at the door, of patients who are talking suicide, are cutters or have other deep emotional problems. The Sitter keeps an eye on the patient and notifies staff if the patient tries to hurt themselves while in the room.The worse things someone in the role of Chaplain can do, is chastise them, preach at them, lecture them about the error of their actions. If any of that worked, of course, do them. But those things do not work. By the time we seem them in the hospital, tons of people have already been lecturing and chastising them for months.Though I have seriously studied the motivations behind the cutting, I still have trouble grasping it. We are told that the reason they cut their flesh, is to relieve their emotional pain. As the young man in the bed explained, to him, cutting a hole in his flesh, opened up a place where the emotional pressure could be released. Those who study cutters, say their emotional pain is beyond what they can deal with.We have a steady stream of such young people come into the ER each week. I usually begin by finding a chair so I can sit near eye-level or even slightly lower so I’m not towering over them in a power position. I think it actually helps if the head of their bed is raised so they are slightly higher than me. That may help them seemingly have the position of power.Hi Michael (name changed). My name is Doyle. I’m the Emergency Room Chaplain. I’ve heard that you have been suffering emotional pain. I’ve come to listen. Tell me about your pain.Michael is a Christian; accepted Christ as a child and attends church almost every week. His family are faithful attenders at a Bible-believing Baptist church. He wonders if cutting himself causes God not to love him. On-and-on it goes between he and I, with me mostly listening, for over an hour. We had prayer and he squeezed my hand like someone falling off a cliff who had grabbed the last branch of a bush to help keep him from going over the edge.I left his room feeling my presence had mattered. We really did connect and for the first time, nurses say he talked with someone about his situation. However, I also left the room feeling incomplete in my knowledge of what drives these wonderful young people to cut themselves.I thought possibly some of our viewers had been cutters in the past, or even now, or had loved ones, friends, children etc., who have been or are, cutters. Any information you can share that will increase my knowledge or understanding, will be greatly appreciated. And if a discussion develops it may be of help to other viewers who are working with young people who are involved in cutting.THANKS MUCH for any input you can share.Doyl________________