This talk contains content about self harm.

Victoria Newell will :

• review the prevalence of suicidality in Autistic people and self-harm as a risk factor
• review existing self-harm assessment tools in Autistic and general population adults
• discuss preliminary findings to develop a self-harm assessment tool with and for Autistic adults using focus groups and cognitive interviews
• discuss what’s next – exploring measurement properties using an online survey.

Victoria is final year PhD student originally from the University of Nottingham, UK, currently based at OTARC as a visiting research fellow. Her PhD is supervised by Dr Sarah Cassidy (University of Nottingham) and Dr Caroline Richards (University of Birmingham), and involves developing a self-harm assessment tool in partnership with and for Autistic people with and without mild co-occurring intellectual disability. She is also interested in understanding and preventing mental health problems and suicidality in Autistic people, along with being passionate about co-production and participatory research.

This seminar was recorded in May of 2024.