New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 2005, 34(3): 164-170

This article presents the results of a study to establish the prevalence of suicide ideation and suicidal behaviour in a child and adolescent mental health service, and to examine if children and adolescents with deliberate self-harm differed from those who had not engaged in deliberate self-harm in terms of individual and family risk factors. Data was collected from a file audit of 100 clients in a South Auckland (New Zealand) service. The study found 48% of the clients had engaged in deliberate self-harm at the time of initial assessment and a further 16% had expressed suicide ideation without deliberate self-harm. Children and adolescents who had engaged in deliberate self-harm and/or had suicide ideation were older, had more maternal substance abuse, more family history of offending, were more likely to have been sexually abused, used more substances themselves, and were more likely to have previous episodes of deliberate self-harm. The results indicate that suicide behaviours are the outcome of multiple risk factors often accumulated over the life course, rather than a response to a single event. The results also show the importance of health practitioner enquiry and intervention in relation to sexual abuse. The data indicates that the development of systemic interventions across service boundaries should be a priority for mental health services. Successful reduction of suicide behaviours is likely to include interventions that target the young person, their caregivers and family, and the community (school and employment).