Self harm strategy and action plan 2023 to 2027: equality impact assessment

Recommendations and Conclusion

The evidence gathered for this EQIA highlighted key groups of people who are at a higher risk of self-harm, particulary young people, women, LGBT+ people and neurodiverse people. It was therefore crucial that the voice of these communities was at the centre of development of the Self-Harm Strategy and Action Plan.

In order to achieve this, we created the Design Group, with membership from representatives from some of the communities identified as being at higher risk of self-harm, and individuals with a diverse range of lived experience. The Design Group was heavily involved in the creation and development of the initial draft of the Strategy and Action Plan and consultation on subsequent drafts, as well as ensuring that equality and inclusion is baked into our approach.

With the active involvement of equality organisations, the action plan has also been designed in a way to help us address the differential impact of self-harm across these communities. For example, we are working closely with trusted partners within these groups to help ensure that the actions will reach and meet the needs of people with different protected characteristics, and to identify and reduce barriers to accessing support, wherever possible. We will also continue to work with a range of partners, informed by this EQIA, to develop tailored and accessible resources to support this further.

Although there is evidence of differential prevalence and impacts in some communities, we know that there are significant gaps in the data and evidence about self-harm, which were identified through work for this EQIA. There are several factors that contribute to this, including stigma and discrimination that surrounds self-harm, which may be exacerbated in some communities. We know there are many people who do not seek support and therefore there is a hidden group of people for whom we are unable to collect data.

Additionally, the evidence gathered highlighted data gaps for racialised and other marginalised communities around self-harm, and we have plans in place to explore this more fully with partners going forward, so that we can be sure that our actions are reaching and meeting the needs of minority ethnic communities.

Through our Action Plan, we have committed to working with partners to look at ways of improving data gathering both for new data and for improving existing data. This includes an explicit commitment to improve data and evidence to inform our understanding of differential impact of self-harm in different communities and settings, including by protected characteristic, and to tailor our actions to address these differential impacts.

This will involve working across Government and with external partners, such as PHS, academics and professionals in the area, and with people with diverse lived experience.

Evaluation and monitoring will be embedded into our delivery, allowing us to assess the progress and effectiveness of our actions. We will review the actions at a mid-point after 18 months and again after 3 years. As part of this process, the Scottish Government will review this EQIA. If necessary, following the review, the EQIA will be updated to reflect shifts in data and if new or previously unknown gaps present.