Primary teachers call for in-school counselling to tackle youth 'mental health pandemic'

Lara Ní Riain and Michael Coleman, Blanchardstown branch, at the INTO annual congress in Killarney. Picture: Moya Nolan

Teachers have condemned the lack of mental health supports for primary school students, as research shows that one in three children are likely to have experienced some type of mental health disorder by the age of 13.

Delegates at the INTO Congress 2022 passed a motion yesterday calling for increased funding for children’s mental health services, in particular for on-site supports and counselling for primary students.

Proposing the motion, INTO member Órlaith Ní Fhoghlú said that a lack of early intervention supports in primary schools is a “vicious cycle” leading to longer waiting lists for child adolescent community mental health services (Camhs), and teens with more acute issues. She said: 

I know that every single teacher in this room knows that one in three, 10 in 30 in a class, of the children who need services, who need support, and are waiting very patiently, but very frustratingly.

A 2013 report by the Royal College of Surgeons found that one in three Irish children experience a type of mental health disorder by 13, rising to one in two by 24.

Referrals to Camhs and other services have risen by 40% as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and of the 18,000 children expected to be referred to the Camhs service in 2020, only 11,000 were expected to be seen.

“Early intervention works,” said Ms Ní Fhoghlú. School-based mental health supports; it isn’t groundbreaking stuff. It’s something that we’ve repeatedly asked of minister after minister for education. 

Teachers are doing their best, schools are doing their best, but the wait is getting longer and the need is getting far greater. 

Teachers spoke about their pupils being unable to access the mental health supports they need, and said the number of pupils at primary level seeking behavioural and emotional interventions has increased.

“I really feel that emotional health and wellbeing have become a buzzword, and I’m sick sore and tired of the platitudes that are being spoken about… children in our special classes have not got access to appropriate psychological services, that’s as it is, and we are at the cold face of that day in, day out,” said Róisín Nic Tighearnáin, a delegate from the Mullingar INTO.

Fiona Garvey, a delegate from Cork City South East branch, said that there are currently children that the system is failing, and that teachers have a “duty of care” to call for supports to be put in place.

“When society has an itch, schools are expected to scratch it,” she said. 

The state of children’s mental health in our primary schools is more than an itch; it is a gaping wound, a deep abyss which our vulnerable pupils are attempting to escape. We are ill equipped to staunch that wound. 

Members of the INTO are now calling for a national framework to be put in place, to develop counselling services for primary school children, and the introduce on-site school counselling in primary schools in line with international best practice.