Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention Competence Frameworks

The NCCMH has developed three parallel competence frameworks for the prevention of self-harm and suicide, commissioned by Health Education England. The competence frameworks recommend knowledge, skills and attitudes for professionals and volunteers who are:

• working with children and young people (aged 8 to 17 years) (PDF)
• working with adults and older adults (PDF)
• working with the public (community and public health) (PDF)

The last framework is for professionals who will not usually have had training in mental health. It will be relevant to people instituting public health initiatives, employers, and providers of education and other public services (such as transport or police).

These competence frameworks will be most useful for clinicians, trainers, clinical managers and commissioners of services, but service users and carers may also find the documents useful. A separate guide written specifically for service users and carers (PDF) describes the frameworks and outlines the care they can expect.