News Release, 9 March 2004
The first ever UK Inquiry into deliberate self-harm among young people will be launched at the House of Commons on 30 March, with a large turn-out of MPs expected to support the call for evidence.
Chaired by Catherine McLoughlin CBE, the Inquiry will last for two years, and aims to thoroughly research the incidence, causes and treatment of self-harm among 11-25 year olds. The Inquiry is being jointly run by the Mental Health Foundation and the Camelot Foundation, and comes in response to concern about growing rates of self-harm in the UK, which are the highest in Europe.
The Inquiry will take evidence from young people, parents/carers, policy makers, service commissioners, frontline staff and senior managers in health, education, social care and voluntary sector organisations. The Inquiry panel will be made up of people with direct experience of self-harm, frontline staff, academics and professionals.
The Inquiry aims to investigate how services across the UK can best work with communities, families and young people to:
- Understand more about self-harm
- Prevent self-harm
- Intervene in the lives of young people who already self-harm
- Develop appropriate services
- Improve the overall mental health of people who self-harm
The Inquiry is also expected to make policy and practice recommendations, as well as identify and disseminate good practice.
Catherine McLoughlin CBE said:
"Self-harm among young people is an issue that is much-debated, but we lack a proper understanding of it, and have a limited capacity to respond effectively in the areas of policy and services. The task facing us is to understand why more young people seem to be harming themselves, how we can engage with them, and above all, what we can do to help."
Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation said:
"The increase in self-harm is one of a number of indicators in the mental health field that show something is wrong. It may be visible evidence of growing problems facing our young people, or of a growing inability to respond to those problems.
There is a desire across the health and social care spectrum to develop appropriate responses, but the evidence base is limited. Self-harm is a complex issue, and our Inquiry will have to be broad in its outlook."
Susan Elizabeth, Director of the Camelot Foundation said: "One of our key priorities for the national Inquiry is that it should reflect the views and experience of young people who self-harm. To achieve this, we will be consulting regularly with five sites across the UK, where groups of young people who self-harm already meet. We want to make sure that young people's views are fed into the Inquiry at every stage."
Facts and figures about self-harm
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Deliberate self-harm leads to about 150,000 attendances at A&E every year and is one of the top five causes of acute medical admission. But research has highlighted that more than half of all self-harmers are discharged without psychiatric assessment and face negative attitudes from healthcare staff (National Institute for Clinical Excellence, 2002).
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Rates of self-harm are much higher among groups with high levels of poverty and in adolescents and younger adults (National Institute for Clinical Excellence, 2002).
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The average age for children starting to self-harm is 13. The earliest reported incident is however at the age of 7. (NCH & Centre for Social Justice, Coventry University, 2002).
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Young women are reported to outnumber young men in the ratio of 7 to 1 (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2002). However, rates of self-harm among young men and boys have almost doubled since the 1980's (The Samaritans, 2001)
- 50% of young people who commit suicide carry out an act of deliberate self-harm in the preceding year. (The Samaritans, 2001)
Further information on the Inquiry
A new website dedicated to the Inquiry will be live from 30 March, www.selfharmuk.org
Return to news releases 2004
For further information and interview requests contact please contact the press office on 020 7803 1105 / 1128 or email the press office
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