ABSTRACT
Despite popular belief, professionals and other adults do not always know what is best for a young person who self-harms. This chapter focuses exclusively on the experiences and views of young people about self-harm. What
parents and carers tell us has been kept separate and is discussed later in the book. This chapter is split into three sections. The first describes young people’s views about self-harm; the second explores their views about professionals; and the third discusses young people’s views about treatments they receive for self-harm. This chapter places less emphasis on messages from evidence-based practice, which was discussed in Chapter 3. Instead, it focuses more on what we refer to as practice-based evidence – testimonies from suicidal and self-harming young people themselves.
