Self-harm is when someone intentionally damages their own body. Sometimes this is a way of coping with or expressing overwhelming emotional stress.
Self-harm is responsible for more than 24,000 hospital admissions each year. Evidence suggests that over 90% of patients who present to hospital with self-harm have a mental health disorder – commonly depression, anxiety, eating, personality, and substance use disorders.
Self-harm:
- is a behaviour, not a disorder.
- can cause disability or death, and may be a sign of major mental illness.
- takes a variety of forms, including poisoning, overdoses, and physical injury.
- may or may not be a suicide attempt.
- often occurs in the context of a recent stress, e.g. relationship conflict.
The Deliberate Self-harm HealthPathway:
- provides GPs with best practice assessment and management guidelines as well as additional clinical resources to refer to.
- provides local and up-to-date referral pathways.
- has a patient information section. Printable PDFs useful for both patients, their parents and carers are available in Patient Information section.
Please see also a list full list of all Mental Health and Addiction Referrals.
For further information on HealthPathways, please contact:
Fiona Ryan (Mid North Coast)
[email protected]
Kerrie Keyte (Northern NSW)
[email protected]
For a list of all localised pathways see:
Mid and North Coast Localised Pathways
Username: manchealth
Password: conn3ct3d