Self-Harm Awareness Conference 2019

Speakers biographies and abstracts & titles of the lectures

• Ellen Townsend

  She holds a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Leeds and a PhD from the University of Nottingham. Before joining Nottingham as a Lecturer in 2001, she spent three years as a post-doctoral researcher in the Centre for Suicide Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. Ellen is a member of the PSPH in the School of Psychology and PI of the Self-Harm Research Group (SHRG).

  Expertise Summary:  Self-Harm. Suicide Prevention. Mental Health. Psychology.

  Lecture title

  Innovation in understanding and responding to self-harm: The Card Sort Task for Self-Harm’

• Prof Ella Arensman

  Professor and Chief Scientist, School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health & National Suicide Research Foundation, University College Cork, Ireland, WHO Collaborating Centre for Surveillance and Research in Suicide Prevention, International Association for Suicide Prevention.

  Professor Ella Arensman is Research Professor with the School of Public Health, University College Cork and Chief Scientist with the National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF), Ireland. She is Vice President of the European Alliance Against Depression and past President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention. She is Visiting Professor with the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University, Brisbane, and an expert advisor for WHO.

  Prof Arensman has been involved in research and prevention into suicide, self-harm and related mental health and social issues for more than 30 years and she leads a multidisciplinary research team. Her interests and expertise represent multiple research areas, including risk and protective factors associated with suicide and self-harm, real-time surveillance of suicide and self-harm, effectiveness of suicide prevention and self-harm intervention programmes, and clustering and contagion of suicidal behaviour. In Ireland, she played a key role in developing the first and second National Suicide Prevention Programme: Reach Out, 2005-2014, and Connecting for Life, 2015-2020. She has published over 150 papers in peer review journals as well as reports for government departments and policy makers.

  Abstract on the Lecture

  SELF-HARM AND SUICIDE IN YOUNG PEOPLE: RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS, AND EVIDENCE BASED INTERVENTIONS

  In recent years, international research has shown an increase of self-harm and suicide in young people, and many self-harm acts among children and adolescents remain ‘hidden’ from health services. However, research into risk and protective factors associated with self-harm and suicide in young adolescents is limited.

  Self-harm in children and adolescents commonly involves self-cutting and intentional drug overdose, and associations have been found with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse and bullying including cyberbullying.

  Suicide clustering is four times more common among young people (15-24 years) than other age groups. There are indications of increasing clustering and contagion effects in suicidal behaviour among young people associated with the rise in social media. In addition, in small communities social learning processes also contribute to clustering of suicide and self-harm.

  There is growing evidence for positive mental health promotion programmes in reducing risk factors for self-harm and strengthening protective factors. A number of specific interventions, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy have demonstrated positive effects in reducing risk of repeated self-harm among young people.

• Dr Eve Griffin

  Eve holds a PhD in Applied Psychology from University College Cork and is a post-doctoral researcher with the National Suicide Research Foundation. She is currently the manager of the National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm, a national system which collects data relating to self-harm presentations made to Irish hospital emergency departments. Having worked with the National Suicide Research Foundation since 2011, Eve has a particular interest in the profile of hospital-treated self-harm, the profile of intentional drug overdose presentations, as well as the management of self-harm patients. Eve also collaborates with the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency, they operate the Northern Ireland National Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm. In addition, Eve has recently been working to establish routine monitoring of all injury presentations to Irish hospitals.

  Eve has been involved in a number of EU consortia including Heal-Train, Optimised Suicide Prevention programmes and their Implementation in Europe (OSPI-Europe), and Joint Action for Monitoring Injuries in Europe (JAMIE). She is member of the Special Interest Group on unintentional injuries in children, as well as a member of the Northern Ireland Registry of Deliberate Self-Harm steering committee.

  About the Presentation

  Self-harm in Ireland: Priority groups and opportunities for intervention

  In 2017, 11,600 self-harm presentations were made to Irish hospital emergency departments, involving 9,103 persons, as recorded by the National Self-Harm Registry Ireland. Research has identified young people, those who are homeless and prisoners as being at particular risk for self-harm. Population-based studies have shown that self-harm is associated with economic factors, such as the 2008 economic recession, as well as area-level characteristics – with rates highest in urban and deprived areas. Furthermore, self-harm is often associated with substance, particularly alcohol, misuse. These findings highlight the challenges faced by health services in responding to self-harm, engaging vulnerable populations and tackling health inequalities.

  From a public health perspective, national data relating to self-harm and suicide in Ireland provides a unique opportunity to inform national suicide prevention initiatives, policy development, service provision and clinical guidelines. Registry data have been used to inform Ireland’s national suicide prevention strategy and will form part of the strategy’s outcomes framework.

• Siobhan Leijn and Sinead Rafferty

  Siobhan Leijn and Sinead Rafferty are Pieta House Psychotherapists. Their presentation will be about practical guidance for parents and teachers on dealing with presentations of self-harm in young people

• Moninne Griffith

  Moninne Griffith is Executive Director at BeLonG To. 

  About the presentation

  How youth work reduces rates of self-harm amongst LGBTI+ young people.

• Dr Richard Booth

  Richard Booth is Director of Psychology at St Patrick's Mental Helath Services where he has been based since 1990. Richard was an undergraduate at Trinity and then carried out Master’s degrees both there and in Glasgow. He graduated from the Clinical Psychology programme at UCD and worked as a psychologist for the South Eastern Health Board (based in Waterford) for three years. He then lived in Vancouver for four years where he completed a doctorate in clinical psychology. On his return to Ireland he worked as the Assistant Director on the Clinical Psychology programme in UCD before taking up an appointment at St Patrick’s Hospital where he has happily remained. He has published in the area of anxiety disorders and ethical decision-making and, most recently, on emotion regulation which is a major area of interest within the Psychology Department.

  About the presentation

  Self-harm: A single construct?

   

• David Keegan

  David Keegan is the CEO of First Fortnight, a national mental health charity that challenges stigma through art and culture. As well as being an advocate in furthering the national mental health conversation, David has his own personal experiences with mental health issues and self-harm which he will share on the day.