The Central Coast Council of P & Cs has backed calls from the State Opposition for more counsellors to be provided for NSW schools as students struggle to cope with the impacts of COVID-19.
Shadow Minister for Mental Health Tara Moriarty said youth suicide rates were the highest they have been for 15 years and that two counsellors for every public school in the state had been promised in the lead-up to the 2019 election.
But questions on notice revealed that no additional school counsellors have been placed in schools to assist students with mental health over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
“This is an enormously stressful and confusing time for young people,” Moriarty said.
“The need for frontline mental health services for young people is desperate.
“The Government cannot keep dragging its feet.
“Lives depend on these services.”
Central Coast Council of P & Cs President, Sharryn Brownlee, said the NSW government has the responsibility of guaranteeing students’ needs are met with the appropriately trained teachers and support staff including school counsellors.
“As the incidence of emotional disturbances, stress and anxiety among students is increasing, we are again pressing for the expansion of psychological/psychiatric counselling and early remedial services in schools,” Brownlee said.
“The youth suicide rate is unacceptable and there are ways to help prevent incidences.
“More needs to be done and promises must be kept.”
Brownlee said about one in five young Australians suffer from mental illnesses including anxiety, depressive disorders, anorexia, and bulimia.
“These young people are at increased risk of dropping out of school, becoming homeless or ending up in the justice system,” she said.
“They are five times more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol and more likely to harm or kill themselves.
“Children’s mental health must be a priority.
“Funds and staff need to be in schools where children, by law, must attend every day.
“They need access to trusted school counsellors who are available to them when the need arises.
“It is not acceptable they have to wait for weeks in some cases when help is need straight away.
“The needs of school students will be best served by properly integrated and expanded school counsellor services.
“Such services must have adequate ratios to achieve the support and save lives of children and young people.
“It is a shocking failure of ‘duty of care’ to vulnerable students to still have under resourced counsellor team spread thinly across a number of schools, when all the evidence shows in school support is the safety net that saves lives.”
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, said he was advised that, on the Central Coast, every single public school currently has a school counsellor in place.
“Furthermore, the Central Coast Local Health District has employed three staff whose roles are to provide dedicated mental health support for children, young people and school communities,” Crouch said.
Terry Collins