We believe the Government's plans to support children and young people's mental health in England are inadequate, and that all secondary schools and colleges should be required to have a full-time counsellor on staff. This is particularly important given rates of mental health issues and suicide.
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The UK Gov has committed funding to the NHS Long Term Plan to provide additional support for children and young people by 2023-24, including developing mental health support teams with £79 million for training psychological well-being practitioners. The teams will still only work with around 1/3 of pupils in England by 2023, and are currently only in certain geographical areas.
In a survey by BACP and You Gov (2022), 82% of parents with children aged 4-17 believe counselling/psychotherapy should be freely available to all school children.
We believe not having a dedicated mental health professional in every secondary school academy and FE college in England risks exacerbating mental health issues facing young people.