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What is the Butterfly Project?

211 Answers
Last Updated: 12/14/2020 at 2:56pm
What is the Butterfly Project?
1 Tip to Feel Better
United States
Moderated by

Brenda King, PsyD

Psychologist

I treat life changes, women’s issues, and issues of aging using evidence-based treatments with healthy doses of warmth, empathy and humor to enhance healing and growth.

Top Rated Answers
Anonymous
July 22nd, 2015 3:20am
The butterfly project is about helping people to stop self harming. You draw a butterfly on your wrist for every person that wants you to stop cutting. And if you cut then you've killed the butterfly.
supportiveVision79
July 22nd, 2015 12:01pm
The Butterlfly Project helps people which are herming themselfes. How it works is, that a person draws a butterfly onthe hand arm of the person which is harming hisself. You have to say when you harm yourself, the butterfly will diw. I want you to protect it and take good care.
IllBeTheLightToGuideYou
July 22nd, 2015 12:01pm
The butterfly project is when you are in a tough time and you don't want to harm yourself. You draw a butterfly wherever you want to hurt yourself and out the name of someone special in your life in the butterfly. If you harm yourself you kill the butterfly.
OCDLena
July 22nd, 2015 4:34pm
1. when you feel like you want to cut, take a marker or pen and draw a butterfly wherever the self-harm occurs. 2. name the butterfly after a loved one, or someone that really wants you to get better. 3. NO scrubbing the butterfly off. 4. if you cut before the butterfly is gone, it dies. if you don't cut, it lives. 5. another person may draw them on you. these butterflies are extra special. take good care of them. 6. even if you don’t cut, feel free to draw a butterfly anyways, to show your support.
tranquilFreedom
July 22nd, 2015 11:17pm
The Butterfly Project is a project to help people with self harm. You can either draw a butterfly on yourself or have someone draw it on you. The butterfly has to fade naturally but if you cut or burn you kill the butterfly.
Anonymous
July 23rd, 2015 2:01am
The Butterfly project to me is to represent hope/life. I say that because it refers to self harming. Each butterfly that is drawn represents hope/life you/others have for the person. If the person self harm a butterfly will die; which represents hurt you/other people has felt as if a life was taken away from them.
Thanks4Calling
July 23rd, 2015 10:50am
The Butterfly Project is a project created to help those who want to stop self-harming. The self-harmer draws butterflies on the areas they would normally harm, and is encouraged to name them after friends and family members. When the self-harmer hurts themselves, one of the butterflies dies.
Fabell
July 23rd, 2015 10:31pm
If you harm yourself you draw a butterfly on the area and you try to keep it alive and not harm it in any way. It's like a symbol for hope.
Anonymous
July 24th, 2015 1:11pm
When you feel like you want to cut, draw a butterfly on your arm instead, it's designed to help people quit self harm.
Fenton115
July 24th, 2015 2:35pm
The Butterfly Project is a coping mechanism used to replace self harm, specifically cutting. The basic outline of how this project works is when you feel the urge to cut, draw a butterfly on your arm. Name it after someone who you love or loves you. The butterfly must fade naturally, it can't be washed off. If you cut yourself, it kills the butterfly, if you have multiple butterflies, it kills them all.
TiffRogers96
July 24th, 2015 8:20pm
The butterfly project is you draw or someone you care about draws a butterfly on your arm/wrist to prevent self harm.
Anonymous
July 25th, 2015 12:52pm
butterfly project is quiet helpful in order to deal with self harm, in this project you draw butterflies on the spots where you usually hurt yourself, and name those butterflies after some loved ones, if the butterflies start fading you redraw them. so when you decide to hurt your self again and you see the butterfly it reminds you of that loved one and you are less likely to hurt yourself,
EmeliaKate
July 25th, 2015 4:50pm
The Butterfly Project is a technique to help overcome urges to self-injure. Instead of self-harming, the person uses a pen to draw a butterfly on their skin in the place they would normally harm. The aim is to keep the butterfly "alive" for as long as possible - any self-harm will "kill" the butterfly, and you have to start over again. There are different variations of the same principle, some people give the butterflies names (names of loved ones for example), or ask loved ones to draw the butterflies on. The idea is to replace something painful and unhealthy with something beautiful, that you can care for, cherish, and nurture.
braveHorizon49
July 25th, 2015 10:13pm
Draw a butter fly on your place you want to cut and write a name. If you cut it the butterfly dies..
Erynn
- Expert in Self-Harm
July 26th, 2015 4:20am
The butterfly project was created to help people struggling with self-harm to use short-term goal setting as a strategy for stopping/reducing self-harm. There are many variations to the project, including drawing a butterfly in various stages, having love ones draw your butterflies, and writing loved ones names by your butterflies. The goal is to draw a butterfly on your body and not harm until it's worn off (a few days). This is a very helpful strategy for some people, but for others it makes them feel worse if they do end up harming, or it has no effect on them and is unhelpful. Feel free to try this strategy and see if it works for you. While you are trying not to harm, it is also useful to implement other coping skills like distractions, grounding techniques, and positive affirmations in order to better succeed in going a few days without hurting yourself.
katielovesmusic
July 26th, 2015 10:31pm
The Butterfly Project is an amazing program created to help spread the word of self harm. Typically, a person who suffers from self harm will draw a butterfly on their wrist or wherever they normally harm.. This would be a constant reminder to "not kill the butterfly" encouraging them to quit self harm. The message has spread to people all over the world and you can see many with butterflies drawn on their wrists to spread awareness. This is an amazing cause that I would encourage anyone to take part in.
ChocolateVanillaSwirl
July 26th, 2015 11:40pm
The butterfly project is a project set up for self harmers who are hoping to stop. Every time the person feels the need to cut, instead they will draw a butterfly on the place they want to harm. Once the butterfly is drawn, it is their job to keep it alive by not self harming. If they are to self harm, the butterfly "dies" and they start once more.
SammiClarinetacornBVB
July 29th, 2015 9:14am
The Butterfly Project is when you feel the need to cut or self harm, take a pen or marker and draw a butterfly on your hand or arm. Name the butterfly after a loved one or someone who wants you to get better. You must let the butterfly fade naturally. NO scrubbing it off. If you cut or self harm before the butterfly fades, you've killed it. If you don't cut, it lives!
Anonymous
July 29th, 2015 2:43pm
actually this is one of my favorites because it helped me a lot the butterfly project is a project designed to help those who have problems with self harm the way it works is that you draw butterflies on the spot where you would normally hurt yourself and these butterflies represent someone who you love or care about you can even have someone draw them for you but if you cut at all you kill the butterfly meaning you hurt that person by cutting
Amz05
July 29th, 2015 5:43pm
The butterfly project has been created to help self harmers. Instead of where you'd hurt yourself you'd draw a butterfly and if the butterfly fades without you self harming it means it has flown away
Sparklies
July 29th, 2015 11:39pm
The butterfly project is where you draw a butterfly on any part of your body, and wait for it to eventually disappear. If you cut yourself before it has gone, then the butterfly dies. If you don't cut and the butterfly disappears, the butterfly lives.
AmyAmelia
July 30th, 2015 10:15am
It is a project to help people struggling with self harm to recover. It is actually pretty simple. If you feel like you want to self harm, you draw a butterfly there were you would normally cut. If you keep yourself from self harming until the butterfly fades, it means it's flown away, which gives you a sense of achievement. And every time you want to cut again, you draw on another butterfly. It is a brilliant and beautiful way to recover.
candy6l99d
July 30th, 2015 8:33pm
basically, people will draw a butterfly on their wrist to show support for self harm. the basic gist of it is to wait until the drawing washes off to see if you still want to self harm, but anyone can draw a butterfly to show their support.
luminousLynx19
July 30th, 2015 11:20pm
The butterfly project is the idea that you draw butterflies where ever you cut. You name them. But if you cut you kill the butterflies. It's an anti-self harm project
Brandon32223
July 31st, 2015 8:48am
The Butterfly Project has been created for self-harmers who feel they are ready to stop and need the motivation or support to do so.
nooraj
July 31st, 2015 2:25pm
When one wants to cut or self harm themselves in another way, they instead draw a buttefly and name it.
iwillbeyourfriend
July 31st, 2015 9:00pm
The Butterfly Project is for people who suffer from self-harm but feel they want to stop it. It's for them in case they need support. The beauty of thes project is that they encourage the self-harmer to draw a butterfly at the place that they harm themselves if they did not hurt themselves until the butterfly faded it is said that the butterfly lived and flown away.
lovelyMirage72
August 1st, 2015 1:02am
The butterfly project is to help those who self-harm. Whenever you want to self-harm, you draw a butterfly where you want to hurt yourself. If you self-harm, you have killed all the butterflies you've drawn. It helps to stop the urge, or prevent you from hurting yourself.
zaix
August 1st, 2015 3:49am
The butterfly project is a self-harm project, most people draw the butterfly on their wrist and say that if they cut, the butterfly dies. there is more than one way to do this project though.
Anonymous
August 1st, 2015 4:28pm
The butterfly project is to help stop selfharm , what you do is you take a sharpie and draw a butterfly on where you selfharm , if you selfharm or wash the butterfly away you killed the butterfly , but if you dont selfharm and dont wash the butterfly away the butterfly is still alive .