Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
498. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Education if she will take the necessary steps to develop and extend the pilot Programme of Counselling Supports for Primary Schools into all primary schools and post primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56630/23]
View answer503. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Education if she will expand the programme of counselling and well-being/mental health supports to post-primary schools targeting pupils at key transition stages in education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56661/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 498 and 503 together.
The Department of Education is committed to supporting the emotional well-being of our children and I am very pleased to provide an update on the significant progress that has been made on Strands 1 and 2 of the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot in over 650 primary schools across the country. I am also delighted to announce that my Department has secured additional funding in Budget 2024 to continue both strands of the pilot in the selected schools for an additional year, until June 2025.
The pilot includes two strands. Strand 1 is the provision of one-to-one counselling to support a small number of children in all primary schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary.
Strand 2 is the establishment of a new type of support to schools from Education Well-being Teams and the introduction of Well-being Practitioners to support clusters of schools in Cork, Carlow, Dublin 7 and Dublin 16. The Well-being Practitioners are currently in training with NEPS psychologists and will be engaging with schools in the pilot in the coming weeks. The NEPS psychologists will be providing on-going oversight and professional supervision to support and maintain the work undertaken by the practitioners. This will ensure safe practice and the use of evidence-informed programmes and supports in schools.
The focus of the support to be provided under Strand 2 is on strengthening whole school preventative approaches. This includes the provision of psycho-educational support for parents and teachers, and the provision of early intervention to children with mild/emerging need, using low-level therapeutically-informed approaches.
Post primary schools currently have access to Guidance Counsellors which primary schools do not have. At post primary level, counselling is a key part of the role of the Guidance Counsellor, offered on an individual or group basis. The Guidance Counsellor identifies and supports the referral of students to external counselling agencies and professionals, as required. Each post primary school currently receives an allocation in respect of guidance provision, calculated by reference to the approved enrolment.
Student Support Teams are also in place in post primary schools. A student support team is a central part of the student support system in a school. It is the overarching team concerned with the progressing of actions for the welfare and well-being of all students. In addition to this, many of the HSE and HSE funded NGO mental health services, such as Jigsaw and Turn2Me, are targeted for the post-primary school aged cohorts, and older.
It is not possible to include all schools in the pilot. Through this existing Counselling in Primary Schools pilot and subsequent evaluation we are confident that we will gather valuable learning that will inform future policy and provision in this area.
