A new strategy which focuses on supporting people who self-harm has been backed by the Liaison Faculty in Scotland.
The blueprint published this week, was developed by COSLA and informed by people with lived experience with funding of £1.5m from the Scottish Government.
It is believed to be the first of its kind in the world and includes a three-year action plan which will prioritise tackling stigma and discrimination and improving support for people who have self-harmed.
The plan which is believed to be the first of its kind in the world focuses on three areas:
- deepening knowledge and compassionate understanding of self-harm
- building support and services across Scotland
- improving and sharing data and evidence.
As part of the strategy, the Scottish Government funding supports a national webchat service offering people help out-of-hours.
The webchat service is part of Self Harm Network Scotland, run by Penumbra, which also provides up-to-date, reliable and accessible advice for anyone affected by self-harm.
It also offers free training sessions – either in-person or online - which have been completed by 1000 people since the start of the year.
For further information, please contact:
- Email: scotland@rcpsych.ac.uk
- Contact Name: RCPsych in Scotland
- Twitter: @rcpsychscot