Self-harm event aims to share best practice amongst NHS staff

A special workshop, held by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, is taking place today to raise awareness of self-harm and its impact.

The event will be attended by Trust staff as well as staff from other NHS organisations to share learning about self-harm and its impact. Guest speakers include Professor Nav Kapur from the Centre for Suicide Prevention – University of Manchester, Gill Pope Chair of the self-injury group at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and Shaun Rowark, technical analyst, Health and Social Care Quality Programme, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The workshop will also include talks from experts by experience including Sarah Devlin who developed the Self-Help for Self-Injury booklet along with training for staff to support people who self-injure. Following presentations, workshop attendees will be given the opportunity to ask questions to each of the speakers.

Anne Rolfe, compliance manager at the Trust, organised the workshop and said, “The self-harm workshop is a great opportunity for local NHS organisations to come together and share learning from experts.

“It’s really important that staff understand the issues surrounding self-harm and its impact. It is hoped that the event will help to raise awareness and ensure that staff have the knowledge to help to improve the standards of care for people who self-harm.

“As well as learning from the experts, we’re going to look at the Trust’s level of compliance against the self-harm standards set out by NICE. The standards are designed to improve the management and longer-term support of people who self-harm.”