Mr. Ian Power:

I want to continue on the point around whether having counsellors in school is the right idea. We are unique when compared with many countries. Unlike the UK, Australia or New Zealand, we do not use key workers and case workers, folks who are not specialised clinicians, to help, hold and support young people as they navigate the system. It would be of great benefit, and not just to clinicians who might be based in schools, to have that first level of support. Sometimes for students and young people it is a listening ear they need in a local environment. They may not necessarily need counselling, but rather that there is someone there who can interact with that. It is even more important in the school environment where guidance counsellors are wholly burdened with the responsibility for the emotional well-being of students in school communities and they have so many things they are supposed to be trying to do in addition to their own role.

Teachers feel really burdened with the responsibility for not only the education outcomes, but also the mental health outcomes of children and young people in schools. While we expand the clinical workforce, we need to start thinking creatively about what other types of roles we can have in both the school system and the mental health system to support and hold young people and manage their journey through the system.