Mr. John Meehan:

I concur with the Deputy. Prevention and early intervention have been mentioned so many times. As my son tells me, "Dad, you need to take things upstream." I welcome the statement of the Minister for Education and Skills that well-being will be part of the curriculum, just like history. Under Connecting for Life, the Department of Health with the Department of Education and Skills has focused on implementing the well-being policy which aims to foster and promote well-being of children and younger people in all schools. There is also the National Office for Suicide Prevention. The HSE is supporting the ongoing implementation of the national anti-bullying action plan, which is so important if we look at an upstream level. The junior cycle well-being programme has been implemented for three years of junior cycle as of 2019. SafeTALK suicide prevention training has been rolled out in education centres as part of a pilot project providing SafeTALK to teachers. Teachers tell us that sometimes they do not feel equipped with the knowledge and skills to provide that. My colleagues in the HSE health and well-being section continue to train teachers in health promotion programmes such as Zippy's Friends and MindOut. It is very important to bring that upstream and, as a parent and former psychiatric nurse working in CAMHS, I would welcome well-being as part of the curriculum. I also highlight a need for a global well-being to take in both physical and mental health, social aspects, gender - all of those together. We look forward to that.