James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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260. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps in place for schools to deal with incidents of self-harm among pupils; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4516/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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My Department is strongly supportive of the promotion of positive mental health awareness in schools. The 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 (2013) and Primary Schools (2015) have been developed by my Department in collaboration 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 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.

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.  In addition Wellbeing Guidelines have been produced for the Junior Cycle Programme introduced in September 2017. This include a focus on mental health promotion. Professional development is currently being provided for schools in anticipation of this.

A range of external resources and initiatives are available to assist schools, among others, in supporting various aspects of a positive mental health process or relating to suicide prevention and crisis intervention such as the example instanced by the Deputy in his question.

The guidelines advise that in the event of pupils presenting with mental health difficulties which are above and beyond the school's capacity and ability to support, school authorities should identify and access the referral pathways for the various primary and secondary healthcare services in their particular area. My Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is available to advise schools on the matter. Referrals should, of course, be undertaken with Parental or Guardian consent and collaboration, except in an exceptional situation where there may be child protection issues.

In normal circumstances referral to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) is made through the student's G.P.. I hope this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.