Self-harm

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 3 March 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:05, 3 March 2020

I thank the Member for that. Those are all important points and, certainly, the Welsh Government's approach to trying to reduce incidence of self-harm has three main components to it: tackling adverse childhood experience is one of them; the whole-school approach that we have to dealing with young people in the school setting who report self-harm; and tackling mental health stigma, which also has such a big impact on young people who feel themselves to be in a difficult mental health position, and where self-harm can be the result.

Is a target the best way to focus attention on it? I'm only in favour of targets where they are genuinely specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely, and where other ways of making a difference have been attempted and have been found not to be effective. So many different things are counted within the adverse childhood experience ambit; a fraction of them are devolved and in the hands of the Welsh Government. A target over which you have so little control as to whether or not it can be achieved, I think, is of doubtful value.

I want to see adverse childhood experiences reduced, of course. That's why we have invested in this area, that's why we have set up a source of expertise in this area; to make sure that those professionals who come into contact with children understand what those young people might have gone through and respond to it in the right way. Setting a target—I'm yet to be convinced that it would make the difference that we all want to see made.