Knowledge about countertransference when working with people who self-injure may reduce nurses' negative thoughts and behaviours, which may result in improved client care.

The issue of self-harm is not only a widespread phenomenon but also a challenging one. Nurses in particular are faced with this challenge, as they tend to be the primary professional group when working with people who self-harm within health service provision. The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical appraisal of common perspectives as reported in the existing literature. Having highlighted these areas, the paper will attempt to address the challenges faced by nurses and other healthcare professionals through the proposal of strategies, including the suggestion that self-harm may be considered from a position of social constructionism to achieve a more informed and effective response when working with someone who self-harms.

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Purpose: This paper outlines a UnitedKingdom based interdisciplinary workforce development project that had the aim of improving service delivery for children and young people who self-harm or are feeling suicidal.Approach: This innovative practice-higher-education partnershiputilised an iterative consultation process to establish the local workforce need and then facilitated the systematic synthesis and presentation of evidence-based clinical guidelines in a practical format, for staff working directly with young people who self-harm in nonmental health settings.Outcomes: The development, content and structure of this contextualised resourceis presented, along with emerging outcomes and learning from the team.It is anticipated that this may also be a useful strategy and resource for other teams in other areas and is intended to provide a template that can be adapted by other localities to meet the specific needs of their own workforce.Practical Implications: The paper demonstrates how higher education-practice partnershipscan make clinical guidelines and research evidence in a field often thought of as highly specialist,accessible to all staff. It also shows a process of liaison and enhanced understanding across universal/specialist mental health service thresholds. Originality/Value: This paperdemonstrates how collaborative partnerships can work to bridge the gap between evidence-based guidelinesand their implementation in practice, through innovative multi-agency initiatives.

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