Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

An estimated €1 billion is being spent on mental health services and services to suicidal and potentially suicidal people and their families.

While clinical diagnosis of mental health problems is a matter for the appropriate health professionals, as the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, stated, schools have a vital role to play in suicide prevention. Prevention must be addressed at whole school level through provision of relevant curricula for all children, through effective implementation of the social personal and health education programme, and through the provision of care afforded by a good pastoral system, including the capacity to respond appropriately to early signs of difficulty. The development of self-esteem, general coping skills and personal effectiveness is the most appropriate way to help young people to deal with life pressures and stress. It is clear that negotiating one's way from childhood through adolescence to adulthood requires the development of complex skills and values.

They must be prepared not only for social and economic participation and lifelong learning, but also equipped with skills that will enable them to build positive and healthy relationships and friendships, promote responsible decision making, and support adult relationships and family and community commitments into the future. Our students need to become confident, self-aware and open, and have the knowledge and understanding to navigate the world in which they live, and to negotiate their relationships with others.

Since September 2003, social personal and health education is taught to all pupils in primary schools. Its introduction was supported by a national programme of professional development for teachers. Its aim is to foster personal development, health and well-being of children and to help them create and maintain supportive relationships and develop the skills and attitudes for responsible citizenship. From the beginning of their primary schooling children learn, in an age appropriate way, how to identify, explore and express feelings and emotions, how to communicate with others, to resolve conflict and to respect difference, the importance of caring for one's body, treating oneself and others with dignity and respect, and how to identify people, places and situations that may threaten personal safety.

Social personal and health education has also been compulsory in the junior cycle of post-primary schools since September 2003. The modules at junior cycle deal specifically with belonging and integrating, handling conflict constructively, bullying, dealing with peer pressure, coping with stress, emotional health and well-being, influences on decision making, and relationships and sexuality education. In third year, an awareness of the range of agencies who can help students in difficulty is promoted, as well as the skills of knowing when and how to seek help.

Social personal and health education is designed for implementation in the context of a caring whole-school approach supported by the pastoral care structures in schools. Implementation of social, personal and health education in schools is assisted by a full-time support service which operates on an integrated basis in collaboration between the Department of Education and Science and the HSE. A programme in social personal and health education for senior cycle is also currently being developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

Many schools also use Mental Health Matters, a resource pack on mental health for 14-18 year olds developed by Mental Health Ireland. All post-primary schools are allocated guidance counselling hours by the Department of Education and Science. Qualified guidance counsellors are trained to provide counselling support to students. From the start of 2005-06 the schedule governing provision of guidance counsellors in schools improved, with the result that there are now almost 700 guidance staff employed in second level schools.

The Department of Education and Science funds the provision of ongoing professional support for guidance counsellors in their counselling work, through a counselling supervision service. In addition, the Department provides funding for the professional development programmes of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors and its local branches. Through this, guidance counsellors are provided with workshops on how to respond to critical incidents in schools. The National Office for Suicide Prevention is also working with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors to support their members' work in this area.

In addition to guidance counsellors, class year tutors and home school liaison co-ordinators provide important assistance in promoting students' well-being and in ensuring that potential difficulties can be identified early and that where necessary referral can be made to the appropriate health agencies. NEPS has also developed an advice and information pack for schools on responding to critical incidents. NEPS provides support and guidance to school staff who are dealing with the pupils on a daily basis. When requested, the service is available for consultation and advice in regard to individual students causing concern.

The Government is also keen to promote positive mental health through the youth sector. In this regard, the national youth health programme, a partnership between the Departments of Education and Science and Health and Children, has been in operation for over ten years. The programme has developed a range of health and well-being promotion initiatives in partnership with stakeholders such as the Rutland Centre, the HSE, the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and BelongTo. It supports youth work organisations in dealing with mental health issues through training and policy and practice development.

Applied suicide intervention skills training, known as the ASIST programme, has also been designed to help care-givers become more ready, willing and able to help persons at risk.

See this speech in context