This next training program is aimed at the school and community youth support sectors for school teachers, counsellors, welfare officers and community youth support staff to be trained in vital skills to identify young people who may be at risk of self-harm, whether or not with suicidal intent.

Most commonly, self-injury or self-harm begins between the ages of 12-15 years. Rates of deliberate self-harm among adolescents who do not come to the attention of health care services are 80-90% higher than the rates derived from hospital registrations, half of whom do not receive help from anyone (Ystgaard et al 2009). This hidden population of distressed adolescents includes some who may have serious mental health problems.

Self-harming behaviour is one of the strongest predictors of suicide attempts and completed suicide. Any school-based suicide prevention program must also incorporate considerations surrounding self- harm to embrace the complexity of potentially life-threatening behaviours in adolescents. This half- day course provides strategies to engage and support young people with high-risk behaviours, those who self-harm and/or are suicidal.