This training focuses on helping providers understand the differences between suicidal and non-suicidal self injurious (NSSI) behaviors, and to review therapeutic interventions used to address and reduce NSSI behavior for youth and young adults in substance use treatment. We will discuss common, direct types of NSSI (e.g. cutting, burning, scratching, banging, etc.) within a trauma-informed lens, focusing on the reasons why many people use NSSI – for example, to regulate negative emotions, suppress emotions, feel alive again, feel relief from self-punishing emotions and thoughts, influence others’ behavior, and express intense emotions and communicate to others that emotional help is needed. Assessment tools and trauma-informed interventions will be discussed, in addition to helpful short-term and long-term responses as well as useful tools, alternatives, and resources to address NSSI.
