SSHP, Young People

Aims and target audience

Self-harm is common among young people today and sometimes also suicidal thinking. These are challenges for parents and professional alike. Professionals such as teachers, social workers and many others, as well as those working in voluntary roles with children and young people, will come across such situations. Some may be faced with the aftermath of a suicide among those they work with. This set of sessions is a Learning Path, which are most relevant to Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention for Young People.

MindEd is part of the National Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention programme (SSHP) (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/suicide-prevention-cross-government-plan) and aims to help teachers, social workers, volunteers and parents understand better how to approach children and young people in such situations.

The MindEd SSHP programme aims to help you to learn both knowledge and skills in this important area. We build on and link across to existing MindEd materials, using newly created case scenario-based teaching. There is rich video material to illustrate skills and help you, on your own or in wider learning groups, to observe people in these situations and reflect on how you would handle these challenges.

The skills case study based sessions are designed for you to use by yourself or, even better, to use in small-group teaching so that you can learn from each other in discussion and observation of each other rehearsing this type of conversation. We also provide a PDF downloadable guide for the use of this material for trainers who work with these small groups.

The knowledge sessions can be used on your own or in a group learning context, but are more focussed on supporting knowlege and understanding than skills development. They are divided into Introductory learning, Detailed learning, the Healthy Child framework taking a child health perspective, and Minded for Families material developed for parents, families and carers.

Learning outcomes

What the MindEd SSHP offers are skills building scenarios and supporting knowledge sessions to help you know the do’s and don’ts in these difficult situations:

• How do you talk to a young person whom you suspect of harming themselves?
• What can you say that will be helpful and how can you manage yourself when you may be feeling shocked about the situation?
• How can you improve understanding?
• How can you assess their safety and co-create safety plans?
• Learn more about what helps and what can make things worse.
• What do you do if a young person you support has experiences a death by suicide?
• What are the overlap and the differences between suicidal thinking and self-harm?

Delivery methods and styles

The MindEd SSHP onlinelearning content  is designed so that all sessions can be used by individual learners as well as n small-group workshop settings, enabling .users to learn from each other through discussion and observation.

The knowledge sessions can be used individually or in a group learning context, and focus on supporting knowledge development. They are divided into Introductory learning, Detailed learning, the Healthy Child framework taking a child health perspective, and Minded for Families material developed for parents, families and carers.

Knowledge and skills required of the trainers

HEE MindEd’s elearning sessions are written by experts in the field, always with the help of experts by experience (EBE), who have lived experience of the issues covered.

Involvement of people with lived experience

MindEd’s eLearning sessions are written by experts in the field, always with the help of Experts by Experience (EBE), who have lived experience of the issues covered. EBE input is imperative and they are involved throughout the MindEd elearning development process, engaging in discussions with clinical experts, providing input into written content and often being present at filming for the case studies.

Assessment, CPD credits, certification

HEE MindEd’s SSHP course is open access and free to use.

Throughout the course, there are quizzes which help learners to evaluate their understanding of the content.

It is not mandatory to do so, but you can register to keep track of your learning and download certificates for CPD purposes.