Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The area of wellbeing and the promotion of positive mental health is a priority for the Department of Education. This includes promoting emotional wellbeing and resilience and positive coping skills, which support children and young people to manage the complexities of modern life.

The Department of Education’s approach to supporting wellbeing and mental health is set out in its Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice. A dedicated wellbeing portal has also been developed bringing together all the wellbeing supports and resources that have been developed by the Department and the Department’s support services. The approach proposed is a whole school and preventative approach, which has multiple components that provide children and young people with opportunities to:

• Build core social and emotional skills and competencies through the use of evidence-informed practice.
• Experience supportive relationships within the school setting.
• Be part of a school environment and culture that feels both physically and psychologically safe in which they feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, that their voice is heard, and they feel supported.

Schools are encouraged to use a reflective, school self-evaluation approach to identify and prioritise the needs of its own school community in relation to the promotion of wellbeing and mental health, and to respond to meeting those needs. To support schools in this work Oide is currently providing training to schools to ensure that the promotion of wellbeing will be at the core of the ethos of every school and support schools in implementing the Wellbeing Framework.

In the post-primary setting, the Student Support Team (SST) is the overarching structure through which schools identify and provide for the welfare and wellbeing of all students. A Student Support Team acts as a school hub, bringing coherence to the support system by coordinating the valuable work of departments, teams and/or groups such as the Junior Cycle Wellbeing Curricular Planning team, the Special Education Needs (SEN) department, the Critical Incident Management Team (CIMT) along with guidance and pastoral staff. School Leadership also has a significant role guiding and supporting the school’s Student Support Team. Focussing on the provision of a whole school approach Student Support Teams promote the wellbeing of the whole school community. Embedded in the whole school approach, and in line with the Department’s Continuum of Support, is a recognition that children and young people can have different needs at different times. Those with greater need may require more specific and targeted support in addition to the support provided for all young people at the universal level.

The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) has developed training for school staff on the promotion of wellbeing and resilience in schools, which includes upskilling school staff on the use and implementation of therapeutically-informed and evidence-based approaches in schools. These include trauma-informed approaches, approaches based on the principles of cognitive behaviour therapy, and attachment-aware approaches. The approaches outlined in the training are based on research findings, on the experience of experts in their fields and on the experience of practicing psychologists working in schools. The training builds on the capability of school staff in both primary and post-primary settings, including school leaders, teachers and SNAs. NEPS also provides training for school staff on the FRIENDS social, emotional and resilience building programmes to help reduce anxiety and support emotional wellbeing and resilience in children and young people.

The Department of Education works closely with the Department of Health, who have compiled a suite of resources, support agencies, self-help information and apps to support positive mental health in adults and young people. This is available at hse.ie/mental-health.

It is currently a matter for the management of each school to decide on the appropriateness of seeking external facilitators in promoting wellbeing. Schools have the autonomy to decide programmes and initiatives and we advise post-primary schools to refer to Circular 0043/2018 if considering collaboration with external agencies.