Wisconsin Self-Harm Data Dashboard

Help is available

If you or someone you know is experiencing a suicidal, mental health, and/or substance use crisis, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides 24/7 connection to confidential support with a trained counselor. Call or text 988 or chat via 988lifeline.org.

For other crisis and helpline options, visit the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Crisis Services webpage. Information on suicide warning signs, risk and protectives factors, and efforts to reduce suicide in Wisconsin is available on the Prevent Suicide webpage.

What is self-harm?

Self-harm refers to intentional actions taken to hurt oneself. Self-harm may be done as a coping strategy in response to stress, anxiety, or other emotional and/or mental health concerns. Someone who self-harms may or may not have the intention to die by suicide and injuries resulting from self-harm can range from minor to severe. Additionally, self-harm may refer to a current behavior that does not include an active injury (see Technical Notes for more detail). All instances are a public health concern and may put a person at greater risk for repeated self-harm, suicide attempt, or death by suicide. The dashboard includes all instances of self-harm, regardless of suicidal intent.

Learn more about self-harm, including the warning signs and how to help someone who is self-harming.

What data are included in the dashboard?

Emergency Department (ED) and hospital patient data are presented separately. We report data separately by patient type because this can be used as a proxy for severity. For example, if the injury is more severe, the patient would likely be admitted as a hospital patient instead of treated and released from the emergency department. Additionally, if the patient has a more severe health condition (whether related to the self-harm injury or not), they would be more likely to be admitted as a hospital patient. There are also demographic and diagnostic differences between type of patient that can be seen in the dashboard data.

What do the data tell us about disparities and inequities and what factors impact these differences?

  • Self-harm rates reveal disparities by race and sex, but they don’t explain the cause of these disparities. Additionally, other demographics, such as gender identification and sexual orientation, are not available in state health data, so a review of disparities by these demographics is not currently possible.
  • Racism, sexism, and heterosexism (discrimination or bias based on sexual orientation) may impact populations separately or they may compound to increase stress resulting in poor health outcomes that affect some communities more than others.
  • Economic, social, and legal conditions and issues can also drive despair and suffering; these can be intensified by racism, sexism and heterosexism and negatively influence a person’s health and mental status.
  • Stressors resulting from discriminatory systems may contribute to increased self-harming behaviors among communities harmed by these inequitable systems.
  • Understanding the impact of these structural inequities can support the development of appropriate public health intervention strategies and ensure equitable services for all.

How might these data be useful?

Self-harm is a serious public health concern, and a review of all instances allows us to see its impact on Wisconsin communities. Please note that while suicide deaths mark a tragic loss for families and society, they represent only a portion of people who experience suicidal thoughts and self-harming.

The dashboard may be used to detect populations at greater risk, medical conditions more often associated with self-harm, and methods more often used. The dashboard may also be useful to identify changes over time. Review of both ED and hospitalization data can also provide insight into the severity of injuries resulting from self-harm (for instance, more severe cases likely result in hospitalization).

Programs implementing evidence- or community-informed strategies and best practices to prevent suicide and self-harm should review data presented here, as well as other available data sources (such as death certificates), to better understand the full range of behaviors and life events that are associated with self-harm and suicide risk.

Last revised July 1, 2025