Meeting the challenge: insights and recommendations

While our Hidden Too Long report uncovered real challenges and barriers to improving understanding of and support for people affected by self-harm, it also highlighted the ambition and aspiration for a renewed approach to this often hidden public health issue.

Our Digital Gathering built on this collaborative spirit and shared ambition by bringing together a wide range of stakeholders to explore and co-produce recommendations to inform future policy and service responses to self-harm.

Participants were split into three groups, each tasked with exploring a broad theme: the Definition Challenge Group, the Talking Openly Challenge Group, and the Harm Prevention & Harm Reduction Challenge Group. All groups took part in two digital workshops facilitated by Media Co-op and supported by the online whiteboard tool Miro.

We have summarised the key themes and conclusions that emerged from each of the Challenge Groups in brief reports. We recommend reading these alongside the accompanying Miro Board visual reports, to see the full process each group went through in developing these conclusions and to read the detailed insights from each session.

In this challenge group we explored how self-harm is defined, who gets to define it, and the implications of definition for policy and services.

In this challenge group we explored the risks and opportunities associated with increasing public awareness and open discussion of self-harm, and how policy and services can and should respond to these.

In this challenge group we explored the risks and opportunities involved in harm reduction and harm prevention approaches to self-harm, and how policy and services can and should respond to these.