It’s not too late, you can still join us!

2022 Harm to Hope Conference:

Building resilience for the future

In line with Self-harm Awareness Day on the 1st of March, we launched our 7th annual Self Harm and Suicide Prevention Conference: From Harm to Hope.  The theme for our 2022 conference is: Building resilience for the future. And it just happens, we’ve made the conference future proof too!

We wanted to reminder you that although it launched in March, we’re keeping it open. Tickets (only £50) and are on sale throughout 2022, so you can sign up and have flexible access via our eLearning portal to all sessions anytime this year! All 9 CPD hours. We mean it when we say, no last chances to attend our conference this year!

We have an excellent variety of conference speakers and sessions. Here is just a small taster of what you can expect. Some key points from session speaker:

Dr Sarah Rowe and her conference session: The practice and acceptability of harm minimisation for self harm among young people.

Dr. Sarah Rowe is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Mental Health Sciences MSc in the Division of Psychiatry, University College London. She kindly joins us to talk through the practice and acceptability of harm minimisation for self harm among young people from research undertaken in Kent, UK.

“Practices based on control or prevention have been found to be ineffective and can exacerbate the behaviour. For some harm minimisation might be a more achievable goal than cessation, until they learn other coping strategies.”

Dr. Sarah Rowe, Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Mental Health Sciences MSc in the Division of Psychiatry, UCL

Key points

  • Examples of harm minimisation for self harm may include: educating on basic anatomy and physiology, access to clean implements and wound care, self harm report cards to us at GP/A&E to reduce anxiety and not self harming whilst under the influence of drugs/alcohol. Also distraction techniques.
  • The study was taken through semi-structured interviews through MAB (Mind and Body – a harm minimisation programme based in Kent) with young people 14-15 (11), carers/parents (5) (their role) and mental health professionals.
  • The majority of the young people held positive views towards harm minimisation as a way of reducing long term effects (scarring), increasing self-compassion and managing self-harm discreetly, and avoiding stigma. But it was viewed by some as a “double edged sword” – effects could be short lived and some raised concerns that providing basic anatomical detail could lead to further self harm or suicide attempts in vulnerable young people.
  • Parents, carers and professionals from the sample had largely positive views towards harm minimisation strategies. A key point being supporting with harm minimisation enabled them to communicate their worth for them. The weight of practice should be loaded towards a focus on acceptability. Supporting young people with opportunities for autonomy, self-compassion and communication. Which in turn reduces risks and long terms effects of self harm.

Dr. Sarah Rowe’s assertions of the lack of and limitations of research should be acknowledged, not as a problem but as an incentive to widen samples of those who take part in research and learning, and also therefore of those who we can reach and offer support. For example, she notes the limitations of response bias, participant samples lacking perspectives from ethnic minorities and parents/carers comprising only mothers. Widening that reach would be beneficial to all.

We really hope that this small insight has encouraged you to join us and enticed to learn more.

You can sign up to join us here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/221426702227

If you’ve already attended, please consider sharing this with your friends and colleagues!

Tickets only cost £50, but it’s worth every penny, not just for your CPD but for us and the people we support. All revenue generated from conference goes directly back to Harmless and the Tomorrow Project support sessions. Meaning YOU as delegates are directly contributing to saving lives.

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