The support and wellbeing of our students is a priority for my Department, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the increased stress and pressure resulting from it.
I recently launched a new National Framework to address the issues of student mental health and suicide prevention. This Framework is Ireland’s first ever national approach to address student mental health and suicide prevention. The Framework was developed in collaboration with students, mental health and suicide prevention specialists, academics, researchers and institutional staff. The Framework delivers on a commitment to develop national guidelines for the higher education institutions (HEIs) in relation to suicide risk and critical incident response, thereby helping to address any gaps which might exist in the prevention of suicide in higher education. The Framework additionally recognises the many challenges students face and sets out ways in which institutions can support and respond through working proactively to maximise mental health and wellbeing.
Earlier this year, I secured a comprehensive package of financial support in the amount of €168m for the Higher Education and Further Education and Training sector to mitigate against the direct financial impact of COVID-19 on our higher education institutions (HEIs) and students in 2020. This package includes additional funding of €3m to underpin wellbeing and mental health and student services in our HEIs, and is in addition to the €2m that was allocated in Budget 2020. This overall funding of €5m comes at a time of great urgency in relation to student supports, and will enable institutions to enhance their student facing services, such as by employing additional student Counsellors, Assistant Psychologists etc. and implementation of the National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework. Many institutions are already in process of increasing their counselling service capacity. This increased capacity/resourcing will allow for development of further active outreach to students.
The increased capacity/resourcing of counselling will allow for development of active outreach to students and deliver more support and training to campus staff to identify, support and refer students in difficulty. This whole of campus approach to student support is a central principle in the National Framework for Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. While specific services such as counselling provide the specialist response to mental health difficulties, all staff should be aware of how to engage and respond supportively to a student in distress, and how to make effective referrals to the services, and we will be working towards achieving that in line with the framework.
In October, I also announced the new keyword partnership with 50808. This is a Free 24/7 anonymous text support service. Students text their institution keyword to 50808 to begin a text conversation e.g. Text DKIT to 50808 for Dundalk IT students. The 50808 volunteers will also signpost student texters to their campus and local community supports, based on their location, in instances that where further support is required.
