Tag Archives: NSSI 101

The Cornell Research Program for Self-Injury Recovery is pleased to announce a unique set of evidence-informed and web-based education and training courses for individuals interested in understanding non-suicidal self-injury (also sometimes referred to as “cutting”) in youth. The courses are ideal for professionals who work directly with youth in schools or other community-based settings but will also be useful for clinicians and parents.

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury 101 (NSSI 101) was designed especially for professionals who work in schools or other youth-serving settings. Based on current, cutting-edge science, this training includes detailed information on the who, what, where, when and why of self-injury as well as evidence-informed strategies for detecting, intervening, treating and preventing. It also includes strategies for supporting the development of protocols for managing self-injury in school and other institutional settings.

This can be taken for continuing education credits (CEUs) from Cornell University or from the National Association of Social Workers. It is available as a self-paced course or as a 3-week facilitated course.

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury 101: A Web-Based Training

NSSI 101 can be taken as a self-paced or instructor-led course, is designed for individuals who need to know a significant amount about what self-injury is, where it comes from, what it is clinically associated with, how to respond individually and institutionally, and best practices in intervention and prevention.

There are two versions of the full 8-11 hour NSSI 101 course: a self-paced version and an instructor-led version. Both versions include videos, audio segments from well-known self-injury researchers and treatment specialists assignments and quizzes. The course will take between 8 and 11 hours, depending on the format you choose. There are discounts for students, groups, and parents. Scroll down for more information on discounts.

The content for the course is the same regardless of format but the facilitated version:

  • Offers a higher number of CEUs
  • Will allow discussion and strategies exchange with other students and with the instructor, an expert in NSSI
  • Allows for international participation and exchange
  • Increases the likelihood of course completion, since there are expectations about progress over the 3 week period.

Please note that we are working with Cornell’s premier e-education service provider, e-Cornell, to make this offering possible so you will be asked to sign up for an account at e-Cornell when you register.

What’s covered?
The course is designed to provide participants with broad grounding in non-suicidal self-injury, particularly as it shows up in adolescence and young adulthood. It contains material related to:

  • Adolescent development: Although a review for some of you, this section focuses on the features of brain, body, and identity development that affect self-injury onset, maintenance and recovery in the adolescent and young adult years. Since self-injury is most common during this time, understanding the way they are linked is useful.
  • Non-suicidal self-injury basics: In this section we get into the who, what, where, when and why of self-injury. We also discuss the important but poorly understood relationship between non-suicidal self-injury and suicide thoughts and behaviors, common myths, and factors that influence contagion.
  • Detection and intervention: Here we cover what you need to know about effective detection and responding, managing contagion, and common treatment approaches. There are also dedicated sections on effective intervention strategies and on and the nuts and bolts of developing protocols for handing self-injury in institutional settings.
  • Recovery: This section focuses primarily on how and why self-injury ends, what to expect as recovery happens, how you can best support the recovery process, and how self-injury can open opportunities for psychological growth.
  • Prevention: The final section covers prevention of self-injury behavior.

Are you a NYS Cornell cooperative extension educator?

All versions of Non-suicidal self-injury 101 are free to NYS Cornell cooperative extension educators. If you are an educator interested in enrolling in the course, please call (607) 255-6179 or e-mail us at self-injury@cornell.edu.