MORE THAN one in four schoolgirls in Somerset have self-harmed “as a way of coping with stressful situations”.

A study of schoolchildren by Somerset County Council also found that nearly one in five boys have self-harmed for the same reason.

The number of women and girls admitted to hospital in Somerset for self-harm has risen since 2010/11, with the phenomenon particularly prevalent among 15-year-old girls.

Trudi Grant, the council’s director of public health, is working with schools and other organisations to reduce the stigma surrounding self-harm and ensure that young people get the help they need.

At a meeting of the council’s cabinet in Taunton on Monday (November 19), Ms Grant said: “We’ve known for some time that the levels of self-harm have been rising in the county.

“Talking openly about the issue will help people to access the right support when they need it.”

Ms Grant told the cabinet that self-harm was not necessarily “a cry for help”, as is commonly assumed; instead, it can often be a very secretive behaviour, expressing deep feelings or emotional trauma, which people make an effort to hide or cover up as much as possible.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) defines self-harm as “an intentional act of self-poisoning or self-injury, irrespective of the motivation or apparent purpose of the act, and is an expression of emotional distress”.

Self-harm covers everything from cutting oneself and taking non-lethal overdoses of medication to scratching or picking at skin.

Research conducted by the University of Salford found multiple motivations for people to self-harm, including a form of self-punishment and a means of communicating something which they found difficult to put into words.

Ms Grant said: “We shouldn’t ask: ‘why did you do that to yourself?’, but ‘what led you to feel the need to hurt yourself?’.”

In 2016/17 – the most recent figures available – there were 1,371 emergency admissions to hospital for self-harm across the whole county.

There has been a steady rise in the number of female admissions between 2010/11 and 2016/17.

Male admissions have remained steady over the same period, but both levels are above the national average.

Ms Grant said: “There is a really clear peak in admissions for self-harm at the age of 15. It goes up from age 13, peaks at 15 and then goes down to the lower level by the age of 24.

“Most of the presentations [at A&E] are a single occurrence, and there is a smaller proportion of individuals who repeatedly harm themselves to the extent that they need to be admitted to hospital.”

Somerset had the fourth highest rate of hospital admissions for the 10-24 age group, out of the UK’s 152 upper-tier local authorities.

Among those admitted to hospital for self-harm, the highest number are admitted for overdosing on or poisoning.

Ms Grant said it was likely that people who cause a lower level of self-harm – for instance, by cutting themselves in a manner which isn’t immediately life-threatening – were not being admitted to hospital.

She said: “The chances are that overdoses and poisoning are coming through and being seen in A&E admissions.

“Other forms of self-harm – such as cutting themselves – wouldn’t be coming through in this way.”

According to council data, people living in the most deprived 20 per cent of Somerset electoral wards are two-and-a-half times more likely to be admitted for self-harm than those living in the most wealthy 20 per cent.

In a survey of schoolchildren conducted by the council, 28 per cent of girls and 19 per cent of boys said they used self-harm “as a way of coping with stressful situations” – though a wider proportion said they more positive solutions to the same issue, such as reading or playing video games.

Ms Grant said projects like the LifeHacks programme – which was officially launched in August – were making it easier to challenge the stigma of self-harm and build up children’s resilience.

She said: “There is huge amounts of work already going on in the county to promote emotional resilience in our children and young people. We are doing great work in our schools.”

Councillor Faye Pubrick, cabinet member for education and transformation, said support should also be given to people who have recently left school to prevent a “lost generation” of young people.

She also requested that the council’s findings be made available to the governing bodies of all Somerset’s schools to ensure pupils and teachers could be supported.

Ms Grant added: “There is a need for us to deepen our understanding of self–harm practices and understand more about the emotional resilience of children and young people in Somerset, and what can be done to improve it.

“We need to continue to listen to what children and young people are telling us about their experiences and to work with them in designing the solutions.”