Next Tuesday 4 March there’s a free talk on self-harm awareness for parents by mental health expert Satveer Nijjar of the organisation ‘Attention Seekers?‘ in the Drama Studio starting at 5pm. See the email sent by Mr Marks on Wednesday for the booking details, or email him on [email protected] if you have any questions. The information session is open to all current STRS parents (but please note, students should not attend, Satveer will be running student talks during the day). Satveer runs workshops on self-harm awareness for pupils, professionals and parents/carers. She was the winner of ‘Most Inspirational Person of the Year’ 2018 at the MBBC Awards and she often works with GHLL (Gloucestershire Health Living and Learning). Self-harm is an issue which deeply impacts young people; there were 409,347 referrals for U18s to the NHS in England for specialist care for issues such as suicidal thoughts and self-harm between April and October 2021. The session aims to build knowledge and confidence on the subject of self-harm, a topic that is often taboo and stigmatized.

This session will aim to: • Improve your understanding of self-harm behaviours. • Explore what may lead to someone to self-harming, including what functions the person gets from the behaviour. • Explore how best to broach suspected self-harm, including what to say/not to say to someone who is self-harming as well as the alternative strategies to self-harm you can offer.