LifeSIGNS - Self-Injury Guidance & Network Support
LifeSIGNS is the user-led small charity creating understanding about self-injury. They provide an excellent guidance page for teachers, parents and guardians, partners and students. This also includes guidance of how to create a school self-harm policy.
No Harm Done
No Harm Done: a guide for professionals
This Young Minds guidance provides information, tools and strategies for supporting a young person who self-harms.
NICE: Self harm
This guideline covers assessment, management and preventing recurrence for children, young people and adults who have self-harmed. It includes those with a mental health problem, neurodevelopmental disorder or learning disability and applies to all sectors that work with people who have self-harmed (including staff in educational settings).
NICE Guidance - Self Harm
Assessment in schools and educational settings
- Educational settings should have policies and procedures for staff to support students who self-harm. These should include:
- How to identify self-harm behaviours
- How to assess the needs of students
- What do to if they suspect a student is self-harming
- How to support the student's close friends and peer group.
- Educational settings should have a designated lead responsible for:
- Ensuring that self-harm policies and procedures are implemented
- Ensuring that self-harm policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and kept up-to-date in line with current national guidance
- Ensuring that staff are aware of the self-harm policies and procedures and understand how to implement them
- Supporting staff with implementation if there are any uncertainties.
- All educational staff should:
- Be aware of the policies and procedures for identifying and assessing the needs of students who self-harm
- Know how to implement the policies and procedures within their roles and responsibilities
- Know who to go to for support and supervision.
- For students who have self-harmed, the designated lead should seek the advice of mental health professionals to develop a support plan with the student and their family members and carers (as appropriate) for when they are in the educational setting. This should include guidance from other agencies involved in the person's care, as appropriate.
- Educational staff should take into account how the student's self-harm may affect their close friends and peer groups, and provide appropriate support to reduce distress to them and the person.