Learning zone
Dilemmas
This month's dilemma: Would you break confidentiality if a reluctant client fails to attend, or respond to letters while owing money?
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Why I became a counsellor
What makes a good therapist? What values do you hold dear? Heather Dale responds to our questions
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Patients who self-harm are being allowed to cut themselves in hospitals and mental health units as part of a ground-breaking approach to help them hurt themselves more safely.
‘Assisted self-harm’ approach
Patients who self-harm are being allowed to cut themselves in hospitals and mental health units as part of a ground-breaking approach to help them hurt themselves more safely.
Medical professionals who support the controversial method of treatment argue that those determined to self-harm should be helped to minimise the risk of infection from dirty blades.
But others believe helping patients self-harm goes against their code of ethics. Ian Hulatt, mental health adviser for the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘It is a very complex and confusing issue, but then, so is the phenomenon of someone hurting themselves to feel better.’
