Mr. Paul King:

If I may address that, I thank Deputy Daly for his question. In preparation for today, I told the students with whom I work that I was to come before this committee and asked them what they would like me to say. To a person, they all said this is a very important issue and one they want to put to the fore. This echoes Deputy Daly's experience of his children's teachers.

The conversation about whether this is relevant has passed; the next stage is how we can go about it. This is where the floundering is taking place. There is a desire to do this but uncertainty over how to do it. This goes back to the issue of people trusting themselves and professionals, attending to their own mental health and being comfortable about speaking about and expressing their difficulties. Any initiative that can support this will be welcome but it must be done in a systematic way. I think we would all agree that having good, positive, well-meaning intentions is not sufficient and that they can be potentially damaging. This is a little like what Mr. Hussey said: having an interest in drama is very different from being able to teach it. Mindfulness with teachers is similar. There is a genuine well-being intentionality to work positively with and support children but it needs a skilled intervention. There is a very open, positive mindset towards this issue, and this is something we should take away from today. There has been a shift in culture to the effect that this is very topical, not just because it is topical in the news, but also because people feel it from the inside out. If we can begin to harness and work with this, we can respond to the issue of mental health very proactively. I hope that answers the Deputy's question.