A Conference on Self-Injury for User-Led Research and Practice
Posted on: 03 March 2011
A conference organised by Dr Kay Inckle of TCD’s School of Social Work and Social Policy on self-injury was opened recently (March 2nd) in Trinity College Dublin by Martin Rogan, Assistant National Director of Mental Health (HSE) and member of the Mental Health Expert Advisory Group.
Self-injury is a widespread experience across all sectors of Irish society with estimates of more than 60,000 cases of self-injury occurring every year (figures from National Suicide Research Federation, 2008). Despite its widespread occurrence there is currently no policy or best practice protocol in Ireland to deal with self-injury. This conference presents contemporary Irish research and practice which explores self-injury from the service-user’s perspective. Both researchers and practitioners emphasise that in order to have effective responses to self-injury, treatment has to be tailored to the individual’s specific needs and experiences.
Throughout the course of the day speakers demonstrated that self-injury is often a response to a deep distress and is a means of coping with and expressing difficult emotions and experiences. The importance of seeing the whole person and working with them to alleviate that distress rather than focusing solely on preventing or controlling the behaviour was emphasised. Research highlighted how the promotion of self-care has also been found to be crucial to the process.
This is the third annual conference on self-injury organised by Dr Kay Inckle. The aim of the conference is to promote awareness and improve understanding and responses to self-injury among service providers, policy makers and the wider public. Speaking at the event Dr Kay Inckle said: “Self-injury is much more widespread than is commonly recognised. It is essential that we understand that self-injury is a response to distress and we need to focus our attention on the causes of the distress, not the fact of the injury.”
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