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Self-harm in Children and Young People

Checked: 25-09-2024 by Vicky Ryan Next Review: 24-09-2026

Overview

This page serves as a resource for health professionals working with children and young people presenting with self harm. Self harm is often used as a way to handle a range of difficult or overwhelming emotions or to express difficult thoughts or feelings. It does not solve the underlying problem.

As professionals it can often be difficult to navigate the range of services on offer and there is not a one size fits all. Not all children who have self harmed will meet the criteria for CAMHS referral and different families will require different support based on their individual circumstances.

This is a brief summary of available services for the clinician to be able to quickly navigate to and share with the patient and their family. It should be used in conjunction with the other Remedy/AWP pages including:

Mental Health Resources for Children and Young People (Remedy BNSSG ICB) - general advice on management of mental health in CYP.
Self-harm and suicide: Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (awp.nhs.uk) - specific advice for patients and parents and links to other useful resources
CAMHS Referral information (Remedy BNSSG ICB) - how to get advice and/or refer to CAMHS if this is required/indicated.

Crisis contacts

Professionals, families and young people can access these services when requiring urgent help and support when the young person is in crisis.

Resources

Parent and carer information and advice

School-based support

Mental health support teams work within schools to provide support to young people and their families. This includes talking therapy for mild to moderate mental health difficulties. They are not yet in all schools but you can check here: Mental Health Support Team - OTR (otrbristol.org.uk)
School nursing services covers CYP aged 4 to 19 years: School Nursing Service – Children and Young People’s Services (sirona-cic.org.uk)

Talking therapy and face to face support

NHS Talking Therapies can assess CYP aged 16 and over NHS Talking Therapies
Off the record provides regular face to face and online support to CYP aged 11-25 Home - OTR (otrbristol.org.uk)

Physical Activity and Hobbies for Mental Wellbeing

Find a local sports team: https://www.wesport.org.uk/getting-active/a-z-of-sport/
Join Scouts https://www.scouts.org.uk/

Minimising the detrimental effect of online devices

Supporting children's wellbeing online | NSPCC

Digital support services

ChatHealth – Children and Young People’s Services (sirona-cic.org.uk)
ChatHealth-A4-Poster.pdf (sirona-cic.org.uk)
Kooth: Online mental wellbeing support Home - Kooth

Parent and carer support groups

Parent carer support groups: Groups In Your Area (rethink.org)

Directories

If the resources above do not address the young person’s needs, below is a list of extensive directories of resources which can be shared with the CYP and their families.

Resources specific to North Somerset

School Based Support

Better Health North Somerset Children & Young People's Mental Health & Wellbeing | Better Health North Somerset (betterhealthns.co.uk)

Wellbeing Support

Early Help - services include parenting courses, SEND advice, social care, mental and physical health support and more for families.

North Somerset families can self-refer for an Early Help assessment on 01275 888808. Early Help | North Somerset Council (n-somerset.gov.uk)

Parent and carer support groups

North Somerset Parent Carers Working Together: NSPCWT | Services 2

Directory of Services

North Somerset Mental Health and Wellbeing Directory of Services for Children and Young People | Better Health North Somerset (betterhealthns.co.uk)

Resources specific to Bristol

Early Help - services include parenting courses, SEND advice, social care, mental and physical health support and more for families.

Parent and Carer Support Groups

Parent carer support groups: Groups In Your Area (rethink.org)

Resources specific to South Glos

Early Help - services include parenting courses, SEND advice, social care, mental and physical health support and more for families.

South Gloucestershire families can self- refer online here: early-help-south-gloucestershire (ccp.org.uk)
Support with parenting including free online learning and resources | South Gloucestershire (southglos.gov.uk)

Parent and Carer Support Groups

Parent carer support groups: Groups In Your Area (rethink.org)

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.