A new short, online course has been developed to help anyone who provides support around suicide and self-harm learn how to have conversations around safe internet use. 
Health Education England has joined forces with the Samaritans to launch a new e-learning course for people who work across health, social care and the volunteer community, called ‘Internet Safety, Suicide and Self-Harm’, which highlights the importance of not overlooking online activity when exploring people’s experiences around suicide and self-harm.
For many people the internet is an important source of support, but some online content can be harmful: acting to maintain or exacerbate self-harm or suicide thoughts and behaviours.
Talking about the experiences a person has on the internet can help to better understand their wider needs as well as helping them to stay safe and have more positive experiences online.
The 20-30 minute course has been developed with over 200 practitioners including mental health nurses, GPs and counsellors as well as people with lived experience of internet use relating to suicide and self-harm.
The training links to the wider work of the Samaritans’ Online Excellence Programme which aims to create a suicide-safer internet for everyone while making sure its support remains available.
By the end of the course, learners will know:
- what people do online, and the potential risks and benefits of exploring suicide and self-harm online
- how to ask the people you support about their internet use
- what advice you can give to help people to stay safe and have positive experiences online.
HEE says the course is relevant to anyone who provides support around suicide and self-harm, including:
- Mental health practitioners, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, therapists, counsellors, Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs)
- Education based practitioners, such as school nurses, educational psychologists, behaviour support teams
- Learning disability and autism specific practitioners
- Emergency care practitioners
- Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) practitioners
- Social Workers
- And more
Access the Internet Safety, Suicide and Self-Harm elearning programme via the programme page.