Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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174. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the current and planned investment in mental health counselling at primary level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38397/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Within my Department’s Action Plan for Education in 2016/19 mental health and well-being promotion is afforded a high priority and is one of the key goals. My Department is strongly supportive of the promotion of positive mental health awareness in both primary and post-primary schools. The Department adopts a holistic and integrated approach to supporting schools in promoting positive mental health and to supporting those with a broad range of problems including behavioural, emotional and social.

To support this holistic approach my Department has published a Well-being Policy and Framework for Practice(2018-2023) for all schools which will inform how schools can promote student well-being. It is the Department’s aim that by 2023 all schools and centres for education will have embedded a dynamic Well-being Promotion Processwhich promotes a whole school preventative approach to the promotion of well-being with interventions at both universal and targeted levels. This approach is the most beneficial evidence informed approach for schools in the promotion of mental health and the support for students with mental health difficulties. The Well-being Policy includes an Implementation Plan with seven high level actions to support the realisation of the policy. Actions 2, 3 and 4 below focus on the need for the training of teachers which will include work with schools to ensure those students with most needs, including mental health needs, receive the highest level of support. It is intended to:

- Plan and provide for the national roll-out of a professional development process to facilitate all schools and centres for education to engage with and embed a Well-being Promotion Process which builds professional capacity and collaborative cultures in schools from 2018-2023.

- Provide for an aligned, comprehensive and easily accessible programme of support for all schools and centres for education to address school-identified Well-being Promotion Needs.

- Consider how the system is meeting current and future teachers’ learning needs relating to well-being promotion.

Support for implementation of the national Well-Being in Primary Schools Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention (2013) is also encompassed within the Well-being Policy and Framework for Practiceimplementation.

Responsibility for provision of mental health services and counselling for young people lies with the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive. Schools are advised to identify supports and services that are available in their community, build relationships and agree referral pathways for students needing referral. The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides psychological support and engages in collaborative work helping school staff in how to access appropriate mental health services. Psychologists support schools in connecting with Primary Care Psychology Services and Child and Adolescent Mental Health services in relation to individual children and young people with mental health needs. Psychologists support and encourage the establishment of referral and communication protocols between education and health services at local level and work with others to develop community based mental health promotion strategies.

NEPS also provides guidelines and resource materials for schools to enable them to deal with certain traumatic events which can adversely affect students and school staff. The guidelines responding to Critical Incidents: Guidelines and Resource Materials for Schools(2016) refer to preventive approaches that schools can adopt in creating a safe and supportive environment. It also outlines how schools can plan for crises. The publication provides support to schools at a potentially overwhelming time with practical step-by-step guidance for teachers and principals on how to respond when a tragedy occurs. The guidelines focus on alerting schools to planning processes, structures and actions which will better allow them to cope with a traumatic incidents such as suicide or suspected suicide, murder, accidental death including road traffic accidents and drowning, and death through illness of members of the school community. In relation to suicide, advice is also given on prevention and positive mental health stratagems and approaches. NEPS psychologists will also, at the specific invitation of school authorities, attend at the schools immediately following such incidents to offer direct advice and assistance to school staff and students.

A Well-being Steering Committee is overseeing the implementation of the Well-being Policy Statement and Framework for Practice within my Department. It examines issues in relation to the co-ordination and aligning of the range of supports provided to schools in regard to well-being and mental health promotion. This involves coordinating the liaison with other Departments and Government agencies.

The Policy includes a Well-being Implementation Plan and significant resources have been committed from a number of sections of the Department. NEPS capacity to enhance educational psychological service to schools has been increased through the appointment of an additional 10 educational psychologists in the last academic year and a further 10 psychologists in 2018/19. The focus of part of this additional support, in the context of primary schools, is on extending the delivery of training in the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Programme (IYTCM) and the Friends programmes to teachers in DEIS schools. IYTCM aims to reduce behavioural difficulties and strengthen social and emotional competence in primary school-age children. The Friends Programme, when delivered by trained teachers, reduces anxiety and promotes coping, resilience and school-connectedness in young people thus promoting mental health.

The Department also works with the Department of Health to promote participation by primary and post-primary schools in the Health Promoting Schools initiative, which is supported by the Health Service Executive. This European-wide programme aims to strengthen schools' capacity to be a healthy setting for learning and working by focusing on whole-school level conditions that affect health and well-being of children and young people.

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. My Department has been involved with the Taskforce on Youth Mental Health as part of the programme for Government. One of the challenges of providing a coordinated, streamlined approach to mental health promotion is 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. 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 published and a memorandum has been agreed the Government.

The work of implementing the Taskforce recommendations will be linked with the Youth Mental Health Pathfinder Project. 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 Youth Mental Health Pathfinder Projectis 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. The aim is to strengthen 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.