This talk was given as part of a symposium titled: "AFTER TRAUMA: NARRATIVE AND APPLIED APPROACHES".

The talk focused on understanding of the impact of working with sensitive topics such as self-harm and mental health illness where there is a lack of evidence from capacity building projects with partners from the Global North and South where local research assistants are employed. Research with trained health professionals suggests experiences of distress, helplessness and even trauma when working with sensitive topics. The presentation drew on the experiences from research assistants of the South-Asia Self-Harm Initiative (SASHI) project We used a reflective collaborative approach as outlined by Finlay and Gough (2003). We payed particular attention to the social, economic and cultural context, as self-harm and mental health illness are topics associated with taboos, stigma and potential marginalisation in South Asia. Based on our experiences, we shared lessons learned and formulate recommendations for good research practice.