Bursary scheme for school mental health counsellors launches
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
A children’s mental health charity has launched new training bursaries to boost the number of counsellors working in schools.
Latest figures from Place2Be show that one in three children in every class now has a diagnosable mental health problem.
A survey of school leaders, published by the charity and education union NAHT earlier this year, found that the number of schools commissioning professional help for children’s mental health issues rose from 36 per cent in 2016 to 66 per cent last year.
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Place2Be has now been given funding, by grant-giving organisation the Wolfson Foundation, to offer 25 means-tested training bursaries for successful applicants on its child-counselling courses including a postgraduate diploma in counselling children in schools.
They will also be available for people with places on the charity’s Level 3 certificate in counselling skills for working with children and the Level 2 award in counselling skills for working with children. Fees for the postgraduate diploma are £6,000 over two years while certificate and award courses cost between £1,795 and £785 depending on the level of study.
Catherine Roche, chief executive of Place2Be said “there are not enough child counsellors with the right specialist skills and experience” to meet demand for counsellors in schools.
“Place2Be’s child counselling qualifications address this gap and are part of our organisation’s aim to build the children’s mental health professional workforce. We are hugely grateful to The Wolfson Foundation for their support which will enable more counsellors to develop their skills, and ultimately more children and young people to access high-quality support,” she added.
Last month, children's commissioner for England Anne Longfield warned that the NHS is still a decade away from being able to offer young people "decent" mental health provision.