Schools around the country are using resources co-produced with ARC East of England researchers, young people and school staff to better recognise and respond to self-harm among students. 2,500 staff across 370 schools in England and Wales have now completed the SORTS training which has boosted staff awareness and confidence to tackle self-harm early with compassionate support.
The research team share their key findings and explain the impact of the project in this blog.
With long waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, early intervention in schools is key to preventing more serious mental health issues and potential hospital admissions. Research shows a steady increase in self-harm among women aged 16–24, with one in three reporting self-harm compared with one in six men of the same age. Concerningly, self-harm increased among children as young as 10–12 years of age during the pandemic.
Evidence suggests this rise is driven by multiple pressures including heavy social media use - particularly at night, which is linked to poor sleep, bullying, and exposure to harmful content, as well as financial strain from the cost-of-living crisis, academic pressures, and ongoing impacts of the pandemic. School staff are often the first professionals to notice young people self-harming and can provide early support, but many staff report that they lack knowledge and confidence to do this.
Our research team at the University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry have developed an online training programme called SORTS (Supportive Response to Self-harm) to help school staff to respond to self-harm, with no previous mental health experience required. SORTS includes a 30-minute self-harm awareness e-learning module with evidence-based information and scenarios for staff to reflect on how they would respond to a discovery or disclosure of self-harm. The training includes information about self-harm, why it happens and how to respond supportively. Our free resource toolkit for schools on the SORTS website includes infographics, activity sheets and information leaflets for school staff, parents and young people.
Co-production remains at the heart of SORTS as it needs to be guided and designed by the people who will use the approach and benefit from it. The SORTS project involved 11 young people and 47 school staff. There are more staff participants helping to develop the resource as it is designed for them to use.
We are working with young people, parents, and school staff to expand the resources for families, including parents and siblings, and plan to co-produce new training modules tailored for at-risk groups such as LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent young people. We are also carrying out patient and public involvement activities with school staff and young people to co-develop a new grant proposal for a full implementation evaluation of the SORTS training.
“The ARC East of England’s infrastructure and expertise have been crucial to the success of SORTS. The ARC provided essential funding for our research team with support for sharing findings and implementing the toolkit in schools. This has enabled the project to achieve a much larger scale and impact to help more young people in schools.”
Dr Anne-Marie Burn, Principal Investigator
The training has reached 2,500 school staff across 370 schools in England and Wales. These include a range of staff roles across the whole school, with 60% of trainees in senior leadership, pastoral or teaching roles, 35% teaching assistants and administrative staff (including librarians) and 5% school facilities staff (e.g. catering). Data collected before and after training showed that staff understanding of self-harm increased from 6.3 to 7.8 (on a 1–9 scale) and their confidence in handling a conversation about self-harm rose from 5.8 to 7.7. Overall, staff rate the training from “good” to “excellent”.
The project has been supported by local authorities and national mental health partners. Barnet Council has embedded SORTS in its self-harm and suicide awareness training for schools across the borough and the Mayor of London’s Healthy Schools Scheme has promoted SORTS to schools involved in the scheme across the capital. The Anna Freud Centre has listed SORTS on the Mentally Healthy Schools website, extending its reach to schools nationwide and our project partners The Charlie Waller Trust continue to promote SORTS to schools across the country.
“Plans are underway for a wider rollout regionally and nationally, with international adoption a goal for the long term. We are planning an evaluation of the project and currently working up a bid with Health Innovation East.”
Dr Anne-Marie Burn, Principal Investigator
The programme has been presented through ARC East of England networks, school partnerships, and policy forums. Our team were invited to speak to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, London Region (Department of Health and Social Care) and Thrive LDN – Suicide Prevention Group. We have also produced three peer-reviewed publications from the project.
In addition to developing the SORTS online toolkit, we have published qualitative research capturing the perspectives of young people and school staff on how schools should respond to self-harm. With limited guidance for schools, this study addresses a critical gap. Drawing on these insights, we have developed evidence-based principles of practice to guide a whole-school approach to self-harm. This work is especially timely given the current UK policy focus on the role of schools in supporting young people’s mental health, including early intervention and suicide prevention.
- Access all the resources on the SORTS website
