We’ve been reading a very useful report about the sensitive topic of asking about suicide and self-harm when a patient is in primary care. You can read the full report from Ford et al here and we have pulled out some of the key points below.
For example, they may ask, “You’re not having any thoughts of harming yourself or suicide or anything like that?” This can make it difficult for service users to answer “yes”.
For example, when service users answer negatively – even when their negative response is delayed, hesitant, or ambiguous – clinicians tend not to pursue further discussion on the topic.
It’s unclear why this is, but it is likely related to both the negative framing of the clinicians’ questions and/or the stigma associated with self-harm and suicide.
The level of distress caused by thoughts of self-harm is not typically addressed or acknowledged.
The University of Nottingham are inviting professionals working across different settings with young people who have self-harmed to share their views on the CaTS-app – which aims to improve shared understanding and assessment of self-harm between young people and professionals.
Two of our wonderful team members, Dani and Emma, lead our Wellbeing Programme for the internal Storm Skills Training team. They’re passionate and committed to improving the health and wellbeing of our team and are invested in promoting a happy and supportive environment.
Since getting the go ahead from our CEO Bianca and our Board, they have introduced and grown a programme which has gone from strength to strength. We are so proud and thankful to them for developing this idea.
In this piece Dani and Emma tell us how it all began, what they’ve learned, and what their plans are for the future.
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