School counselling in England campaign
Campaign news

Speaking to a school counsellor can be a transformative experience for children and young people. It can help them cope with the difficult circumstances they face in their lives - and to go on and flourish in the future.

But England is lagging behind in its provision of counselling in schools. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have statutory funded school counselling services. England does not.

We’re calling on you to help us change that.

We’ve created a template that makes it easy for you to send a letter to your local MP making the case for investment in school counselling.

The timing is critical. The Government is currently carrying out its Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), which sets the blueprint for departmental spending for the next four years. This review closes on 24 September.

Your letters will help show MPs how important school counselling is, so they urge investment in it as part of this crucial review.

Please help us ensure that children have access to this vital form of mental health support. As they face increased change and uncertainty in their lives because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s more important than ever before.

Why we need school counselling

Studies  show that school counselling can improve wellbeing and mental health, reduce levels of school exclusion and increase pupil attainment.

It’s an easily accessible, non-stigmatising and effective form of early intervention for reducing psychological distress in children and young people.

A trained counsellor gives a young person a place that is focused 100% on their needs – a safe space with no judgement to help them to understand and cope with what they’re going through.

They can have a positive effect on young people’s confidence, resilience, family relationships, friendships, school attendance and academic achievement.

The current situation

In England, Government plans to support children and young people's mental health are inadequate.

Unlike in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, school counselling rarely features in these plans. Instead:

• the NHS Long Term Plan commits to providing access to support for just an additional 345,000 children and young people by 2023-24 via NHS England’s funded mental health services
• this includes the development of new mental health support teams (MHSTs) that will work with just a fifth to a quarter of schools and colleges in England by 2023
• the £8 million investment to support the mental health of young people announced in the Budget will only scratch the surface of the issues that lie ahead. It focuses on upskilling school staff, but there is nowhere to refer students on to.

England needs to catch up with the other UK nations in the mental health support it offers children and young people – and there is no more crucial time than now to do this.

What we're doing

We believe that a paid counsellor should be available in every secondary school, academy and further education college in England.

This is a message we continually stress to politicians, commissioners, funders and education leaders.

Our proposal aims to complement existing investment by providing a cost-effective and universal, non-stigmatising early intervention.
It will help the ‘missing middle’ of young people, who do not meet the threshold for support for CAMHS but need more help than can be offered by mental health support teams.

It will help the 75 to 80% of schools not supported under this new MHST model.

Please support our campaign by using the template provided in the link above to write to your MP.