Introducing The Parent Toolkit: A New Programme to Support Families Navigate Self-Harm
I’m really pleased to share that we are launching a brand new online programme at Oxfordshire Discovery College: The Parent Toolkit – Understanding & Supporting Young People who are Self-Harming.
This is something parents have been asking us for more and more over the past year, and it feels incredibly important to finally be able to offer it.
Supporting a young person who is self-harming can feel frightening, lonely and overwhelming. Many parents tell us they worry about “making things worse,” or that they’re unsure how to respond when emotions are high. We know how heavy it can feel to hold everything together while trying to understand what your young person needs.
We also heard from many parents that they simply cannot leave their young person to attend support in person. For some families, attending anything outside the home feels impossible. This is one of the reasons we’ve created a fully live, interactive online programme so parents can access support safely, privately and without having to step away from the young person they’re caring for.
The Parent Toolkit offers a supportive space to learn, reflect and build confidence. Over five weeks, we explore why self-harm happens, what might be going on underneath the behaviour, and how we can respond in ways that help young people feel safer, more supported and more understood.
This is not a webinar. It’s a small, interactive group of up to eight parents, facilitated by two trained practitioners who bring both professional knowledge and lived experience. Each parent also receives a one-to-one call before the course begins.
Across the five weeks, parents create a personalised toolkit tailored to their child’s needs and their own family situation.
Our first programme begins on 28 January 2026, with weekly sessions running 9.30–11.30am. This is a paid programme, which enables us to keep group sizes small and provide the level of individual support that families tell us makes the biggest difference as well as helping us fund the work we do directly with young people which is ALWAYS free. If cost is a barrier, please do get in touch, we never want this to be the reason someone can’t access support.
You can find full details and booking information here:
www.oxfordshirediscovery.co.uk/toolkit
I’m really proud of this programme. It brings together everything we believe in at the Discovery College: compassion, co-production, practical tools and the power of feeling less alone. I hope it offers many families a space to breathe, learn, and feel supported during an incredibly challenging time.
If you have any questions at all, please reach out.
We’re here to help.
Warm wishes,
Leila