Dr Anne-Maria Brennan and Dr Terence Nice from the Centre for Professional Practice at the University of Kent were amongst the speakers at the Kent Safeguarding Children Board’s recent conference on adolescent suicide and self-harm in Kent which was held in Ashford earlier this month.
The conference brought together practitioners to explore the topics of adolescent suicidal feelings, thoughts and behaviours. The principal aim of the conference was to promote practitioner understanding, competency and confidence in working with young people who present as suicidal or self-harming.
Dr Anne-Maria Brennan, Director of Graduate Studies and Programme Director for the MSc Professional Practice, welcomed all participants and spoke about the importance of mental wellbeing for University students.
Dr Terence Nice presented the findings of his thematic study on Individual Signatures and Thematic Patterns of Self-harm and Suicide. He spoke about the ways how the findings of the study can be channelled into a national framework for understanding suicidal behaviour in young people and how this can best inform the working practice.
The conference was very well attended with more than 200 professionals present.