Mental health in secondary schools

[Bigfatlie]

I have NC for this.

I am part of the pastoral team of a large secondary school, and I have noticed not just a massive decline in the mental health of young people (and their parents for that matter) but also, from my own perspective, the provision has progressively dwindled. This scares me so much.

I used to love my job and felt that it mattered as I performed a pivotal role in a child's wellbeing, road to recovery, etc. I have done this for almost 9 years with the school having provided zero training for me. Nothing at all. I have made it my business to educate myself, and this has been at my own cost and in my own time. In those 9 years I have dealt with more and more complex cases, including attempted suicides, and I still have not received any training, or support for myself for that matter.

I am not sure how much parents are aware that many of the pastoral members that look after your child's mental health are not trained at all. They're just people like you and me who probably got a lowly paid job at a school in order to work term time only.

What I am hearing now pretty much on a daily bases is parents asking school to provide interventions because their GP has said 'school will put something in place'. I don't know about other schools, but where I work, this means that very complex cases (neurodiversity, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, self harm, potential mental health disorders, etc), get shoved towards a member of the pastoral team who's meant to make a difference to that child's wellbeing, having had zero training, and having to balance the demands placed upon them from other aspects of school that get prioritised over mental health EVERY TIME: attendance, uniform, detentions, and general compliance.

I am not sure how much parents realise that schools are not always honest about the fact that they do not have qualified staff to deal with most emerging mental health difficulties. Quite often we have children joining in Year 7 with a history of mental health difficulties, and parents expect school to deploy a whole host of interventions. Whilst I believe that schools are ideally placed to deal with the mental health difficulties of our young people, this is simply not the reality because there's no funding and no training is allocated to non-teaching staff . The result is that our young people deteriorate, and the adults being paid nearly minimum wage for addressing these difficulties are on constant burnout mode, often developing mental health issues themselves.

The difficulty for parents of course is the fact that when they take their child to the GP, they learn that CAMHS' waiting list is 2 to 3 years, and then get reassured by the GP that 'school will put something in place'. Parents out there, you want to question schools as to what qualifications the person looking after your child's mental health has. What the interventions that schools put in place really mean. Their frequency, consistency, are they evidence based... Don't be fobbed off. Make sure they're not just paying lip service, because from where I am standing, that's all that's on offer right now.

I don’t think I’ve missed the point - that pretty much is my point. Counselling should not be presented as the cure-all that it sometimes is.

I don't understand why it's seen as a good idea to leave it up to schools. We don't expect schools to sort out broken limbs or infectious diseases, so why mental health?

The only reason schools should need to be involved is if the treatment means a pupil needs adjustments, in which case a medical professional should write a letter explaining this that can be given to the school. This is analogous to, perhaps, giving a pupil with a broken wrist help in a chemical practical, or sending a few links/ worksheets to a pupil who's been off ill to help them catch up.

I'm not saying this to get at schools, quite the opposite. We need to adequately deal with mental health within the health care system, not expect schools to do it. It might be practical to place a councillor in schools as that's where most young people are, but that should be someone employed by the health service, not the school. Just like it's practical to give vaccines in school, but no one expects the teachers to administer the jabs themselves (I hope!)

We seem to have a problem looking inwards so much, look at me, look at my pronouns, look at my issues, here's a selfie of me, here's a picture of my updated status....we don't do a lot of looking outwards and this is resulting in a lot of kids having all sorts of issues.

Nailed it.

@RibbonRed

Your child is able to access that due to having an EHCP. So therefore whilst I am pleased for your child it is wholly unrealistic to assume that this could happen right now in schools for every child who is suffering with their mental health.

Of course it could if there was additional funding but I’m talking about the real world here and not an alternative universe. If pigs could fly hey.

Just realised I put councillor, not counsellor. Oh well. Let's put councillors in schools too. Good for understanding of democracy among the youth.

@Tiredallofthetime

No you are missing the point. Offering counselling over NOTHING is the better option.

This is because realistically schools cannot provide anything else due to staff not being trained.

Most secondary schools don’t have the budget for a counsellor either by the way so those kids get nothing. No one here has insinuated that counselling cures everything. It’s just better than nothing I guess.

You can’t seem to wrap your head around that due to your own experience with counselling which is a shame.

All of the other approaches are not able to be delivered within schools

Other approaches can be delivered in schools. As someone with such experience in education and mental health I am surprised you aren’t aware therapy provision can be delivered in schools e.g. via EHCPs.

I acknowledged additional funding would be necessary. I did originally say they could be accessed via an EHCP. It wouldn’t be immediate and may take one or more appeals, but getting an EHCP for pupils with such significant mental health difficulties that they need therapies such SALT, OT, animal assisted therapy… is possible.

Alternative provisions and medical needs tuition don’t require EHCPs, however.

@DarkKarmaIlama I explicitly say it should be offered

It is starting to have a feel of a fly endlessly banging against a pane of glass here, tbh.

I work in schools in unusual position and from what I see they are not equipped to deal with these issues because the teachers are there to dish out discipline and education. From what I hear and read there is loads of that criticism and telling off and then loads of 'anxiety' that children feel they can vocalise now which i suppose is a step up from my 90's school days. The two positions are at odds with each other and institutions that use internal exclusion forr example can't really adequately deal with promoting harmony and good self esteem.

What about children that don't exhibit extreme mental health problems though but struggle on quietly, there is definitely a huge, vast amount of kids now that just get forgotten and have to help themselves.

@Tiredallofthetime

Yes I am certainly getting that feeling alright 🐜. Not sure if that’s a fly but it will do 😉.

So okay, we have established that a school can pay for a qualified counsellor out of their own budget that may or may not help the child (obviously, I mean I never once said that counselling was the cure all but hey Ho). Most schools do not have a qualified in house counsellor by the way which leads me on to my next question.

So, what other interventions can they provide within school taking into account their limited budgets? Like I’ve previously said. I am curious.

Well you could argue that’s just life in general.

I am not posting here with the answers, @DarkKarmaIlama . I really was saying something that (I thought) was fairly obvious and non-controversial - that counselling won’t always be effective.

This doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be offered and it doesn’t mean it is wrong to do so. It does mean that perhaps in some cases, focusing exclusively on counselling, on having access to counsellors, is perhaps misguided.

@Tiredallofthetime

Okay I am glad you agree with me in that counselling should be offered to kids.

You’ve just said it yourself you haven’t got the answers. Guess what? Schools haven’t either. That doesn’t mean they are misguided. It means they are working with limited means and resources and doing the best they can as an educational establishment. Educational being the key word.

also, in my experience, schools don't always understand what counselling is and don't always value it. I've also had people walk in on sessions, ask what was discussed in sessions, not tell me that 2 out of five students had a planned trip and weren't in school, no replies to emails etc etc etc.
Also, i've had referrals which are all about behaviour and teachers sending students to see me to work on their "problem behaviour"
The most important part of counselling is that the young person must want to attend. Being sent there because a teacher wants them to sort out their attitude or because a parent wants similar, is an exercise in futility.

No, it isn't just life as schools used to be a place for most to receive an 'education'. With the time taken up dealing with MH problems in class etc there is diminished time for that education! My year 11 has resigned to pretty much teaching himself GCSEs due to this phenomenon!

When I was younger you got told the reality of what lay ahead if you didn't try to achieve some good grades etc.i don't understand why this isn't told to some, stop being a victim and get on!

Then leave the care for thee genuine cases which of course there are!

Unfortunately many schools are the opposite - ignoring emails and phone messages when I am trying to get in contact about visiting a pupil who has been allocated for urgent support.

I've had pastoral staff and teachers barge into confidential counselling sessions - despite a sign being on the door - to use a printer or even to ask the student a question that could have waited.

Schools who simply do not produce the student when I arrive. Schools who have had me sitting waiting in reception for a child who is actually absent that day - even when I have called ahead to confirm that the student is present.

What this says to me @gorkaandhelenforthewin is not that schools don't care about your services, but they are totally the wrong place to be administering them.

It says that there is no one whose job it is to organise appointments, or to 'book in students' and to usher them into appointments. There isn't a suitable space for you to have those confidential conversations and you have been parked in someone's office which is in regular use (teachers cannot wait for printouts, for example).

And you're dashing around like a blue-arsed fly which is taking time out of your day, travelling when you could be seeing kids.

If kids need to be seen in school, then it needs to be properly resourced. But unless there's a reason you need to see them in a school setting, you should stay put and the kids should come to you.

For a start rooms that are quiet and calm don’t usually exist in secondary schools.

Examples of interventions other than counselling, to assist with varying levels of need:

Daily check in with head of year, to see how you're feeling
Mentoring either by an older student, or an external adult mentor
Anxiety support groups run by external providers in school, for a term
School accesses more specialised counselling eg bereavement.
Regular sessions with the school nurse for issues such as eating disorders.
A physical trainer cum mentor in once a week to work with small groups, often boys.

Another issue that has been touched on earlier is school refusers. How are school supposed to help these students if they never even see them?

So they should all just snap out of it, @Goldenbear ?

No, it isn't just life as schools used to be a place for most to receive an 'education'. With the time taken up dealing with MH problems in class etc there is diminished time for that education! My year 11 has resigned to pretty much teaching himself GCSEs due to this phenomenon!

Totally agree with this. Kids learn the only way to get the attention is to act out and schools have a duty of care which panders to their demands.

Some kids have truly awful lives - not once did they approach school for help because even a train counselor can do so much.

Let’s get back to schools educating our children.

FWIW - we have these agencies in school, the do a 10 minute talk on X topic and leave a worksheet - total waste of time.

@JanglyBeads a completely unrealistic wish list.

Schools can help those with EBSA by helping the parents to a) secure medical needs tuition, and b) an EHCP to secure the provision the pupil needs.