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Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) refers to self-inflicted injuries not intended to cause death. Learn about NSSI and how to compassionately and effectively respond to patients who self-injure.
After a course session ends, it will be archived.
Hospital presentations for the treatment of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) have been increasing annually, and healthcare workers play a critical role in empowering people who have self-injured to achieve positive health outcomes. Understanding NSSI helps us communicate effectively, conduct comprehensive assessments, promote recovery, and protect our own emotional safety while caring for people who have self-injured.
This course has been developed in collaboration with emergency and mental health nursing specialists, psychologists, social workers and people with lived experience of self-injury, and taught by instructors with decades of experience in NSSI research and mental health nursing.
This course will equip nurses with a better understanding of NSSI, the links between NSSI and suicidal behaviours, the reasons people engage in NSSI, how to compassionately and effectively respond to patients who self-injure, and how to better care for themselves in a busy emergency environment.
Enrolled Nurses, Registered Nurses and midwives completing this course may claim up to 4 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) in Australia, under standards and guidelines by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.
If you wish to enrol in the verified track to earn a certificate, and are currently a:
• WA Health employee;
• student at Curtin University; or
• student at Edith Cowan University,
you may be eligible for a discount.
Please email nursing.mooc@curtin.edu.au from your work or university account to enquire about a voucherbefore you pay.
Discounts cannot be issued after you have paid, and no refunds will be given.
By successfully completing this course, you will be able to:
• Distinguish non-suicidal self-injury from a suicide attempt or other self-harm behaviours.
• Describe who engages in NSSI.
• Understand why people self-injure.
• Understand the impact of stigma on people who self-injure.
• Describe how your attitudes and perceptions impact the outcomes of people who self-injure.
• Employ respectful curiosity to better understand a person’s experience of self-injury.
• Assess non-suicidal self-injury and suicidal behaviour.
• Explain how to address aftercare with people who self-injure.
• Assess the functions of self-injury.
• Support people who self-injure to move toward change.
• Understand what self-injury recovery looks like.
• Apply your understanding of self-injury recovery to work therapeutically with people who self-injure.
• Discuss how compassion fatigue and burnout affect us, our patients, our work, and family/significant others.
• Recognise if you are experiencing compassion fatigue and burnout and make changes to improve your situation.
• Engage in self-care and self-compassion.
These learning outcomes are mapped to both the Registered Nurse Standards for Practice (by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia), and the Practice Standards for the Specialist Emergency Nurse (by the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia).
This course consists of an orientation module, four content modules, and a course summary module. A learner is estimated to spend at least 1-2 hours per week on each of the following content modules:
Module 1: Self-injury awareness
This module provides introductory information about nonsuicidal self-injury and other terminology. It also looks at people who might self-injure and possible reasons why they may self-injure.
Module 2: Responding effectively to self-injury
This next module explores effective communication and relationships in the context of self-injury.
Module 3: Assessment and best practice for self-injury
This module focusses on the comprehensive assessment and best-practice management of self-injury.
Module 4: Self-compassion and self-care
The final content module of this course examines the importance of emotional safety and well-being when responding to self-injury.
