Deputy Head Teacher Sanchita Chaudhary knows the powerful and transformative impact school counselling can have on children.

She’s witnessed it for herself at her school, Kingsway Primary, in Braunstone Town, Leicestershire.

She knows how it can help not only the child who accesses the counselling, but has positive consequences for their families and the school as a whole.

This Children’s Mental Health Week, Sanchita’s joined us in this video to call for the Government to invest in a counsellor in every school.

She told us how school counselling is “one of the most crucial things we can invest our time, money and effort in.”

She added: “The quicker that intervention is put in place, the longer I think the impact will be.

“It will have an impact on the child, on their current families and on their future families.

“If the Government was to invest in a counsellor for every school, it will make a massive difference to our school because we are a small school with not enough budget to fund a counsellor.”

In her role as senior leader-practitioner at Life multi-academy trust, of which the school is a part, Sanchita started working with Citizens UK, a grassroots alliance of community groups that works with ordinary people to give them a platform and a voice to campaign on important issues.

She joined forces with Citizen’s UK, who we campaign in partnership with, to call for a government-funded counsellor in every school.

England is the only country in the UK not to have this already.

And LiFE multi-academy trust, of which the school is a part, has also recognised the need for school counselling as they want the best for every child, says Sanchita. The school and its children continue to campaign for government funding.

*We have photo/video consent for all children featured in this short film.