School psychotherapists ‘would lower suicide rates’

Every secondary school should have a professional psychotherapist working on-site to help identify at-risk teenagers before they become suicidal, according to Jimmy O’Connell, a psychotherapist and teacher.

While teachers may be able to recognise pupils facing emotional problems, they don’t have the resources to help them. He believes having trained counsellors would help pupils and would lower teen suicide rates.

“You have teachers in schools right across the country who are listening to the problems kids have but the teachers themselves can’t deal with those problems. Not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t have the space, the time or the training to deal with a lot of these issues,” said Dr O’Connell.