This tattoo artist is giving free tattoos for people with self-harm scars

Whitney Develle is a 22-year-old tattoo artist from Brisbane, Australia who is offering free tattoos for people with self-harm scars.

Within hours of posting her intentions on Facebook and Instagram, her inbox was inundated with messages from people who were touched by her offer and wanted to be tattooed.

As a result of the volume of interest, she has been forced to amend her offer to 50 free tattoos for the year, with heavily discounted rates for people who still wanted their scars covered.

She told me how much pain it brought her when people would question her about them or make comments.

Whitney tattooed over her friend's scars, who loved the results.

The response online is overwhelmingly positive, and the Facebook post received over 3,000 likes and counting.

One commenter said:

You are a true angel. To the people that self harm, some of them can't find an artist willing to cover it because of how the scarring is, but you're willing to go for the challenge, you're giving those people with those scars a chance to move on and grow from the past and turn sadness into pieces of beautiful artwork.

On Sunday she responded to all the messages of support:

I am so glad that Mental Illness is being brought in to the light and that people are reaching out for help. I have already been contacted by other tattooists in other states willing to offer similar services. The enquiries I have received have been emotionally overwhelming though being able to personally get in touch with you all has brought so much warmth to my heart. This is going to be an incredible, life changing year.

Whitney's first session is set to start this month.

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