Ms Fiona Jennings:

I thank the committee members for inviting ISPCC today. Some of our key recommendations include promoting the use of helplines as important initial sources of support; championing supports and programmes that strengthen resilience and build coping capacity; upskilling on-site personnel in active listening skills; and, most important, the initiation of the youth mental health pathfinder project.

ISPCC has supported children, young people and families since its inception in 1956. Next February will see it mark 35 years of its flagship service, Childline. Childline, while once a telephone-only offering, is today a suite of multichannel services delivered both face-to-face and non-face-to-face, responding to the new routes in which children and young people access support. Most people are familiar with Childline's helpline, a universal service delivered via phone and online where professionally trained facilitators actively listen to children and young people, empower them to come up with solutions and signpost and refer on where appropriate. The provision of this type of non-face-to-face support affords a child or young person a sense of accessibility and autonomy.

Childline's therapeutic support service offers children and young people a more long-term, personalised individual plan of support depending on their level of need and the presenting issues. The aim of the service is to build resilience and increase the young person's coping skills. We can meet children and young people at a place where they are most comfortable. Digital mental health and well-being programmes aim to reduce anxiety for children and young people as well as enabling their parents or carers to manage their own anxiety while supporting their anxious child or teenager. These programmes, developed by SilverCloud, are based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy, incorporate mindfulness practices and are specifically designed to assist in managing anxiety. The aim is to empower participants to think and feel better and to apply the given techniques in their day-to-day lives. A trained member of our Childline team guides and supports each participant through his or her programme confidentially.

We developed our Shield anti-bullying programme as a direct response to the issue of bullying and how it was impacting the mental and emotional health and well-being of children. The Shield programme aims to support organisations in their efforts to proactively manage bullying and to protect children and young people from bullying through prevention and intervention strategies. Bullying is a complex social issue and can occur in many different settings. The self-evaluation tool is a key component of the programme and is designed for any organisation working with children and young people. There is now a large body of evidence in respect of effective approaches to bullying and what has been proven to work. ISPCC has distilled the latest research into ten Shield statements that are evidence-based.

By reflecting on each of the ten statements and associated questions, organisations will identify their areas of strength and those necessitating development in their approach to bullying. We were delighted to collaborate with DCU's anti-bullying centre and our Irish safer Internet centre partners, Webwise, on the revised Shield programme. Smart Moves is an evidence-based resilience programme specifically focused on the transition from primary school to post-primary school. The programme’s pre-developed session plans are delivered by the teachers to their class group. Smart Moves can be completed by both fifth- and sixth-class students and is currently available to schools across the country.

Best practice tells us that students need to be supported not just before they transition from primary school to post-primary school, but also during and after that. Our aim is to follow these students as they move into first year so they can continue to engage with the Smart Moves post-primary programme.We also recognise that parents and carers often need guidance during this time too. Therefore, we offer online tutorials to support them as their child transitions. The long-term vision for this programme is that all sixth-class and first-year students and their parents or carers will engage with and benefit from the programme, leading to more successful transitions into post-primary education.

All ISPCC services and programmes are available to children and young people and can be accessed within the school environment. Teaching personnel can refer to our Childline therapeutic support service and our digital mental health and well-being programmes on behalf of a child or young person with parental consent and can register to participate in our Shield and-or Smart Moves programmes. Teaching personnel can always signpost any child or young person to our Childline helpline where they can access mental health supports via phone or online or by extension on our Childline.iewebsite, which hosts multiple articles and resources on the issue, including a public notice board, Ask Alex, where readers can find support from responses to other children and young people’s queries.

Our mental-emotional health profile features consistently in the top two issues children and young people seek support on. We are pleased with the direction Government policy is taking to better support the mental and emotional health and well-being of children and young people and strongly feel that ISPCC can play an important role in supporting Government to fulfil these policy objectives. However, we remain convinced that without the immediate initiation of the youth mental health pathfinder project, the collaboration and co-operation that are required to deliver meaningfully on any policy will be stymied. I thank the committee for its attention and I look forward to engaging with members as the session proceeds.