A Survivor of Cutting Speaks Out
From: North Country Public Radio
Series: Raise Your Voice: Stories from North Country Teens
Length: 07:57
Some 2 million Americans intentionally injure themselves to cope with emotionally overwhelming feelings or situations. It’s often called self-injury, or self-mutilation, or cutting.
Krista is 15. She started cutting several years ago. She went to the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center twice for her behavior. She now lives in a foster home in Potsdam, New York. Krista has since stopped cutting. But like many people with an addiction, recovery is a constant struggle.
Piece Description
Some 2 million Americans intentionally injure themselves to cope with emotionally overwhelming feelings or situations. It’s often called self-injury, or self-mutilation, or cutting. Krista is 15. She started cutting several years ago. She went to the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center twice for her behavior. She now lives in a foster home in Potsdam, New York. Krista has since stopped cutting. But like many people with an addiction, recovery is a constant struggle.
Timing and Cues
INTRO:
Some 2 million Americans intentionally injure themselves to cope with emotionally overwhelming feelings or situations. It’s often called self-injury, or self-mutilation, or cutting.
Krista is 15. She started cutting several years ago. She went to the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center twice for her behavior. She now lives in a foster home in Potsdam, New York.
Krista has stopped cutting. But like many people with an addiction, recovery is a constant struggle. Krista prepared this audio diary for North Country Public Radio’s “Raise Your Voice” series.
A warning: some listeners, especially young children, may find the subject matter in this story difficult to listen to.
Krista.mp2 – 6:59.462
MIXING NOTE: The story proper ends at 6:59, then the Vivaldi song reprises. That music lasts 45 seconds.
OUTRO:
Krista is 15. She lives in Potsdam. She did her audio diary as a part of North Country Public Radio’s “Raise Your Voice” series. David Sommerstein is the series producer.
Additional Files
- suggested copy (RaiseYourVoice3ASurvivorofCuttingSpeaksOut.doc)





Caitlin Garing
Posted on July 09, 2005 at 12:56 PM | Permalink
Review of A Survivor of Cutting Speaks Out
This piece deffinitely reached out to the audience's emotions. However, I found the beginning a little confusing, I couldn't figure out if the piece was supposed to be a diary format or an actual newspiece. I think it might have helped to have a little background information. Other than that, I liked it and I liked the background music.