Last few weeks of the survey and more group discussions…. and the film!

The SASH online survey will be closing in a couple of weeks, so will be trying to see if we can hit 100 responses by then. Meanwhile I’ve been busy analysing the survey responses along with the focus groups. Some really interesting differences coming out between what young people in the groups are saying and what the survey responses are saying. It is a bit too early to share any of the findings just yet – but looking forward to doing so over the next few months.

I’m visiting more schools in the next month to hopefully do a few more group discussions, which will be great. I’ve not done a group discussion since lots of the survey responses came in – so thinking about ways of introducing some of the survey findings into the group discussions to see what people think of them.

Finally – the animation team is slowly coming together, and there have been some really great ideas for what to do with the film already. There is so much data for the team to work with, but I think the team will be able to find a story in it somewhere (or maybe a few stories!).

SASH Online Survey & Animation Project – Update!

Things have been very busy!

57 people have taken part in the SASH online survey so far – this is an AMAZING response! Thank you to everyone who has been involved, and to Lifesigns for helping to advertise the survey.

The survey will be available until mid-April, so plenty of time for others to get involved. The survey is collecting the views of young people (mostly) aged 14-16 who have self-harmed and/or used drugs and alcohol.

Some really interesting stuff coming out of the responses so far – I am going to use some of them in a presentation I will be doing in Nottingham next month. There is a section of the talk that looks at the idea of ‘attention-seeking’ – something I’ve asked about in the survey and in the group discussions and interviews. It is certainly a very controversial topic and I’m really looking forward to being able to look at lots of different views on this, and especially to be able to include perspectives from people who are aged 16 and under.

In other news, Jim Stirk from Red Kite Animation Workshops and I have been busy planning the SASH film project. We are still needing 4-6 more young people who are in Edinburgh, aged 14-18 and would like to get involved in making an animated film based on the research findings. See the animation project page for more details.

SASH Film Project – Get Involved!

The SASH Film Project is recruiting a team of 6-8 people, based in Edinburgh and aged 14-18 to help us make an animated film based on the research findings.

Check out the SASH Film Project Page for more details (click the flyer to get there)

Post-summer recruitment; talking about self-injury and the DSM-5

After a long summer break, I’m getting ready to do some more group discussions this Autumn. Looking forward to hearing more people’s views and opinions on self-harm, drug and alcohol use.

In other news, I’m heading to York next week to present a paper at the British Sociological Association’s Medical Sociology Group Conference. The talk is about diagnosis and ‘non-suicidal self-injury’ (a type of self-harm that is being proposed as a psychiatric diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual). It is mainly based on some of my other projects, but I use a few ideas that have come directly from the SASH research project.

Finally – thanks to anyone who has ‘liked’ the Facebook page! It is becoming a slightly less lonely page now!