Six-year-olds struggling with suicidal thoughts

Children as young as six are having suicidal thoughts of self-harming in primary schools that depend on ad hoc unofficial counselling services to support them.

The patterns emerge from a significant study of principals and school counsellors that has led to recommendations for in-school counselling for children in primary schools in line with international best practice.

Rosaleen McElvaney, a psychologist at Dublin City University’s school of nursing and human sciences, led the research in which 1,282 primary principals completed an online questionnaire. A further 12 were interviewed, as were nine counsellors who work with schools through local arrangements that are mainly focused in urban areas and arranged where professionals contact schools directly themselves.