Self-harm Matters HIT welcomes new co-director Ben Borthwick

Ben Borthwick from North Bristol NHS Trust has been appointed as a new co-director for Bristol Health Partners’ Self-harm Matters Health Integration Team (HIT).

The HIT is working to transform understanding of self-harm across health and care services, and improve treatment and support for people who self-harm. It aims to ensure self-harm treatment and care is equitable, fully evidence based and non-stigmatising for all people who self-harm, and to reduce suicides in the region.

Ben is a registered mental health nurse, currently deputy mental health matron in the Mental Health Liaison team at North Bristol. He has worked for the NHS in various inpatient and community mental health settings in the Bristol area since 2003.

He says:

“Having already been interested in the Self Harm Matters Health Integration Team and the work that they do, I am excited to be appointed into this post. I look forward to being able to work with the wider team to recognise and understand the support needs of people who self-harm in the region, and to identify and address the shortfalls in provision for this population.”

Ben replaces previous HIT co-director Sandy Walker who is stepping down from the HIT in March. Most recently she supported the evaluation of a reflective practice project at North Bristol, which provided extra mental health and emotional space for nurses on a trauma ward looking after patients who had severely self-harmed. The evaluation write-up was published in the RCNi journal Mental Health Practice in 2021.

All HIT members would like to thank Sandy for her dedication to the HIT and long-standing contribution to service improvement for people in the region who self-harm.