Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 February 2022
97. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Education if her Department has plans to examine the concept of trauma-informed practice in education; and if there are plans to roll-out a national framework for trauma-informed education. [7098/22]
View answerThe Department of Education promotes a comprehensive and whole-school approach in schools to the promotion of positive mental health focusing on the entire school community, as well as groups and individual young people with identified need. This spans the curriculum in schools, culture and environment, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, student support and pastoral care, guidance counselling and the provision of professional development for teachers.
The Department’s Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice which was first published in 2018 and refreshed in 2019 describes how schools can best promote wellbeing through the provision of a whole-school, multi-component and preventative approach.
The approach in the Wellbeing Policy is founded on research and best international practice in relation to how schools can best support the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. The approach proposed is a whole school and preventative approach which has multiple components that include:
- Providing children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencies
- Providing children and young people with opportunities to experience supportive relationships within the school setting and to learn through those relationships
- Providing children and young people with opportunities to be part of a school environment and culture that feels both physically and psychologically safe, an environment in which children and young people feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, in which they feel their voice is heard, and they feel supported.
- Schools are encouraged to use a reflective, school self-evaluation approach to identify and prioritise the needs of its own school community in relation to the promotion of wellbeing and mental health, and to respond to meeting those needs.
NEPS provides a comprehensive, school-based psychological service to all primary and post primary schools through the application of psychological theory and practice to support the wellbeing, academic, social and emotional development of all learners. NEPS recognise the importance of whole-school, compassionate and trauma-informed approaches in building safe and connected schools.
NEPS provides a casework service to schools through the assigned NEPS psychologist, Individual casework service involves a high level of psychologist collaboration with teachers and parents, often also working directly with the child/young person. NEPS may become involved with supporting individual students where the school’s SET team or Student Support Team (in post-primary) feels that the involvement of the psychologist is needed. Psychologists may provide consultation in relation to therapeutic informed approaches to be delivered in the school setting and engage in direct work with an individual student as appropriate. In the event that the need for a more targeted counselling or a specialised intervention is identified by the NEPS psychologist, a referral is made to an outside agency for evaluation and ongoing support. The NEPS psychologist can identify the most appropriate referral pathway and supports school with the onward referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team (CAMHS), HSE Primary Care/Community Psychology teams, or an identified local community based specialist mental health service.
NEPS’ Support and Development work involves the provision of applied psychology services for teachers and school communities to build and maximise their capacity to respond to the needs of all students and those with particular needs. This includes trauma informed education.
As part of this support and development work NEPS has developed a series of Wellbeing and Resilience in schools webinars, exploring the use of whole-school, compassionate and trauma-informed approaches to build safe and connected schools. Part 1, is called ‘The Stress factor - Getting the balance right’ a webinar for all school staff. This will be followed by a series of special interest modules using the Department’s e- learning platform. The approaches outlined in the workshops are based on research findings, on the experience of experts in their fields and on the experience of practising psychologists working in schools. The focus of the workshops is on exploring and understanding the sources and impact of stress on children and young people including attachment, trauma and adverse experiences. The emphasis will be on creating environments to reduce stress and on developing skills all children and young people need to better manage in school. The training will also cover the influences of stress on school staff and how to best to manage this. It is intended that staff will find the content useful in supporting their own wellbeing. The workshops will be available to build the capability of school staff in both primary and post-primary settings. The workshops are for all staff and all students including those with SEN or those children impacted by trauma and adverse experiences. NEPS psychologists will be available to support implementation in schools.
NEPS psychologists have engaged in extensive national training in the area of trauma in recent years with Karen Treisman and Dr David Trickey to inform their practice and inform their development of CPD for school staff. NEPS has been participating in the 5 Nations ACEs Network for a number of years. This Network includes delegates from government departments, public health bodies, social services and education from the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the United Kingdom.
