School leaders lack time to ensure counselling is of high quality

According to a review of children and young people’s mental health services by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), school leaders feel they lack the time to ensure that school counselling services are of high quality.

The report found that 70 per cent of secondary schools and 52 per cent of primary schools in England currently offer counselling services.

However, the review noted that while in-school counselling can be effective, pupils and parents stated that some staff in schools were not adequately trained in order to help with mental health needs.

The CQC have said that many teachers stated they did not feel prepared to manage mental health problems and heavy workloads were cited as being in the way of providing proper support for pupils.

Pupils that took part in the research said they wanted their school to offer more information about mental health earlier in their education and has called for schools to help change the stigma associated with mental health problems by improving the understanding of teachers and other pupils.