YouthNet Self Harm Seminar

‘Self-Harm: Recovery, Advice and Support’ - helping young people affected by self-harm through partnership work
December 1st, 2009

Today’s presentations:
‘Truth Hurts’: National Inquiry into Self-harm among Young People – the need for better support.Catherine McLoughlin CBE
‘Self-Harm: Recovery, Advice and Support’ – exploratory and evaluative research findings.
Sarah McCoy, Research Manager, YouthNet
3. Partnership work – how a consortium approach to self-harm provision can provide greater benefits for young people.
Paul Marriot – CEO, Depaul UK
4. Question & Answer session
Led by Martyn Lewis CBE

‘Truth Hurts’: National Inquiry into Self-harm among Young People
– the need for better support.
Catherine McLoughlin CBE
Chair of the National Inquiry panel

Exploratory and evaluative research
Sarah McCoy
Research Manager, YouthNet

The research programme
Exploratory research
Nine depth interviews with young people who self-harm
Fourteen depth interviews with experts
Evaluative research
Feedback survey
398 respondents (25th November 2009)
Self-selecting sample
Online discussion
Seven participants recruited through feedback survey
Private section of TheSite.org discussion boards

Exploring self-harm
Challenges
Sensitivity and ‘triggering’
Care for researcher
Aftercare
Interpretation and usage of results
Findings
Reasons for self-harm
Experience of seeking help
Recovery

Guilt
Bullying
Drugs
Why self-harm?
Depression
Sexual abuse
Rape
“The first time was a reaction to the bullying that was going on at the time, but after that it was like I would feel inexplicably depressed for no reason, and I really couldn’t feel happy, like darkness pressing in on me and around me, and cutting kind of released the pressure somehow.
There have been many times when it was a direct reaction to something that happened. I had sex when I definitely wasn’t ready and that sparked a very bad reaction. But most of the time it was a reaction to how I was feeling in my head, because the fact that there was no reason for it made it feel like there was really no way to stop how I was feeling except to cut.”
Louise, 16

Disclosure
Secrecy
Trust
“I think I talked to my mum first. She raided my room and took everything away that I could do any harm with. I didn’t see the point because if you want to hurt yourself you can find anything – there’s loads of potential stuff.
Her reaction made things worse. Just the reaction. It was like maybe I should keep this stuff secret!”
Nessie, 21

Finding help
Pigeon-holing and stereotypes
Access
Barriers
Negative attitudes and lack of understanding
Intimidating environments

Finding help
“I don’t think I would have started self-harming if I had not had to wait 18 months! Self-harming was a way of communicating when something got worse, although it was not something I showed anyone. For me it became a way to acknowledge a was feeling crap.”
Maeve, 24
Barriers

Finding help
“There are some aspects I fit quite well with but lots of aspects I don’t fit, so this is why they are confused. There is no clear diagnosis because some of the symptoms contradict each other. They just want to put you in a box with a label – “You’ve got that. Here’s the medication to help”.
Maeve, 24
Access
Barriers

Finding help
Access
Barriers
Recording from focus group in Liverpool, October 2009

Moving forward
“I think I can better process how I’m feeling. I can simulate the questions my therapist would have asked me in my head so I can think through things. Therapy also helped me to see how out of control I was, and I have always been a kind of control freak. Control’s always been something I needed, so now if I want to [self-harm], I can think about how I don’t want to lose control of my life like that again.”
Maeve, 24
Positive experiences
Readily available
Non-judgemental
Highly knowledgeable
Support websites are useful
Careful moderation
Facts
Distraction strategies
Focus on general wellbeing
Aftercare and first aid

Evaluative research
Challenges
Anonymity and confidentiality
Questionnaire design
Interpretation of results
Findings
Usage of website
Experience of section
Long-term impact

TheSite.org/selfharm: Usage
Unique visitors – 8,000+ each month since launch
Pages viewed - 25,000+ each month since launch
Average session duration – Approx. 3.5 minutes
80% of visitors from the UK
20+ questions asked through askTheSite each month

What young people think
Eight in ten (82%) found the section helpful
Three in ten (31%) had clear intentions to take further action
Four in ten (39%) thought their visit would help their situation
“The website has given me further understanding of why my friend self-harms. This will be very useful for when I talk to her in the future as it has removed my misconceptions.”
“I have made an appointment with my GP to seek help and get my self-harming habits and depression under control.”
“I will encourage my partner to ask for help for his problem.”
“Employ some of the distraction methods suggested.”
“Visit the site more often when I’m feeling down, depressed or suicidal.”

Exceeding expectations
“Other sites tend to have little information, but here it looks inviting and there’re so many links to really helpful areas that other sites just don’t have. I’d say it’s the only place that really helped me stop when I had nobody else to turn to.
My first impression was positive, all the vibrant colours and the fact it just looks normal doesn’t make you feel like you shouldn’t be reading up on self-harm. Other sites tend to be plain with small writing and it puts you off a little. But here it invites you to read more and makes you feel in a way accepted.”
Female, 17

Best bits
Practical advice e.g. ‘What happens at A&E?
Artwork and ‘look and feel’
Peer to peer support

Recommendations
One size does NOT fit all
“Don’t ask me to stop”
Focus on promotion
Development of key aspects of TheSite.org/selfharm
Facilitation of experience sharing
Breaking down stereotypes
Damage minimisation
Parents and supporters

Partnership work
How a consortium approach to self-harm provision can provide greater benefits for young people.
Paul Marriott
Chief Executive, Depaul UK

The partners
YouthNet
42nd Street
Depaul UK
New media
Communicating and connecting with young people
Experience of communicating with young people who are at a particular disadvantage
24/7 infrastructure
Provision of age appropriate advice and information on mental health issues including self harm
Delivery of therapeutic
Interventions
EXPERTISE
Youth engagement and consultation
Technical infrastructure and web functionality
Day-to-day operational work
DELIVERY

Different services on the website
Factsheets and case studies
Video and podcasts
Confidential Q&A service
Public Q&A archive
Peer support via moderated discussion boards
Chat sessions
Local advice finder

The partners
YouthNet
Depaul UK
42nd Street
New media
24/7 infrastructure
Interventions
EXPERTISE
Moderation of the self harm discussions boards
DELIVERY

The partners
YouthNet
Depaul UK
42nd Street
New media
24/7 infrastructure
Interventions
EXPERTISE
Provision of IAG on askTheSite
Creative content created by young people
DELIVERY

The partners
YouthNet
Depaul UK
42nd Street
New media
24/7 infrastructure
Interventions
EXPERTISE
Provision of IAG on askTheSite
Content created by young people
DELIVERY
Scoping and delivery of editorial content, community and service provision,
consultation with, and involvement of, young people affected by self harm,
strategic governance

How we worked together
Partnership model
Lead agency model
Clearly defined governance and reporting to funder
Project management culture
Creative environment
Sound relationship and shared values
Open and regular communication
Collaborative approach
Finances
Transparency based on service level agreements
Infrastructure
Implementation, promotion and sustainability

Challenges
Strengths
Ensuring the service is sustainable
Investment of time
Asymmetrical partnership
Geographic spread
Shared expertise
Self harm related issues and support
Online communication
User involvement
Shared capacity
Marketing and operational
Mental health professionals and experts
Increased reach
Online and offline
Outreach and signposting
“Universal” audience

Benefits for the users
“Hey everyone ,My name is Jen and Im 15. Not sure what to write on here so forgive me if I am rambling a bit Anyway Im from Manchester and currently doing my GCSE's. I have mental health problems and somebody from 42ndstreet recommended joining up to the site so I did! I like to think I am friendly and approachable, I like to help people and plan on being a youth worker when I am older. Thats enough for now so I guess I will be seeing you all around”
Board user
“The benefit to users is huge.
Not only could we work with a wider variety of beneficiaries to ensure we met their needs we could also provide them with a more specialised level of expertise in the subject.
We were also able to provide them with a wider range of content than before because of the elements each partner brought the project.”
Claire Easterman,
Operations Director YouthNet
“Hearing from your experience really helps, I mean, lots of people have tried to talk to me about it, some on other site and some just friends, but none of them seriously know what it's like and all they ever say is "Just don't cut"… As for getting rid of all my "instruments" I took care of that before I did anything. Thank you so much for your help, and I'm quite proud of myself, I haven't cut in a month…”
Board user

Benefits for the partners
“While our staff were experienced at face to face, relational work with young peoplewho self-harm, the partnership has given them the opportunity and challenge of putting theseskills into practice in a new way.”
Ian Trafford
Head of Operations
42nd Street
“This partnership has allowed us to create something that compliments our work and that is desperately needed, but that we would not have been able to create independently.”
Paul Marriott
Chief Executive Depaul UK
Other benefits
New partnerships
New funding opportunities
Gain of some profile
Individuals developed new skills and expertise

Tips for the future
A good values/culture fit
Take the time to build a strong consortium
Adopt a project management culture
Define clear roles and responsibilities for each partner involved
Mutual respect is crucial
Embrace and managing risk
Recognise collaboration costs money
Adopt a learning culture
Open and regular communication
Collaboration often starts at the top but should be operational too
Set excellence as a standard for everything you do
Never lose sight of the beneficiaries

Question & Answer session

Thank you!

YouthNet Self Harm Seminar

by sam_thomas on Dec 01, 2009

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