Parents and carers views of engaging with school staff about self-harming behaviour

Overview

West Sussex county council are creating an interactive self-harm training video for educational staff across West Sussex and are asking for the views of parents and carers of young people who have experiences of self-harm who would be happy to contribute towards the creation of that video.

What is the video for?

The video will provide teachers and school staff with more knowledge and understanding of self-harm and will help them to identify those who are self-harming or showing self-harming behaviour earlier, resulting in a useful and sustainable toolkit for schools.

We are hoping that by creating this interactive self-harm awareness video, staff working in schools will be able to:

• Better understand self-harm and self-harming behaviour
• Communicate effectively with a young person engaging or at risk of engaging in self-harming behaviour
• Have better knowledge of the services available in West Sussex and know how to recommend these to young people
• Know what support is available for them, as professionals

How will my experiences, stories or top tips be shown?

We are asking that you share with us your experiences, stories and/or top tips in text form. These will then be used throughout the video to help the teachers and school staff understand your experiences. These may appear as text on the screen or be read out by a member of our team.

The video will be shown in schools across West Sussex with the possibility of it reaching a wider audience across the UK and overseas.

It’s important to note that anything you submit to us will be completely anonymised and that you and your child will not be identifiable.