This is a half day (3.5 hours) education and awareness workshop. It is informal in style with an emphasis on experiential learning and participation. The course can be tailored to meet the needs of individual groups.

“The course has made me aware of reasons behind self-injury, made me more sensitive to clients and more confident to support them. It will definitely improve my practice.”

An Understanding Self-Harm participant

Who is it for?

Anyone involved in supporting someone who self-injures, including health professionals, support workers, housing staff, teachers, youth workers and volunteers.

What are the course aims?

• To explore attitudes and preconceptions toward self-injury.
• To provide insight into the dynamics, meaning and functions of self-injury.
• To understand causes, triggers and cycles of harm.
• To consider helpful responses to people who self-injure.

What are the teaching methods?

The session combines various teaching methods, including:

• Presentation.
• Discussion.
• An experiential exercise.
• Small group and pair work.
• Whole group discussion.

What are the training outcomes?

On completing the course, each participant will be able to:

• Extend their understanding of the dynamics underlying self-injury.
• Identify helpful and unhelpful responses to people who self-injure.
• Explore alternative coping strategies.
• Develop insight into personal relationships with self-injury.

Additionally, each participant will receive a certificate plus an emailed resource pack with further learning materials and information.