APPG — 22nd May 2023
The meeting discussed mental health issues in young people and how they affect their education. It was chaired by Gateshead MP and member of the Education Select Committee Ian Mearns. It featured several guest speakers including:
- Suzanne Alderson, the founder of Parenting Mental Health
- Simon Mason from Citizens UK, Jo Holmes from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and John Hall from the teaching union NASUWT who made a joint presentation about Citizens UK’s campaign for the provision of school-based counselling in English schools and further education colleges
- Louisa Rose, CEO, and her colleague Louise Lyons-Appiah, who spoke about the work of the charity Beyond
- Warren Earl, Parentkind’s Evidence and Research Manager
Parenting Mental Health
Suzanne Alderson shared her personal experience of starting the charity Parenting Mental Health after she had to stop working in order to support her daughter through a mental health crisis after she became suicidal. She emphasised the important role that parents play in supporting their children’s mental health, but also drew attention to the challenges parents face in accessing appropriate care for their child when mental health issues present. Alderson also discussed the impact of social media on young people’s mental health and stressed the need for collaboration between parents and schools. She addressed the problem of a one-size-fits-all approach to mental health support, as well as the issue of parents being fined for their child’s non-attendance at school when the family may not be able to get their struggling child into the school environment.
Citizens UK
Simon Mason, representing Citizens UK, spoke about their year-long Citizens Commission on mental health in the North East that led to them formalising their national campaign. The Commission engaged in conversations with young people in schools and colleges and received testimonies about the challenges they face in accessing mental health support. Mason advocated for school-based counselling programmes to ensure that every student has access to quality counselling in their school or college.
Jo Holmes from BACP, which is a national ally supporting Citizens UK’s campaign, discussed the organisation’s decade-long campaign for additional funding for school and college-based counselling provision. She highlighted the potential additional capacity of BACP members to work with more young people in schools and emphasised the benefits of counselling in schools over other forms of intervention, such as reducing psychological distress and improving the self-esteem in children.
John Hall from NASUWT, another national ally supporting Citizens UK’s campaign, expressed concern about teachers being burdened with roles beyond teaching, such as acting as social workers and counsellors. NASUWT aims to provide free CPD training to teachers to become mental health first aiders.
Beyond
Louisa Rose and Louise Lyons-Appiah from Beyond shared their personal experiences that led them to dedicate themselves to improving mental health outcomes for young people. They discussed the work of Beyond. The charity makes a difference to young people’s mental health and hosts the only annual mental health festival for schools and colleges. It also provides help and resources to parents and their children. They outlined the need for better collaboration between systems to prevent youth suicide, highlighting the alarmingly high suicide rates among young people, as well as the increasing prevalence of mental health conditions.
Parentkind
Parentkind’s Evidence and Research Manager presented a summary of findings from the recently-published Mental Heath and Wellbeing in Education report. He cited the Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) mental health and wellbeing briefing in November 2022 that found that 44% of 16/17-year-olds in England were above the threshold of ‘probable mental ill health’. This was significantly higher than previous study cohorts over the last 15 years. He went on to say that the COSMO study also found that young people with a parent who had high psychological distress were more likely to themselves report high distress (44%) than those who did not (30%). Parentkind’s research has shown an upward trend in mental health issues in young people, and they are manifesting at fairly young ages. These include the pressure to constantly engage with social media (11), depression (12), self-harm (12), exam stress (13), anxiety (11) and bullying (10). He concluded that early intervention would be beneficial, and that whilst parents aren’t unified behind one single answer, they are calling out for better support across the board.
Overall, the meeting focused on the importance of parental involvement, access to counselling in schools, and the need for collaboration between different stakeholders to address mental health challenges in education. Chair Ian Mearns noted that all speakers’ presentations were unified around the impact of mental health issues on students and the urgency of providing adequate support to address a growing problem and invest in the well-being of young people. The following day he cited a statistic about the rates of suicide among children in a question directed at the Children’s Minister who was facing questions from the Education Select Committee.
Find out more about Parentkind’s support for Citizens UK’s campaign for the statutory provision of school-based counselling in English schools and further education colleges.
