Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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176. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress being made on the national roll-out of the headstrong help seeking schools based substance misuse programme to all schools. [30944/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware my Department adopts a holistic and integrated approach to supporting the work of schools in promoting positive mental health and to supporting those with the broad range of problems, behavioural emotional and social.

The processes span the curriculum in schools, whole-school ethos, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, student support and pastoral care and the provision of professional development for teachers. It also involves other supports such as educational psychological services and guidance and counselling services, and the interface with other agencies, both nationally and locally. Schools also engage in a wide range of sport and cultural co-curricular activities which provide an important opportunity for students to experience success and personal growth.

Wellbeing Guidelines for Post-Primary and more recently for Primary Schools have been produced by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive. The guidelines are informed by consultation with key Education and Health partners and by the findings of current research. They provide practical guidance to schools on how they can promote mental health and well-being in an integrated school-wide way and they also provide evidence-based advice on how to support young people who may be at risk of suicidal behaviour.

The Guidelines build on the significant work already taking place in schools, including through the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum, the whole-school guidance plan, the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) continuum of support model and the HSE, Health Promoting Schools Process. Information is also provided on how to access support from the SPHE Support Service and other external agencies and support services.

The Headstrong Help Seeking Schools Programme initiative is one of a range of external resources and initiatives that are available to assist, among others, schools in supporting various aspects of a positive mental health process. My Department is not in a position to endorse each individual initiative, and it is a matter for individual schools to determine which of these resources they choose to access. My Department's advice is that schools in the first instance should implement the guidelines document effectively and when considering collaborating with external agencies in doing work in the area of mental health promotion, schools should be particularly cognisant of my Department's circulars 0022/2010 and 0023/2010 which provide advice on best practice in this regard.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.