Youth Mental Health Foundation

Our Mission – To provide the parents/carers of self-harming children with coaching and community to enable them to play a vital role in their child’s healing.

Our Vision – A world where every parent/carer of a self-harming child has the knowledge, skills, confidence and support to play a central role in their child’s healing.

How does your organisation contribute to preventing suicide and supporting those affected by it?

There are few things more distressing for parents than finding out that their child is intentionally self-harming. It’s estimated that 1 in 10 British teenagers regularly self-harm. A self-harming child has a significantly increased risk of a suicide attempt. Recent research shows that about 65 percent of young people who self-harm will also be suicidal at some point. Youth Mental Health Foundation recognises the valuable role a parent or carer can play in supporting their self-harming child’s journey back to health and happiness. Our online courses, coaching, and community guide parents and carers to support their child’s recovery and thereby significantly reduce the risk of their child moving from self-harm to suicide. Research has shown that one of the most powerful protective factors against a child moving from self-injury to suicide is a feeling of connectedness to parents.

What are your current priorities?

• Building partnerships and collaborations with other organisations working in child and adolescent mental health.

• Raising awareness of the availability of our resources.

• Producing online resources to coach and support parents to self-harming tweens and teens.

What challenges are you currently facing?

Building relationships with the NHS/CAMHS

Securing funding to grow our organisation and the number of parents we can support.