Understanding & Supporting Self Injury
Introduction
Self-injury is a purposeful act of coping and self-help in which emotional pain is externalised and dealt with in a more visible way. However, this very visibility means self-injury is often treated with mistrust and fear. This session will explore why people self-injure and how self-injury is related to life events, as well as how mental health workers can engage in an open, supportive and empathic relationship with someone who self-injures. Guidance will also be provided around the concept of harm minimisation and safer self-injury.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the training all participants will have:
An understanding of self-injury as a meaningful and legitimate response to distress.
Disputed myths and inaccurate stereotypes about self-injury.
Acquired skills and knowledge to work collaboratively with individuals who self-injure.
Developed an enhanced confidence, responsiveness and awareness of how to support people who self-injure in a compassionate and respectful way.
Been introduced to the concept of harm minimisation and safer self-injury.
Course Outline
9.30 Welcome and introductions
9.45 Group exercise: self-injury as coping
10.00 Why do people injure themselves?
11.00 Coffee break
11.15 Self-injury and life experiences
11.45 Myths vs. common sense
12.30 Lunch
1.30 Personal recovery story
2.30 Coffee break
2.45 Helpful and unhelpful responses
3.15 Harm-minimisation and safer self-injury
3.45 Discussion and questions
4.00 Close
Eleanor Longden is a psychology undergraduate and former trustee of the Hearing Voices Network, currently working in an Early Intervention in Psychosis team. As a past user of psychiatric services, she has a strong interest in promoting tolerance, awareness and positive explanations for mental health issues and for the last four years has worked in both clinical and academic capacities to endorse creative, enabling approaches to experiences such as voice hearing, unusual beliefs and self-injury. Eleanor was part of the group who established the award-winning Bradford Self-Injury Service and has worked closely with Dr. Dirk Corstens in developing and promoting the innovative Voice Dialoguing technique in the UK.
