Search results
-
Engaging young people in therapeutic conversations about self harm
Conversations after self-harm can help young people understand their experiences and identify changes that matter to them. McCabe et al. (2026) describe how the Supporting Adolescents with Self-Harm (SASH) intervention combines therapeutic assessment, enhanced safety planning and solution-focused brief therapy. Through four young people’s cases and one carer’s case, they illustrate collaborative work grounded in each person’s language, relationships and hopes, offering examples of practice and proposed mechanisms of change, rather than trial results demonstrating that SASH reduces subsequent self-harm.
Read more -
Self-Harm in Young People: Turning Contact with Services into Opportunities for Care
New research explores self-harm, service contact, and suicide among young people, highlighting the need for comprehensive assessment and coordinated support.
Read more -
Self-harm and Suicide Risk in Young People: A Call for Personalised Assessment
Self-harm affects roughly one in six adolescents and is a potent predictor of suicide. Yet the best-known risk-prediction tools correctly identify only a small minority of future suicides. Instead of relying on scores, clinicians should carry out compassionate, personalised assessments, followed by rapid follow-up and collaborative safety plans.
Read more -
Common Elements in Interventions for Youth Suicide and Self-Harm: Findings from a Practitioner Review
A practitioner review of 18 randomised controlled trials identifies the therapeutic elements most commonly found in interventions that reduce suicide attempts and self-harm among adolescents. The findings highlight key strategies that can inform and guide clinical practice.
Read more -
Self-harm E-learning for School Staff: Co-production of the SORTS Toolkit
Self-harm among adolescents is increasing in prevalence and there is a lack of evidence-based, whole-school approaches to support students and staff with their response to self-harm. This blog discusses the need for a whole-school approach to self-harm training in schools alongside the SORTS study, which used co-production methods to develop the Supportive Response to Self-Harm in Schools (SORTS) toolkit.
Read more -
An Increasing Concern: Improving Self-Harm and Self-Injury Awareness
If you or a person you know is struggling with their mental health, please seek support by accessing the helplines and resources provided by the NHS website. For those outside the UK please use an internet search to find an organisation that can offer direct support.
1 March is globally recognised as Self-Harm and Self-Injury Awareness Day and serves as an opportunity to raise awareness, encourage an understanding, and promote more conversations around the topic of self-harm and self-injury. We encourage you to explore the learning opportunities available on our website and do please share with your networks and colleagues.
Read more -
NICE guidelines for self-harm: a new school of thought
New NICE guidelines for the management of self-harm in the UK emphasise the important role of non-specialists. In this article, Holly Crudgington and Dennis Ougrin discuss this guidance, focusing on the new advice for schools and its implications.
Read more -
How effective are tools to help school staff better respond to young people who self-harm?
Aureliane Pierret and colleagues at the University of Cambridge carried out a systematic review into the effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of interventions and tools to support school staff to better respond to young people who disclose self-harm.
Read more -
Self-harm in a time of isolation: What is the evidence to support mobile and internet-based psychological interventions for self-harm?
In this blog we summarise the findings and implications of a recent systematic review of studies evaluating the effectiveness and acceptability of mobile- and internet-based psychological interventions for self-harm in adolescents and adults.
Read more -
Who can best support young people who self-harm?
A new study published in Child and Adolescent Mental Health has investigated what forms of support young people who self-harm find helpful.
Read more