 Hi, this is Pookey and Buddy and today we are talking about self-harm and suicide and specifically whether there's a link between the two One of you lovely people sent me a question about this saying if a young person is harming themselves Does that mean that they are suicidal? The short answer to the question is no The first thing to understand is that self-harm is very very common We're seeing massive rise in prevalence amongst young people. The World Health Organization estimated it recently at 1 in 5 15 year old girls had self-harmed at least once so it's something that loads and loads and loads and loads of people do and many of them never have any thoughts of suicide whatsoever and Actually, some young people will tell you that self-harming is the thing that keeps them safe from suicide So actually it's their way of managing their way of coping It's not a healthy way of coping and we've looked in other videos about how we need to try and replace it With healthier means of coping but for them at the moment It's their way of managing to get from morning to night Without taking more extreme measures. So in a way it's a protective factor for some people against suicide But when we look at people who do take their lives by suicide or make an attempt on their life Then and we we talk to them then we find that for a lot of them There is a history of episodes of self-harm So whilst lots of people who self-harm won't go on to Have suicidal ideation when you look at the other way round for suicidal ideation Self-harm is definitely a precipitative risk factor And so we need to be aware of that kind of potential link now Of course if a young person is self-harming and they don't receive support for the underlying issues for that self-harm Or they are not helped to find healthier coping mechanisms Then it's possible that over time that self-harm may escalate They may begin to feel more helpless if things don't resolve or things get worse and they may begin to take more extreme measures And so they might then you know their thoughts might turn to suicide Yeah, so it can change over time But the kind of long and the short of this is as with many many many many other things when it comes to young People's mental health is that we will only get the full picture if we talk to the young person And more importantly if we listen to them and allow them to be heard So don't assume what's going on even the means by which a young person is harming themselves won't really be very telling So young people will for example Self-harm by means of medication overdose and that might not be with any intention to take their life for example So yeah, make no assumptions talk to the young person listen to them Let them tell you how they're feeling and what's going on with them And don't be afraid to ask outright about Suicidal ideation so all the evidence indicates that we do a lot more good than harm when we ask a young person very directly about whether They've had thoughts of killing themselves And the response normally comes in one of two camps from the young person It's usually either along the lines of one of you talking about that thoughts never crossed my mind Oh my god, why are you asking me this or it's more of a yeah And that they are perhaps relieved that you've asked and they want to talk about it Yeah, so it's a good question to ask it's a scary question to ask and you need to be prepared to be supportive in your response Obviously if you are concerned that a young person is in imminent risk Then you need to make sure they're not left alone and if necessary take them to accident emergency But yeah, don't be afraid to ask the question So basically very very very brief important take home from this video is the only way you're gonna know if a young person is Having thoughts of killing themselves is if you ask that young person Are you having thoughts of killing yourself? Whether or not they're self-harming may or may not be relevant They are more at risk if they are or have self-harmed it's not something you can make assumptions about so ask and listen Okay, I hope that was helpful Please take a moment to leave a comment with any further thoughts questions suggestions that you have If you like the video give it a thumbs up and please take a moment to subscribe and then you'll be made aware As and when I release new videos And if you thought this was helpful, please share it with your networks I really hope that you did think it was helpful and I look forward to creating more videos for you and I will see you next time Thank you. Bye. Bye