The mental health team at Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley and University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry collaborated on a Self-Harm Workforce Project with Bracknell Forest Council and Brighter Futures Together within Bracknell Forest in Berkshire. The project was funded and supported by Bracknell Forest public health as part of the Health and Wellbeing strategy 2022-2026 (Bracknell Forest Health and Wellbeing Strategy (bracknell-forest.gov.uk)) in response to new National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance around self-harm (NICE, 2022) as well as local challenges.
The project aimed to build an understanding of the approaches used among the workforce to support children and young people who self-harm, using an innovative and collaborative cross-discipline approach. Staff from health care, education, the local authority and voluntary sector participated in the project to understand the challenges and positive practice within the context of the local area. The anticipated output was to identify accessible and actionable insights to influence practice in both the short and longer term.
What did we do?
The project phases sought to bring together the frontline workforce across Bracknell Forest in order to support collective decision making about the actions needed to help produce a holistic and place-based response to self-harm that also reflects the updated NICE guidelines. A rapid approach across six phases was created in order to offer as much workforce involvement as possible.
Phase 1 – Bringing together the workforce via a project launch webinar
Phase 2 – Workforce survey intended to grasp the knowledge, understanding and confidence of the local workforce supporting children and young people who self-harm
Phase 3 – Review of existing local data on self-harm
Phase 4 – Reflective sessions bringing together people from different roles and sectors to facilitate a deep dive into self-harm through the lens of the workforce.
Phase 5 – Rapid review of grey literature to gain a more coherent picture of training guidance, documentation and toolkits available locally and beyond
Phase 6 – NICE baseline assessment tool for self-harm, completed with clinical and professional leads across sectors, looking at practice alongside NICE guidance
What has been achieved?
The final project report outlines preliminary themes and findings, highlighting positive practice and capturing some tangible insights for consideration in future local practice. The final report was published in August 2023 and can be found via the link below.s
