Knowledge and Skills Framework
The Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) helps individuals, teams, and organisations understand how they can support mental health improvement and work to prevent self-harm and suicide.
Knowledge and Skills Framework
The KSF outlines the knowledge and skills needed at four levels:
- Informed
- Skilled
- Enhanced
- Specialist
These levels are based on how often and in what ways staff interact with people who may be at risk of, or affected by, mental health ill health, self-harm, or suicide. The informed level is the most broadly applicable and the resources available here are relevant to everyone – wherever they work or provide support.
The KSF can be downloaded using the link below:
Mental health improvement and suicide prevention framework – Scotland’s Mental Health Knowledge and Skills Framework for Mental Health Improvement, Self-harm and Suicide Prevention. ( Download, 2 MB)
The KSF in practice
The first video here introduces the KSF and how it is structured. The videos about Sam and Joe bring to life how the KSF can be used to support learning and practice across roles and settings.
KSF Domains
The KSF is divided into 6 domains. These are shown in the image below.
People in lots of different roles often play an important part in improving mental health and preventing self-harm and suicide - even if they don’t realise it. By taking time to reflect, it becomes easier to see how different roles connect to the different domains. To support this, we’ve created a series of short videos that introduce each domain. Most people contribute to more than one domain, and the videos help show how these connections work.
Please note that each video presents the story of a character – played by an actor – created for educational purposes.
Start with this video which provides an introduction:
Here are six further videos – one for each domain. Each video focuses on a specific domain, but you’ll notice that other domains are mentioned too. This reflects how different areas of practice often overlap in real-life roles. As you access them, think about the contributions you make in your own work or role, and consider how you might want to grow your knowledge and skills further.
KSF - Khalid
KSF - Sam
KSF - William
KSF - Aleena
KSF - Sophia
KSF - Chris
KSF video transcripts
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KSF Introductory domains film transcript
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KSF - Khalid transcript
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KSF - Sam transcript
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KSF - William transcript
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KSF - Aleena transcript
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KSF - Sophia transcript
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KSF - Chris transcript