Mental health tsar urges government to boost school counselling services
Jess Brown
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
The government should act to ensure there is a counsellor in every school, the Department for Education's mental health champion for schools has said.
Speaking to CYP Now, Natasha Devon, who was appointed to the role in August last year, said the move could benefit young people who lack the confidence to seek help outside of the school environment.
“If the school counsellor is there they’re much more likely to talk,” she said.
She added that school counsellors are then able to refer young people with problems to the right services to get help.
Research conducted by think-tank CentreForum in 2014 found that around 86 per cent of secondary schools have access to a counsellor. The DfE has previously stated it wants counsellors in all schools, but it is not a statutory requirement.
In addition to calling for more counsellors, Devon raised concerns around the DfE’s plans to boost mental health support in schools through peer-to-peer mentoring.
As part of a wide-ranging interview with CYP Now she warned that such a move isn’t the “magic solution” the DfE “perhaps thought it was”.
She said young people "have enough stress and pressure without adding the pressure of being the primary mental health caregiver for someone else”.
Devon also expressed the need for urgency in disseminating best practice in tackling mental health problems among children.
“We need to get things out there as soon as possible. It’s not something that can wait,” she said.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, agreed with Devon’s call for counsellors in all schools, but urged further action.
“High-quality training for teachers and school leaders to spot the early signs of mental health problems, and knowing where they should turn for help, is also required," he said.
"Quite often children want to turn to a teacher or head teacher they know and trust, and training needs to reflect this reality.”
Catherine Roche, chief executive of Place2Be, said: "Embedding high-quality counselling in every school as part of a whole-school approach to mental health will help to ease the pressure on teachers, and will build children’s confidence to face life's inevitable challenges.”
The government has pledged to invest £1.25bn in young people's mental health in the period up to 2020.
