Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 October 2023
8. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Education to outline progress on the new well-being-counselling initiative that she announced and introduced this year, and which has been warmly welcomed by the education partners and sector. [44807/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraFollowing on from the Minister’s very welcome introduction of the new well-being and counselling initiative for primary schools earlier this year, which has been warmly welcomed by the education partners and the sector as a whole, will she update the House on the structures under the initiative, including the employment of counsellors, how the process is working and being advertised and when it will be in situ?
I thank the Deputy for the question. I know it is an area on which he has advocated very strongly. I am very pleased that the counselling pilot has been well received. The Department of Education is committed to supporting the emotional well-being of our children and I am pleased to provide an update on the significant progress that has been made on strands 1 and 2 of the pilot in almost 650 primary schools across the country. I am also pleased to announce that the Department has secured additional funding in budget 2024 to continue the pilot for an additional year, until June 2025.
The pilot includes two strands. Strand 1 will see 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. Considerable work has been undertaken to identify suitably qualified, experienced and accredited counsellors. In the absence of a single recognised counselling qualification and a national regulatory body for counselling in Ireland at this time, the Department initially liaised with the three largest accrediting bodies for counsellors in Ireland, namely, the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, IACP, the Psychological Society of Ireland, PSI, and the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapists in Ireland, IAHIP. The Department has subsequently liaised with additional associations and is now also accepting applications from counsellors accredited with the Irish Association of Psychotherapy and Play Therapy, IAPPT, the Association of Child Art Psychotherapists, ACAP, and those registered with the Irish Council for Psychotherapy, ICP.
Due to the highly sensitive nature of providing counselling for children, the application and vetting process for these counsellors requires significant time and attention in order to ensure the highest quality in this landmark pilot project. However, I am very pleased to advise that we will be in touch with schools in the coming weeks in relation to the initial allocation of counselling hours to schools. Schools, in consultation with a NEPS psychologist, and guided by the Department of Education’s continuum of support, will identify the children who may benefit most from this counselling service, which will be subject to parental or legal guardian informed consent.
Strand 2 will see 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.
I welcome the reply. This is a very radical and dynamic innovation on the Minister’s part. It will be one of a number of things for which she will be remembered. It represents a shift in the funding mechanism of the Government, for example. I have long believed that every Department has a role to play in well-being and mental health so it is not only the Department of Health’s funding that goes towards these initiatives. Deputy Foley is, I think, the first Minister for Education to allocate a significant portion of funding from her Department to the health and mental well-being of children. I assume this funding will increase in the years ahead. That should be acknowledged.
Building resilience is a key part of the challenge our young children face, particularly because so much of their play is structured compared to previous times. I congratulate the Minister on the radical nature of the introduction of this process.
We are all aware that this initiative will be of enormous benefit and support to our primary schools and their staff who do tremendous work every day. We know there is a growing need in the area of well-being. I am pleased that we have secured additional funding in budget 2024 to ensure the scheme can run longer than was envisaged originally.
Two different schemes will run. Counsellors will be available to schools, as I already outlined, and, in the second strand, education well-being teams and practitioners will be introduced. When we have an opportunity to analyse both schemes , we will learn a great deal about what we need to do in future and what the best approach will be, whether it is one or other strand or a combination of both. It is a significant departure and a landmark for the Department to do this and it is right that we do it.
The Minister is being characteristically modest about the introduction of this initiative. I will highlight some other issues. I particularly welcome that she is allowing the professional organisations most associated with this area to contribute in a meaningful way so that children, schools and parents can be reassured that those who will take on this role with their children are fully qualified and accredited and will have gone through the appropriate Garda vetting. Most importantly, they will have the experience and professional qualifications to deal with and contain any issue presented to them.
I welcome both pilots in the schools in my constituency in Dublin 16. Is the Minister in a position to provide more details about who might qualify for the well-being practitioner position and what professionals would be able to apply for those positions? If not, when will she be able to provide that information to the House?
Before the Minister replies, we will hear from a number of other speakers.
The Minister is blazing a trail in the Department but this intervention will go down as the most important of all. We have discussed therapeutic hours many times. I see them as key to unlocking many of the problems that arise in a school day in, day out. They also ensure that the child goes down the corridor to a familiar face and does not go on a child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, NEPS or referral waiting list for six, 12 or 18 months, which is a huge crisis in itself. It makes a lot of sense for them to go down the corridor to someone familiar to them and where many of the emotional behaviour and mental health issues can be dealt with and worked through in the school environment. I am delighted that the Minister has expanded this to include play and music therapists, etc. The sooner this is a full-on, fully-funded, full-loaded national scheme, the better. Does the Minister have any ideas as regards people with an educational psychology degree at third level playing a more expansive role in this area? I congratulate the Minister.
I welcome that County Carlow was part of the second phase of the landmark pilot that rolled out counselling services in primary school settings, in-school support and in the form of education on well-being. As we know, mental health teams in clusters of primary schools are important. I ask the Minister about the follow-up. It is great to see intervention in schools but more is needed. In my constituency, there are no occupational or speech and language therapists, there is no CAMHS access and children's disability network team, CDNTs, are not fully in place. How does that work? Well done to the Minister on what she has done.
As regards recruitment for the mental health pilot in primary schools, my understanding is that it excludes play therapists. Will the Minister come back to me on that matter? It is a great initiative which I welcome. In County Carlow, it is absolutely welcome.
Will the Minister outline to the House where the counselling and well-being service ceases and NEPS steps in? There seems to be a level of confusion, particularly if we look at the budget for 2024. The budget for NEPS last year was €33 million, while this year, in the Minister's budget, it is €9.7 million. That is a considerable drop. Will the Minister outline the impact or how these two entities will interact with each other? Where does well-being and counselling stop and where does NEPS start?
Regarding NEPS, I want to be 100% clear. There is no cut - absolutely none - in the NEPS funding made available this year. What has happened, which was clarified, is that the heading under which payments such as salaries, etc., for NEPS are made has been moved to a different subhead. There has been no cut whatsoever in NEPS funding. I welcome the very positive endorsement many Members have given to the roll-out of this programme. There has also been a very positive endorsement from schools.
Reference was made to play therapists. The Department has liaised with additional associations and is now accepting applications from counsellors accredited by the IAPTP and the ACAP and those registered with the ICP. Any involvement of a young person in this scheme will have to be signed off by a parent or legal guardian, as would always be the case.
On the different strands, strand 1 is counsellor-led and strand 2 involves well-being practitioners. Well-being practitioners in strand 2 have been interviewed and positions offered. We anticipate that these graduates in psychology, for example, or social care, will be employed in the four pilot areas in the coming weeks. They will initially receive additional training from NEPS psychologists.
