Counselling plan for schoolchildren shelved over shortage of mental health professionals

A plan to introduce one-on-one counselling for children in schools now seems unlikely after a pilot scheme stalled due to a national shortage of mental health professionals. More than half the counselling slots made available to schools across seven counties in the first year of the €5 million scheme were never used, due to a lack of counsellors. While there was “strong evidence” that children had benefited from one-on-one counselling and almost universal support from parents and teachers for sessions in schools, an independent review of one of the Government’s key post-pandemic mental health plans for children raised concerns about the ability to introduce such counselling as a permanent, national policy. In 2023, the Government launched a €5 million pilot scheme which introduced one-on-one counselling for children with mild to moderate needs in a small number of schools in Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary. The Department of Education announced the programme in recognition of the primary schoolchildren whose mental health was harmed by Covid-19. READ MOREIn 2024, the pilot was expanded to include “education wellbeing practitioners” (EWPs) in 61 Deis schools in Tallaght, Clondalkin, Finglas, Ballymun and Darndale, all in Co Dublin. These were welfare supports offered to classes and small groups, rather than individual students. The EWPs were extended to eventually include 77 schools, including some in Cork and Carlow. An independent review of the pilot programme, published by the department, has now raised concerns about the feasibility of introducing one-on-one counselling nationally. The review found that less than half (382) of the 789 counselling blocks made available in 2023-2024 were used and the report said “many schools struggled to book counsellors due to their limited availability”. The shortage of counsellors was most acute for rural schools. Higher fees for counsellors who did 40 per cent of their sessions in rural schools and the use of an external contractor to boost the number of counsellors on the pilot’s panel also failed to fully address the shortage. In the second year of the pilot, more than 30 per cent of the 1,101 counselling blocks available were also not used by schools. Almost a fifth of 217 principals questioned said they didn’t participate in the pilot scheme despite being eligible, and not being able to find a counsellor was the most common reason why. The review found, in some cases, “the task of booking counsellors placed more stress on principals and took up considerable time”. The same report said that the department’s own National Educational Psychological Service also struggled to find enough counsellors “despite repeated and extensive efforts”.The report also raised concerns that only having six counselling sessions could be “detrimental” to some children. Parents and counsellors said that some children “struggled” when their six sessions ended.There were also challenges with “inappropriate” referrals, when children with more complex needs were sent to counselling sessions. Parents and counsellors were also critical of Department rules which meant counsellors could not go on to offer private sessions to children they had helped.The review also found that the cost per pupil of one-on-one counselling was “significantly higher” than the cost of EWPs. It said that “ongoing difficulties securing appropriately qualified counsellors and the relatively resource‑intensive, individualised model present challenges regarding the scalability of [one-on-one counselling] beyond the pilot phase”.The department said in a statement that it intends to extend one-on-one counselling to 102 primary schools participating in the Deis Plus scheme. It said that the report showed “that the one-to-one counselling provided valuable, targeted support but faced ongoing challenges in relation to recruitment, appropriateness of referrals and sustainability”.