12 May Suicide and self harm in young people: Are schools doing enough?
Suicide rates in young people have increased and it is now the leading cause of death for young people in the UK, according to the Office of National Statistics.
In a study conducted by Manchester University between 2003 and 2013 an average of 428 people under the age of 25 died from suicide in England each year. At the time of death, of those referenced in the study 53% were in education, highlighting the vital role that schools play in the prevention of both self harm and suicide.
As a young person spends 714 hours at school in a year this is the key place to help young people who are struggling with self harm and various other mental health difficulties. However, students don’t always make use of the services the school offers.
Emily (not real name), a student in year 9 with a history of self harm has shared how she felt about getting help from her school. “All students are made aware that they can speak to both their pastoral support officer and their head of year, but not all are comfortable in doing so.”
Emily did go to these services for help and support although felt that they were not helpful. “I do not feel like they were very good at supporting you or advising, they were more judgmental. For me personally they weren’t helpful they were more pressuring and it didn’t really help me, in all honesty it makes you feel more self-conscious.”
There is no one single reason why an individual would take their own life but the Manchester University study identified various factors, including academic pressures and bullying. 27% of those in the study were experiencing academic pressures with 15% of those pressures being exam related. 22% were known to be victims of bullying – both face-to-face and online.
Both of these factors relate to schools, as they can do something to help both bullying and academic pressures. The key for schools is to help the young person before it gets to the point of taking their own life. The study also showed that self-harm is strongly associated with an increased risk of suicide. This is worrying especially when you consider that self-harm is more common in young people, particularly when the highest rates are in females aged 15 to 19, the age where academic pressures really start to begin. Furthermore approximately half of young people who self–harm do not come into contact with services, this includes the various services that schools are currently offering.
Dr Victoria Pile, a Clinical Doctoral Fellow and Clinical Psychologist at Kings College London is currently conducting research on low mood/depression in young people and developing a new early intervention that can be delivered in schools. She believes that more could be done in schools, if the resources are made available to support young people with mental health difficulties as well prevent mental health difficulties from becoming entrenched. “In my opinion, schools are a really important place for young people to first access help. Young people also frequently say that schools are where they would like to receive help.”
The biggest issue appears to be the lack of consistency in all schools in terms of what they offer. Dr Pile says“In my experience, there is a huge discrepancy in what young people with depression (or low mood) are offered in schools, for example some might be offered only support, some counselling, others CBT and others something else. We need interventions that have a demonstrated benefit and that can be delivered in schools. “
It appears that different schools offer different services. Emily’s school for example does not offer a counsellor. However, I spoke to Ms Tabitha Kaiser, Vice Principal at Brampton Manor Academy in Newham about the services they offer. Currently they have two senior leads that are dedicated to helping young people within their school as well as a welfare officer and pastoral team, which includes the young persons form tutor. “There’s been a lot in the media recently about it [suicide and self harm], so there’s been a lot during form times about it [suicide and self harm]. Students who want help will ask for it, whether they ask for it from their form tutors or whether they ask for it form their friends, it generally makes its way through.”
Brampton Manor Academy are also looking to introduce new services to help the young people in their school, introducing a new initiative called Imagine That based on research by Kings College University next year. A psychologist is coming in to do assessments of those in the sixth form and those who are at risk of depression/low moods, they will then be offered the opportunity to take up therapy if they wish. The school also offers wellness classes, which they are looking to develop with other classes such as music therapy.
The mental health charity MIND will also becoming to do training with the schools front line people, such as form tutors. Concentrating on teaching them how to spot early signs of depression/low mood and other mental health difficulties.
With all these services in place do students actually use them? As Emily has said, some times young people don’t feel comfortable going to their form tutors for example for help. Although it appears to be different at Brampton Manor Academy “we have 45 students being counselled on a weekly basis out of a school of 2000”.
Another initiative Head Start funded by The Big Lottery Fund is aimed at young people aged 10 to 14 who are at risk of developing long-term mental health issues. Focusing primarily in schools offering such initiatives as resilience lessons in 12 areas throughout England including Newham. This is a good start, and if successful it could be rolled out throughout the country.
The issue however appears to differ from school to school in terms of what is offered, and whether the students use the services on offer. A proven intervention plan needs to be put in place across all schools so all young people who need the help will get it. It can’t simply be a case of one school offers more so the students who suffer from low mood/depression are going to fair better at that school. It will take time but it can be done, something needs to be done particularly now as suicide is so prominent in the media with the new Netflix show ’13 Reasons Why’.
Since it first aired on Netflix in March it has been receiving a lot of criticism for its depiction of suicide. “Suicide is a difficult topic to tackle without being sensationalist or reductive. But ’13 Reasons Why’ manages to fall into both of these categories at once, depicting Hannah’s suicide as a means of exposing the actions of her peers and making them feel guilty rather than exploring the nuances of mental illness.” Says Neha Shah, from the New Statesman “the suicide scene itself is almost unbearably difficult to watch”. The show by many is seen to not do anything to aid suicide prevention in young people instead many mental health experts and parents are saying it is dangerous for teens, and that it glorifies suicide.
Netflix has now since first airing the show added new warnings before each episode, previously the show did have ‘viewer discretion advised’ warnings in front of episodes containing graphic content. The new warning encourages viewers to contact Samaritans if they need to. This is a step in the right direction, but it should have been done from the offset particularly with such a hard-hitting subject.
The new warning on Netflix before each 13 Reasons Why episode.
Photo: Netflix
Overall, suicide and self-harm is still prevalent in young people and there is a long way to go. Unfortunately everyone is never going to be able to get help, but many initiatives can be put in place to help bring the number of young people taking their own life down. Schools need to have the same methods of helping young people across the entire country, including every school offering a counsellor. That way no one individual will be receiving more help simply because their school has more in place for them. Every school should always aim to do their best, whether it is offering a number of services for their students or simply raising awareness around suicide and self-harm and talking about it.
If you would like to receive any advice or need someone to talk to please contact the Samaritans on 116 123 or contact Papyrus – who focuses on young people and suicide prevention on: 0800 068 41 41 or text 07786 209697.
