Lin Graham-Ray Designated Nurse Looked After Children

Twitter chat on Wednesday 3^rd January 2-18 between 8 pm and 9 pm (UK time) ‘Self Harm and Young people’ will focus on the complexity of self harm and young people. The Twitter chat will be hosted by Lin Graham-Ray who commenced her Professional Doctorate studies in October 2015 at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and is currently the Designated Nurse for Looked After Children and Care Leavers in Merton and Wandsworth CCGs.

To participate in the Twitter chat, you will need a registered Twitter account. If you do not have an account, you can create one easily at www.twitter.com. Once you have an account, it is easy to get started. You can follow the discussion on Twitter by searching for #ebnjc – this is the EBN Twitter chat hashtag and by searching for this in Twitter, you’ll only see the relevant tweets related to the Twitter chat. Include #ebnjc in every tweet you send, to ensure that everyone participating in the Twitter chat can see your tweet. But remember, each tweet is limited to 140 characters of text, so make your tweets informative and concise.

It’s reported that 20% all children and young people experience a mental health problem, with one-in-10 experiencing serious mental health difficulties.^1-4 Self-harm being one of the highest concerns. It is an increasing public health concern with self-harm hospital admissions among children reporting the highest in five years and, its incidence increasing in the primary school population.⁵

Nurses are ever more likely to come into contact with children and young people who self-harm and this can be a challenge in many ways in any environment, but how Nurses respond to and then deal with the issue is an important discussion.

Whilst Nurses have excellent communication skills without specialist mental health knowledge, training or experience these skills can be impacted on by the stress and anxiety evoked in dealing with the issue of self-harm. How do we move forward with supporting nurses to work with this challenging and emotive issue?

References

1. CAMHS Review. Children and Young People in Mind: The Final Report of the National CAMHS Review. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families/Department of Health; 2008.
2. Meltzer H, Gatward G, Goodman R, Ford T. Mental Health of
   Children and Adolescents in Great Britain. London: The Stationery Office; 2000.
3. Green H, McGinnity A, Meltzer H, Ford T, Goodman R. Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Great Britain, 2004. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan; 2005.
4. Lemer C. Our Children Deserve Better: Prevention Pays, Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer 2012. London: Department of Health; 2013.
5. NSPCC. Under Pressure. ChildLine Review: What’s affected children in April 2013-March 2014. www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/annual-reports/childline-review-…(accessed 10 June 2015)