Working with Children and Youth who are High-Risk, Marginalized and Engage in Self-Harming Behaviour

Working with Children and Youth who are High-Risk, Marginalized and Engage in Self-Harming Behaviour

Presented by Caroline Buzanko, Ph.D., R. Psych.

For anyone who know that “safety contracts” don’t work and want to know what does. Self-harm among youth isn’t rising because young people are more fragile. It’s rising because the conditions they’re navigating create psychological states where harming one’s own body makes functional sense. This intensive 6-hour workshop is designed for anyone who work with the youth carrying the heaviest burdens: those at the intersection of marginalization, trauma, and self-injury.

You’ll move beyond risk management checklists to understand the why beneath the behaviour. Drawing on the established theories and evidence-based interventions for self-harm, this training provides the clinical precision needed when the stakes are highest.

Key areas of focus:

• Understanding the factors underlying self-harming behaviour
• Structuring engagement that honours adolescent autonomy
• Using chain analyses to identify meaningful intervention points
• Teaching physiological regulation skills when cognitive strategies are ineffective
• Balancing family involvement with appropriate confidentiality
• Adapting evidence-based approaches for marginalized youth

This workshop addresses the reality that therapy fails when it replicates the same power dynamics that harm youth in the first place. You’ll learn how to structure engagement that honours adolescent autonomy, conduct chain analyses that reveal intervention points invisible in standard assessments, and teach physiological regulation skills that work when cognitive strategies fail.

The workshop also addresses the relational demands of this work, including responding effectively in difficult clinical situations, working with families experiencing significant stress, and maintaining appropriate therapeutic boundaries.

Participants will develop practical skills and relational approaches for providing effective, compassionate support to high-risk and marginalized youth.