Abstract

Self-harm in adolescents is an increasingly recognized problem, and there is growing awareness of the important role schools and health services can play in detecting and supporting those at risk. By Their Own Young Hand explores the findings of the first large-scale survey of deliberate self-harm and suicidal thinking in adolescents in the UK, and draws out the implications for prevention strategies and mental health promotion.

Six thousand young people were asked about their experiences of self-harm, the coping methods they use, and their attitudes to the help and support available. The authors identify the risk and protective factors for self-harm, exploring why some adolescents with suicidal thoughts go on to harm themselves while others do not, what motivates some young people to seek help, and whether distressed teenagers feel they receive the support they need. By Their Own Young Hand offers practical advice on how schools can detect young people at risk, cope with the aftermath of self-harm or attempted suicide, and develop training programmes for teachers. It also examines the roles of self-help, telephone helplines, email counselling, and walk-in crisis centres.

Packed with adolescents' own personal accounts and perspectives, this accessible overview will be essential reading for teachers, social workers and mental health professionals.

This book is a useful tool for those who are beginning to work with young people and for schools and primary care workers who may have limited understanding of self-harm and how to intervene.
Children, Young People and Families
Teachers and others in pastoral roles - tutors, SENCOs, counsellors, school nurses - and allied professions that interface with schools - EWOs, educational psychologists and staff in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), etc- should be alerted to the existance of this particular book. This is a very valuable book, strongly supported by empirical research.
Pastoral Care in Education
This excellent British book examines deliberate self-harm in adolescents...A very useful book providing good backgroud knowledge for all ED staff into the nature of adolescent self-harm.
The Emergency Nursing
With the alarming rise in deliberate self-harm among young people, especially girls, there is a need for greater understanding of this important issue. Here is a book that provides this, with a comprehensive overview of the nature and the extent of deliberate self-harm in adolescents… The very practical recommendations and the guidelines provided in the appendices give useful pointers towards identifying vulnerable young people early on, and helping them address their problems before self-harming behaviours become very firmly entrenched patterns of coping. This is an invaluable resource for anyone working with young people, and specifically for teachers, social workers, mental health professionals, policy makers and researchers with an interest in this age group.
Mental Health Today
Keith Hawton is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford. He is co-editor of the International Handbook of Suicide and Attempted Suicide, co-author of Deliberate Self-harm in Adolescence, also published by Jessica Kingsley, and has been presented with awards from the International Association for Suicide Prevention (1995), the American Association of Suicidology (2001), and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2002). Karen Rodham is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford, focusing on the lifestyle and coping skills of adolescents. Emma Evans is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford, and has also undertaken research into effective provision of preschool education.