We ran three surveys about suicide and self-harm support with organisations and individuals who work with young people in the UK:
Schools and colleges
An infographic of the results is available on the NIHR website here.
In 2023, we sent online surveys to UK secondary schools and colleges about their policies, support, and training relating to self-harm and suicide. We received 115 responses in total. We found that one third of settings did not mention or cover self-harm or suicide specifically in any policy. We found that most pastoral staff (those providing emotional support to students – rather than teaching staff) were trained on self-harm and suicide, but only a small percentage of teaching staff were offered training.
We found that settings that had a policy for self-harm and suicide delivered more prevention and support activities (including following a death by suicide) than settings without specific coverage of the topics.
We also explored what language school and college staff said they used with students. Staff said that they often used the same language as the student they were talking with, but avoided terms like “bad” “blame” “fault” and “attention seeking”. Only half of the respondents said they collected data about instances of self-harm: those that did used this to monitor trends or to identify young people who may be at risk. Finally, we asked about what support had been used if schools/colleges had experienced a death by suicide of a student (past or current), parent or staff member. Respondents said they usually put a range of support in place, working with the local authorities, Samaritans and bereavement charities. Some criticism of support available was that if a parent died, there was limited support that the school can access for their wider staff and student body.
Youth organisation governing bodies (YOGBs)
In 2024, we invited the governing bodies of youth organisations (those who regulate and sanction managed or volunteer based organisations) to participate in an online survey. These include religious, sports and communication/activity based organisations that govern groups/clubs that young people participate in. This survey asked questions on:
- What written policies (i.e., formal documents which must be followed by all staff) the YOGB currently has in place around self-harm and suicide
- How YOGBs support club leaders and staff to talk with young people about self-harm and suicide
- What training YOGBs offer club staff around self-harm and suicide
- What additional support YOGBs would like around self-harm and suicide
The results of this survey are currently being analysed and written up for publication.
School staff
In 2025, we invited secondary school staff in the UK to take part in a short online survey about their experiences of supporting students who self-harm.
We asked questions about:
- What provisions and referral processes are available to help staff to support students
- Staff experiences and opinions of supporting students in a school environment
- What training and knowledge staff have about self-harm
The responses to this survey have been analysed and will be available soon.
Why are we doing this research?
We want to better understand what processes currently take place in educational settings and YOGBs to prevent self-harm and suicide, and to support young people and staff when self-harm or a suicide has occurred.
Who developed the surveys
The teams at Exeter and Bristol Universities along with Sally O’Keeffe (Newcastle University) developed the surveys. They developed questions using information from survey content used in other self-harm and suicide research.
How did you know the survey questions could be answered?
The surveys were given to some willing school based staff in a variety of geographical locations who were asked to answer the questions and provide feedback on anything they found difficult or did not know the answer to. This is sometimes referred to as ‘piloting the survey’. We then made amendments to the survey questions and structure as required.
Participant Information Sheet (PIS)
The PIS provides participants with information on why we are doing the survey, and what can be expected for example the type of questions and topics they may be asked about in the survey. To access a copy of the PIS for the school staff survey, please visit the survey link or email Yasmin Safiani: ys569@exeter.ac.uk
Any questions?
For questions about any of the surveys, please contact Dr Abby Russell: A.E.Russell@exeter.ac.uk
For questions about the school staff survey, you can also contact Yasmin Safiani: ys569@exeter.ac.uk
Photo 1 by Pavel Danilyuk; Photo 2 by Tima Miroshnichenko; Photo 3 by Max Fischer