Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 29 November 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion

Mr. Darragh Rawson:

My school is very much farmers and footballs for lads. We have a guidance counsellor. While a lot of us go to the counsellor, when it comes to well-being, the only way the school could get lads to talk would be if everyone had to meet up.

If everyone had to meet up and you could say what you like, you could have a conversation about football but if you want to say something, you can. I would not be one for going to a teacher and saying what I think. I would say it to my family at home but some people struggle with it. Lads struggle. In my school, we are not expressive of it but if we had a timetable where, say, once a month we went to meet someone and talk for five or ten minutes, it could make a difference. That could be the way to go at it.