Residential staff responses to adolescent self-harm: The helpful and unhelpful

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan R Johnson ◽  
Kirstin Ferguson ◽  
Jennifer Copley
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Support Service ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Staff Support ◽  
Secure Care ◽  
Residential Staff ◽  
Self Harm

Adolescent self-harm is prevalent in residential and secure care and is the cause of distress to those harming themselves, to the staff caring for them and for other young people living with them. This article sought service user views on what staff supports were effective and what were counter-productive in order to improve the care offered to young people. Seven young people living in residential or secure care were interviewed. Thematic analysis was used to elicit key themes. Global themes of safety and care were elicited. The young people understood and accepted that the role of staff was to provide these. Within these themes, they noted numerous responses that had both helpful and unhelpful effects, including increased observation, removal of means and extra collaborative support. Service users made numerous recommendations to increase the helpful effects of staff support. Young people provided informed and helpful guidance on how best to care for them. Their views can help mental health professionals and care staff increase their helpful responses making them more effective and less counter-productive. This study is a rare representation of the views of young people in residential and secure care and how to respond to their self-harm behaviour.

scholarly journals The Promise and Deception of Participation in Welfare Services for Unemployed Young People

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Aila-Leena Matthies ◽  
Kati Närhi ◽  
Tuomo Kokkonen
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Young People ◽  
User Participation ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Thematic Content Analysis ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
Political Citizenship

This study examined the role of welfare services in the participative citizenship of young people under 30 years of age outside the labour market. Thematic content analysis of the government’s white papers regarding participation policies, as well as participatory action research projects in two Finnish towns, were used to identify factors that enable or hinder participation for this group of service users. The paradigm of participation was critically examined with reference to the theoretical framework of Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno’s “dialectic of Enlightenment”, which proposes the parallel existence of the promise and the deception of Enlightenment. The results indicated that user participation holds the potential to promote democratization, consolidation, and qualitative improvements in services, especially by valuing experience-based knowledge and enabling the growing political citizenship of young people. However, the promises of the paradigm of participation can turn toward deception when applied as a managerialistic workfare instrument to control young people’s behaviour and can even deepen marginalization by focusing only on their absence from workforce participation. The ambivalent role of social sciences and social work as agencies of Enlightenment in developing participation technologies is also discussed.

“Attention seeker”, “drama queen”: the power of talk in constructing identities for young people with mental health difficulties

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Byrne ◽  
Lorraine Swords
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young People ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Research Use ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Adolescent Mental Health Service ◽  
Mental Health Difficulties

Purpose – Mental health difficulties are often stigmatised because of situated ways of talking that become taken-for-granted “truths”. Against this backdrop, identities of those affected are constructed. The purpose of this paper is to explore identities of former inpatients at an Irish Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Design/methodology/approach – Ten young people (aged 18-22) participated in discussions and their discourse was analysed using a critical discursive perspective. Findings – Three key identities emerged: a hidden identity, a misunderstood identity and the struggle for a re-claimed identity. Research limitations/implications – Findings indicate the power of discourse in creating stigma and the need for mental health professionals to draw on empowering discourses to help service-users construct positive identities. The importance of involving service-users in research is also implicated. Originality/value – This research involves service-users who are increasingly, although not traditionally, involved in research. Use of qualitative methodology allows their voices to be heard and gives meaning to their experiences.

scholarly journals Understanding the Experience and Needs of School Counsellors When Working with Young People Who Engage in Self-Harm

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (23) ◽  
pp. 4844
Author(s):  
Ben Te Maro ◽  
Sasha Cuthbert ◽  
Mia Sofo ◽  
Kahn Tasker ◽  
Linda Bowden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Young People ◽  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
School Environment ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
School Staff ◽  
School Counsellors ◽  
Self Harm

Self-harm rates are increasing globally and demand for supporting, treating and managing young people who engage in self-harm often falls to schools. Yet the approach taken by schools varies. This study aimed to explore the experience of school staff managing self-harm, and to obtain their views on the use of guidelines in their work. Twenty-six pastoral care staff from New Zealand were interviewed. Interviews were analyzed and coded using thematic analysis. Three themes emerged: The burden of the role; discrepancies in expectations, training, and experience; and the need for guidelines to support their work. This research, therefore, demonstrated a need for guidelines to support school staff to provide support around decision making and response to self-harm in the school environment.

Online discussion forums for young people who self-harm: user views

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (10) ◽  
pp. 364-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Jones ◽  
Siobhan Sharkey ◽  
Tamsin Ford ◽  
Tobit Emmens ◽  
Elaine Hewis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young People ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
Illustrative Statements

Aims and methodTo explore what young people who self-harm think about online self-harm discussion forums. SharpTalk was set up to facilitate shared learning between health professionals and young people who self-harm. We extracted themes and illustrative statements from the online discussion and asked participants to rate statements.ResultsOf 77 young people who participated in the forum, 47 completed the questionnaire. They said they learned more about mental health issues from online discussion forums than from information sites, found it easier to talk about self-harm to strangers than to family or friends, and preferred to talk online than face-to-face or on the telephone. They valued the anonymity the forums provided and reported feeling more able to disclose and less likely to be judged online than in ‘real life’.Clinical implicationsMental health professionals should be aware of the value of anonymous online discussion forums for some young people who self-harm, so that they can talk about them and assess their use with their patients.

scholarly journals In safe hands: Empowering young people with disabilities who receive assistance with intimate personal care

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-107
Author(s):  
Patricia Muldoon ◽  
Gloria Kirwan
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Support Service ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Physical Functions ◽  
Micro Level

This article explores the potential for social workers to engage in empowering relationships with young people whose disabilities necessitate that they receive help with certain physical functions, some of which would be termed both personal and intimate. We look firstly at different perspectives within social work on empowerment and what social workers can do to support service users gain more control over their lives. Drawing on the findings of a study by Muldoon (2012), we explore the application of these empowerment concepts into the working relationships that social workers develop with young people who require daily assistance with intimate personal care, and through this exploration we draw attention to the importance of understanding empowerment as a micro-level as well as the more often discussed macro-level action in social work.

scholarly journals Young people, self-harm and internet forums

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (10) ◽  
pp. 368-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Powell
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Digital Natives ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Mobile Telephones ◽  
The Social ◽  
Self Harm

SummaryA generation of digital natives are living their lives in fundamentally different ways from previous generations. The rapid advance of the internet and mobile telephones, and the adoption of online social media, mean that substantial parts of the social lives of young people are played out in online settings. This has implications for how young people discuss and seek help for mental health problems. This commentary discusses the role of online forums for young people who self-harm. Practitioners need to understand the potential harms and benefits, and explore how benefits can be harnessed and harms minimised.

scholarly journals Design of a brief psychological intervention for youth who self-harm: a formative study in India

2020 ◽  
pp. ebmental-2020-300188
Author(s):  
Shilpa Aggarwal ◽  
George Patton ◽  
Michael Berk ◽  
Vikram Patel
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Psychological Intervention ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Intervention Development ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Sequential Approach ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
Context Specific

BackgroundThere is an urgent need for context-specific research leading to development of scalable interventions to address self-harm and suicide in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).ObjectiveThe current study was conducted to determine the contents of a psychological intervention to reduce recurrence of self-harm and improve functioning in youth who self-harm in India and finalise its delivery mechanisms.MethodsA systematic, sequential approach was used to integrate available scientific evidence, expert service providers’ knowledge and experience, and service users’ lived experiences in the codesigning and development of a psychological intervention. The steps included: identifying prioritised outcomes for youth who self-harm as well as a selection of feasible and acceptable elements from self-harm interventions that have been trialled in LMICs, intervention development workshops with mental health professionals and youth to finalise elements, a review of relevant treatment manuals to decide on the treatment framework, and finalising the treatment structure and schedule in the second round of intervention development workshops.FindingsWe developed ATMAN treatment with three key elements; problem solving, emotion regulation and social network strengthening skills. The delivery schedule emphasises on the engagement elements, and allows for involvement of other stakeholders such as family members when acceptable to the clients.Conclusion and clinical implicationsATMAN treatment could prove to be especially effective in reducing self-harm recurrence in youth in India due to its brief schedule, elements that have been selected in collaboration with the service users and its potential to be scaled up for delivery by non-specialist treatment providers.

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