School-based Counselling Services

Wera Hobhouse Excerpts

Tuesday 9th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

Throughout this debate, we have heard time and again how important early intervention is. It is essential to a person’s proper recovery from a mental illness, and that is specifically true for children and young people suffering from an eating disorder. I speak today as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on eating disorders to highlight once more the huge problem that eating disorders pose and the big difference that early intervention can make.

Eating disorders have no single cause, but they have the highest mortality rate of all mental health disorders. I say that again: they have the highest mortality rate of all mental health disorders. Recovery lasts, on average, three times as long as the disorder itself. One third of people suffering from an eating disorder get better, one third stay the same—a life sentence in itself—and one third get worse; quite a lot of them, tragically, either die of malnutrition or take their own lives.

All too often, eating disorders can go undiagnosed and untreated. Although they do not discriminate, school-aged children are a particularly vulnerable group; most eating disorders develop during adolescence. According to data from NHS England, the number of children and young people waiting for eating disorder treatment has increased significantly in 2021 compared with previous years. In June, that figure was four times higher than at the same point in 2020. Eating disorders thrive in the shadows, where there is no social contact, and the pandemic has been particularly bad for sufferers from eating disorders.

There is much that we must do to improve outcomes for all with eating disorders. The APPG is looking into research funding, reducing waiting times and improving access to treatment, but the best possible thing we can do is to help children and young people to avoid reaching crisis point in the first place. The first point of contact for many children and young people in the UK is their school. Speaking to a counsellor can help them to cope with the different circumstances they face in their lives, within a familiar setting—yes, sometimes some of the problems our young people face are not so severe, but often they are. School is a daily contact that they have and a setting where they can access counselling.

I am not denying that other centres would be useful too, but surely we need to do more in schools. School staff are ideally placed to spot the early signs of an eating disorder, as well as the potential factors that can lead to the development of one. I have been a secondary school teacher too, and the problem is finding the time in the school day to really go into where a young person has an issue. It is that extra time and extra counselling resource that schools need.

I highlight the excellent work of the eating disorder charity Beat, which supports the APPG and runs training courses aimed at school professionals. Access to support should never be a postcode lottery, but England lags behind the rest of our family of nations, where school counselling services have statutory funding. Research shows that as few as 48% of schools provide on-site access to a counsellor, with a growing divide between affluent and more deprived communities. School counsellors can provide that crucial missing middle between the lower-level intervention traditionally provided in schools and specialist children’s and young people’s mental health services.

Many leading mental health charities have got behind the campaign for a counsellor in every school in England, and I urge the Minister to support that call. Access to counselling should not just be for the schools and families that have the budget to fund this essential provision. I know that every school in Bath is committed not only to our children’s education, but to their wellbeing. They must be given the additional funding that they need to offer sustainable counselling provision as part of the wider mental health support package available to students. I repeat what many Members from across the House have said: this is the biggest issue that school leaders come to us with—they say that when I go into schools to talk to them. They want more mental health support for their young people.

There is no easy solution on the issue of mental health, but we cannot afford to cut corners, especially on the mental wellbeing of children and young people. We need a multifaceted approach that recognises the value of our schools, community services and society as a whole. Let me say again to the Minister: please pay attention to eating disorders, as they have reached epidemic levels and we need to do something about them.

--- Later in debate ---

[Will Quince]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. In response to the right hon. Gentleman, I am responding to what the Government are doing on the issues that have been raised.

As I mentioned, another important part of the whole school approach is ensuring that all pupils understand how to promote their own mental health and wellbeing. We must ensure that they have the knowledge and confidence to seek additional support when it is needed. That is why we made health education compulsory for pupils receiving primary and secondary education, alongside relationships education in all primary schools, and relationships and sex education in all secondary schools. Through these new subjects, all children will be taught about mental health, including how to recognise and manage any wellbeing issues. We have published a support package for schools to ensure that teachers have the confidence to deliver the subjects, specifically including the content on mental health and wellbeing.

Let me turn to the mental health support teams, which have been referenced by numerous Members across the Chamber. Although schools have an important role to play, teachers are not mental health professionals and they should not be expected to act as such. Where more serious problems occur, schools should expect the pupil and their family to be able to access support from specialist children and young people’s mental health services, voluntary organisations and local GP practices.

[Wera Hobhouse]

I have been encouraged by Madam Deputy Speaker to intervene. The point that Opposition Members are trying to make is that schools need to have in-house support, rather than just signposting to outside support. We would like to hear what the Minister has to say about that.

[Will Quince]

The mental health support teams are exactly that. Let me also respond in passing to the hon. Lady’s point about eating disorders. I am very much alive to that issue, and would be happy to meet her to discuss it at length. It certainly concerns me, as I know it concerns our colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care.

We mentioned support in schools. The new mental health support teams are really important in this regard. The teams comprise newly-trained education mental health practitioners—an entirely new role—as well as more senior clinicians and therapists. They work alongside provisions such as counselling services to help to ensure that children and young people get the support that they need. They support staff in schools and colleges to develop their whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing, provide early intervention for those experiencing mild to moderate issues, and liaise with external specialist services where additional support is needed, which it sometimes is.