Emotional support and hot meals at school would greatly improve our children's lives

A teacher can offer support as mental health promotion and stress prevention, but is not a therapist. What all primary and secondary schools need is specialist emotional counsellors/therapists onsite in schools

Trauma and adverse childhood experiences take many different forms, including school bullying, bereavement, separation/divorce, alcohol/addiction issues or domestic violence.

Specialist emotional counselling and hot meals for hunger prevention in schools are two major issues for the government’s Covid pandemic impact response in education.

Successive recent Joint Oireachtas Education Committee reports on Covid response (January 2021) and on mental health and school bullying (August 2021) have given the same key recommendation to the Minister for Education and Skills, Norma Foley, namely, that emotional counselling and therapeutic supports be provided in all primary and secondary schools as an ‘urgent priority’.