Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Promoting positive mental health is a priority for the Department of Education and myself as Minister.

The Department’s approach in the Wellbeing Policy is founded on research and best international practice in relation to how schools can best support the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. The approach proposed is a whole school and preventative approach which has multiple components that include:

• Providing children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencies
• Providing children and young people with opportunities to experience supportive relationships within the school setting and to learn through those relationships
• Providing children and young people with opportunities to be part of a school environment and culture that feels both physically and psychologically safe, an environment in which children and young people feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, in which they feel 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.

A dedicated wellbeing portal can be accessed via ‘Wellbeing in Education’ on Gov.ie, bringing together all the wellbeing and mental health supports and resources that have been developed by the Department and the Department’s support services.

My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary and special schools.

The NEPS service provides access for all schools to:

• Psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident
• A Casework Service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA).
• A school staff Support and Development Service, to build school capability to provide a comprehensive continuum of support in schools and
• Ongoing access to advice and support for schools.

This approach allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent individual cases and, through supporting school staff, to benefit many more children than could be seen individually.

NEPS teams offer training and guidance for teachers in the provision of universal and targeted evidence-informed approaches and early intervention to promote children’s wellbeing, social, emotional and academic development. For example, Initiatives such as the Incredible Years Social Emotional learning Programmes and the FRIENDS Resilience Programmes which aim to address anxiety reduction have been welcomed by schools and their impact positively evaluated.

I have also recently announced the publication of a tender to procure services to further support wellbeing and mental health in post-primary schools. The focus will be to strengthen supports and resources available to Student Support Teams to enhance the wellbeing and mental health of young people in the school community, with supports developed for students, parents and school staff. The tender has been awarded and work has commenced on the programme content.

Post-primary schools currently have access to Guidance Counsellors. Counselling is a key part of the role of the Guidance Counsellor, offered on an individual or group basis. The Guidance Counsellor also identifies and supports the referral of students to external counselling agencies and professionals, as required. Each post-primary school currently receives an allocation in respect of guidance provision, calculated by reference to the approved enrolment.

Separately, in June 2023, I was delighted to launch a €5 million pilot of counselling and wellbeing supports in primary schools in selected counties. This pilot will continue to June 2025. Strand 1 sees one-to-one counselling supports being provided to primary schools for the first time in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, and Tipperary. Strand 2 of the pilot is the establishment of a new type of support to schools from Education Wellbeing Teams and involves the introduction of Education Wellbeing Practitioners to provide enhanced in-school supports for a cluster of primary schools in Cork, Carlow, Dublin 7, and Dublin 16. All of which supplements the mental health supports which are offered by the HSE throughout the country.