Young men’s experiences of accessing and receiving help from child and adolescent mental health services following self-harm

Given the high rates of completed suicide and poor help-seeking among young men, this research explored how young men, who had successfully sought help from a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), experienced help-seeking. The study focused on the factors that facilitated initial access and on-going engagement in services. Eight young men between the ages of 16-18, who had entered CAMHS following self-harm or suicidal ideation, and who were engaged in on-going therapy, were recruited. Each young man was interviewed to elicit his personal experiences of help-seeking and help-receiving. Interviews were transcribed and subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four superordinate themes, that overarched participant’s individual experiences, emerged from the data: Role of external adult in recognising, normalising and initiating help seeking; Challenging and renegotiating perception of need for help and meaning behind this need; Maintaining an independent self; and Mechanisms of engagement. Help-seeking was described as a journey of two stages: 1) initial access and 2) on-going engagement, during which the presence and timing of external influences (parents, teachers) and internal influences (personal beliefs and attitudes) were crucial. A model of help seeking in young men who self-harmed was developed, which considered both access and engagement to help, and combined a consideration of internal and external influences on their ability to access help.