James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which implementation of the national guidelines on promoting positive mental health and suicide prevention in post-primary schools will be achieved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45525/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Education and Skills supports a comprehensive and whole-school approach in schools to well-being promotion and positive mental health focusing on the entire school community, as well as groups and individual young people with identified need. This spans the curriculum in schools, whole-school ethos, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, student support and pastoral care, guidance counselling and the provision of professional development for teachers. It also involves accessing other supports such as educational psychology services. Additionally, schools engage in a wide range of sport and cultural activities which provide an important opportunity for students to experience success and personal growth. The whole staff shares responsibility for general student well-being.

The Well-being in Post Primary Schools Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention (2013) provides a framework for schools to present in an integrated way the existing elements of good practice to promote social and emotional learning, and mental health and direct them to new practices as appropriate. They provide clear information for schools and for agencies supporting schools on how to address issues of social and emotional learning. The Guidelines outline how schools support young people through early intervention and prevention, modelled on the NEPS Continuum of Support tiered approach.

The key messages in the Guidelines are that:

- Schools play a vital role in providing a protective environment for young people which can counter risk factors.

- Having a whole school approach which fosters important links with the wider school community, and agencies which support schools, is key to successful implementation of the Guidelines

The Guidelines build on the significant work already taking place in schools, including through the systematic implementation of 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 DES support services and other external agencies and support services.

As stated the Guidelines form a framework within which a broad range of existing processes and practices can be rationalised within schools. Support for the school community in this regard is provided by a number of sources within my Department including the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and the Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT).

Within my Department’s Action Plan for Education in 2016/19 mental health and well-being is afforded a high priority and is one of the key goals. The actions relating to well-being and mental health include supporting schools to implement the national Well-being in Post Primary Schools Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention (2013) through:

- Introduction of a well-being programme at Junior Cycle: Guidelines on Well-being in Junior Cycle have been developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to support the Framework for Junior Cycle 2015. Introduction of the well-being guidelines to post primary schools was initiated in September 2017.

- Increasing the capacity of NEPS : an enhanced educational psychological service to schools, through the appointment of an additional 10 educational psychologists. The focus of this additional support, in the context of post-primary schools, is on extending the delivery of training to teachers in DEIS schools in the Friends programmes. This programme, when delivered by trained teachers, reduces anxiety and promotes coping, resilience and school-connectedness in children and young people.

In addition psychologists provide support to schools in implementing Student Support Teams in Post Primary Schools (2014) and Responding to Critical incidents Guidelines and Resource Materials for schools (2016).

- Enhancing Guidance Counselling Provision at post-primary level: Recent budgets saw improvements in guidance allocation to schools, with Budgets 2016 and 2017 together seeing the allocation of the equivalent of 400 guidance posts, following budget measures in 2012 which removed the ex-quota provision for guidance posts (which amounted to some 600 posts). The 400 guidance posts which have now been restored will be allocated separately and transparently and once again

A Well-being Steering Committee , within my Department, continues to examine issues in relation to the co-ordination and aligning of the range of supports provided to both primary and post-primary schools in regard to well-being and mental health promotion.

Finding new ways of tackling policy issues that are not the sole responsibility of any one Government Department or Agency has been prioritised by Government. Youth mental health and suicide prevention is one of three Pathfinder projects under Action 5 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan (2014) and agreed by the Civil Service Management Board. This Pathfinder Youth Mental Health Project is an initiative to innovate and improve whole-of-Government working on cross-cutting policy issues and improve the delivery of shared whole-of-Government projects to strengthen the prioritisation, management and accountability of cross-cutting projects that involve multiple Departments, Offices and Agencies and ensure that policies that are not the priority or responsibility of a single body are effectively managed, supported and resourced.

In addition my Department has been involved with the Taskforce on Youth Mental Health as part of the programme for Government and is represented on this Taskforce. One of the challenges of providing a coordinated, streamlined approach to promoting well-being and mental health is of course the fact that there are so many statutory and voluntary agencies/services/NGOs involved. The Task Force was established to produce a series of action focused recommendations to improve youth mental health and well-being. The main areas of focus comprised: emotional literacy and reduction of stigma; awareness of services and supports; accessibility to services and supports across different settings; alignment of services and supports across different providers; and building capacity in local communities. The report has been passed by the Secretary General of the DOH and approved by the Minister. It is intended to submit a memorandum for Government shortly.