SORTS – SuppOrtive Response To Self-harm

Background

In the UK, self-harm among young people is more common than in any European country. Nearly 20% of young people report that they self-harm and the risk increases sharply during the teenage years. Research shows that young people who self-harm are more likely to have mental health difficulties in later life and are at a higher risk of suicide. Reports suggest the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted young people's mental health and a recent survey shows that 10% of 8 -13 year olds reported having self-harmed at least once during the lockdown period. Despite this, only a fifth of YP who self-harm receive help from health services.

Project Aims

This study aimed to design an online training programme and resource toolkit to improve the staff response to students who self-harm. It is aimed at all staff working in schools, including those in admin, support and teaching roles. We believe that the SORTS training will increase staff knowledge, skills and confidence in how to respond to students who self-harm and this will encourage young people to seek help. 

Project Activity

We have coproduced the SORTS training content with the Charlie Waller Trust and by working closely with secondary school students, school staff and mental health professionals.

Initially, we ran focus groups with young people to explore their expectations of how schools and staff should respond to self-harm and what support they would want. We then convened an expert panel to coproduce the training content which included representatives from the Charlie Waller Trust and school mental health staff. We have also run school staff workshops to co-design the training resources and to capture their views about responding to students who self-harm. Based on the feedback from school staff, we coproduced an e-learning module for schools about self-harm.

Outputs

Here are some impact/outcomes of the SORTS project:

SORTS website:

• 10,000 visitors to the SORTS website
• 1.3K downloads of the SORTS resources for schools

SORTS e-learning module

• Within the first quarter of 2025, 1000+ school staff have completed the SORTS e-learning module
• E-learning module users rate the training as ‘good’ to ‘excellent’
• School staff’s understanding about self-harm increased after completing the training
• Staff confidence in having a conversation with a student about self-harm increased after completing the training

SORTS has been included:

• As part of the Mayor of London’s Healthy Schools Scheme which recommends resources to schools in London
• Anna Freud Mentally Healthy Schools - https://www.mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/whole-school-or-college-resources/e-learning-module-introduction-to-self-harm-in-schools/
• Teachwire : a website providing teachers with resources- https://www.teachwire.net/teaching-resources/self-harm-support-schools/
• Barnet Council have included SORTS as part of its self-harm training resources for schools

SORTS has been presented to:

• Thrive LDN Suicide Prevention Group
• Office for Health Improvement and Disparities,  London Region Department of Health and Social Care CYP MH community of practice meeting.

SORTS publicity

• Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Blog (under review and will be published soon)
• NIHR ARC East of England Press Release - https://arc-eoe.nihr.ac.uk/news-blogs/news-latest/preventing-self-harm-improved-support-young-people-schools
• Send Network - https://send-network.co.uk/posts/new-resource-offers-strategies-for-school-staff-to-effectively-respond-to-students-who-self-harm
• Newsletters:
  • Teach Secondary
  • Barking and Dagenham Schools Improvement Partnership

Publications

• Burn A-M, Gains H, Anderson J. A self-harm awareness training module for school staff: Coproduction and user testing study. Submitted to: JMIR Mental Health. (under review)
• Burn A-M, Hall P, Anderson J. A Web-Based Training Program for School Staff to Respond to Self-Harm: Design and Development of the Supportive Response to Self-Harm Program. JMIR Form Res JMIR Formative Research; 2024 Jun 4;8(1):e50024.
• Colville L, Anderson JK, Burn A-M. How schools can respond to pupils who self-harm: a qualitative study with young people and school staff. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties; 2024 

Who was involved?

• Principle Investigator: Dr. Anne-Marie Burn, University of Cambridge
• Principle Investigator: Dr. Joanna Anderson, University of Cambridge
• Research Assistant: Hayley Gains, University of Cambridge
• Research Assistant: Poppy Hall, University of Cambridge
• Placement Student: Lauren Hitchcock

Papers and resources

• Academic papers: Burn, A. M., Hall, P., & Anderson, J. (2024). A Web-Based Training Program for School Staff to Respond to Self-Harm: Design and Development of the Supportive Response to Self-Harm Program. JMIR Formative Research, 8(1), e50024  10.2196/50024 

Contact

Anne-Marie Burn- amb278@cam.ac.uk