Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services: summary report – July to December 2022
- Last updated
- 8 July 2024 - see all updates
- Directorate
- Learning Directorate
- Topic
- Education
An analysis of information provided by local authorities on the school counselling service and community mental health support in their area from July to December 2022.
Due to the wide-ranging nature of the services involved in delivering support that meets the distinct needs of different communities, data may be recorded in various ways by the services. The information provided in the local authority reports and set out below reflects this, and means that subtotals and totals do not always add up to the same figure.
Access to counsellors in secondary schools
Children and young people accessing the service
In total across all returns, 13,150 children and young people were recorded as having accessed counselling services between July and December 2022.
There were more girls (64%) than boys (35%) recorded as accessing counselling provisions. 1% of young people who accessed counselling services did not identify as male/female or preferred not to specify their gender.
Where a breakdown of pupils by year group is available, the two year groups with the highest total number of service users were S3 and S4.
<P5 | P6 | P7 | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S5 | S6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
167 | 830 | 1119 | 1531 | 2192 | 2593 | 2275 | 1628 | 846 |
A small number of pupils accessing the service were not attending school or did not specify which year group they were in.
Number of school counsellors
Authorities reported 546 school counsellors in post during this period. This compares with 432 counsellors in post during the first half of 2022 and 405 counsellors in the second half of 2021. It is important to note that this figure relates to counsellor numbers rather than FTE. Between July and December 2022, authorities reported a total of 6285 hours of counselling being provided per week across the country. This compares with 5025 hours of counselling provided per week in the first half of the year.
A few authorities highlighted that they are working at capacity throughout the year and that the service is in high demand.
Outcomes
The overall picture on improving children and young people’s outcomes is positive. The returns from local authorities recognise that there are a number of pupils who are currently continuing to access counselling, and have not yet completed an evaluation. Recognising this, it is clear that 5916 children and young people have improved outcomes as a result of receiving counselling during this period.
Referrals
The majority of recorded referrals came from school staff.
Referral | Total recorded across LA reports |
---|---|
Self-referral | 1367 |
School staff | 10,781 |
Social services | 117 |
GP | 85 |
School nurse | 25 |
Health professional | 75 |
Other | 294 |
Local authorities were also asked about onward referrals. Referrals to CAMHS in this period (374) were lower than in the first half of 2022 (414) although higher than the same period in 2021 (328). There has been an increase in referrals to child protection, rising from 91 in the second half of 2021 to 104 in the first half of 2022 and 176 in the second half of 2022. Onward referrals to other services in this period (175) were higher than the first half of 2022 (143), although lower than the same period in 2021 (318).
Onward referrals | Total recorded across LA report |
---|---|
CAMHS | 374 |
Child protection | 176 |
Other services | 175 |
The onward referrals to ‘other services’ reflected the different services which are available in local authority areas, for example third sector organisations. Children and young people could also be referred on to other health services, for example GPs.
Issues presented by children and young people
There was wide variation across local authorities on the issues reported by children and young people accessing counselling services. Officials provided authorities with ten suggested categories of issues with which children and young people may present.
- exam stress
- trauma
- bereavement
- gender identity
- substance use
- self-harm
- depression
- anxiety
- emotional/behavioural difficulties
- body image
Local authorities were invited to offer further categories based on their own locality needs. A total of 63 other issues were reported, including issues such as family, relationships, self-esteem, anger, bullying and identity. A full list is included below. This again confirms that young people are dealing with a wide range of concerns within their lives, and continues to demonstrate the need for young people to be able to access support quickly and effectively for their mental health and wellbeing.
Number | Additional presenting issues | Total |
---|---|---|
1 | Family | 2994 |
2 | Self-esteem | 2612 |
3 | Relationships | 2013 |
4 | Bullying | 1021 |
5 | Anger | 977 |
6 | Stress | 687 |
7 | Suicidal ideation | 519 |
8 | Low mood | 511 |
9 | Eating disorder | 429 |
10 | Other | 311 |
11 | School refusal | 241 |
12 | Self-worth | 236 |
13 | Self-identity | 233 |
14 | Relationships with peers/teachers | 163 |
15 | Parental issues | 148 |
16 | Work/academic | 134 |
17 | Sleep issues | 130 |
18 | Social issues | 125 |
19 | Behaviour | 111 |
20 | Interpersonal/relationship | 103 |
21 | Someone else's substance use | 94 |
22 | Health | 83 |
23 | Negative coping strategies | 77 |
24 | Suicidal | 72 |
25 | Sexual orientation | 69 |
26 | Sexuality issues | 65 |
27 | Abuse | 42 |
28 | Attendance/avoidance | 29 |
29 | Social media bullying | 28 |
30 | Emotional regulation | 23 |
31 | Illness | 23 |
32 | Confidence | 22 |
33 | Welfare issues | 20 |
34 | Domestic abuse | 15 |
35 | Sexual abuse | 15 |
36 | Unwanted sexual experiences | 13 |
37 | Distress | 12 |
38 | Young carer pressure | 12 |
39 | Other people's mental health | 11 |
40 | School issues | 10 |
41 | Suicide plans/actions | 9 |
42 | Risk taking behaviour | 7 |
43 | Transition/loss | 7 |
44 | Self-regulation | 6 |
45 | Compulsive behaviours | 5 |
46 | Concentration | 4 |
47 | Difficulty engaging | 4 |
48 | Sexual trauma | 4 |
49 | Living/welfare | 3 |
50 | OCD | 3 |
51 | Cognitive learning | 2 |
52 | Loneliness | 2 |
53 | Trust | 2 |
54 | Adverse childhood experience | 1 |
55 | COVID | 1 |
56 | Finance/poverty | 1 |
57 | Isolation/loneliness | 1 |
58 | Neglect | 1 |
59 | Noise sensitivity | 1 |
60 | Online behaviour | 1 |
61 | Personality problems | 1 |
62 | Tourette's | 1 |
63 | Witnesses violence/aggression | 1 |
Presenting reasons were largely similar with previous years, other than two notable increases. Children and young people presenting with exam stress rose from 12% in the first half of 2022 to 19% in late 2022. Children and young people presenting with bereavement as an issue rose from 10% in early 2022 to 21% in late 2022. There was also a rise from 605 children and young people presenting with self-esteem as an issue in early 2022 to 2612 in the second half of 2022.
Children and young people’s community mental health and wellbeing supports and services
People accessing the supports and services
Local authorities reported that 45,523 people used the community-based supports and services during the reporting period (up from 38,342 in the previous six months), 4298 of whom were family members and carers.
51% of the service users were recorded as female and 44% as male, and 5% were recorded as having identified in another way. 56% of the service users were of secondary school age, 39% were of primary school age and under, and 5% were of post-school age.
Type of support or service accessed
72% of users accessed positive mental wellbeing services and 28% accessed emotional distress services. Positive mental wellbeing services are generally preventative supports that are self-completed or may form part of general wellbeing education, e.g. digital cognitive behavioural therapy, presentations and training. Emotional distress services are generally supports led by staff in either a one-to-one or group setting, e.g. counselling, art therapy and practitioner-facilitated support groups.
In respect of service users from at-risk groups (i.e. those known to be at higher risk of experiencing poor mental health, such as care-experienced children or LGBT+ young people), 45% accessed positive mental wellbeing services and 55% accessed emotional distress services.
Referral routes
The most common routes into the community supports and services were recorded as being by self-referral and through school staff.
Referrals in | Total |
---|---|
Self | 10,569 |
School staff | 9752 |
Health professional | 1268 |
Social work or child protection | 1083 |
Police | 986 |
Other | 951 |
Family member or carer | 774 |
Third sector partner | 240 |
CAMHS | 234 |
Youth work | 234 |
Local community group | 132 |
The table below shows that recorded onward referrals from the community supports and services were made to a range of different places.
Onward referrals | Total |
---|---|
Other | 670 |
Parenting support | 503 |
Local community group | 481 |
Third sector partner | 264 |
Social work or child protection | 237 |
Health professional | 234 |
CAMHS | 221 |
Benefits or financial advice | 212 |
Autism support | 192 |
Non-school counselling | 144 |
School counselling | 127 |
Bereavement support | 97 |
Youth work | 87 |
Young carers | 63 |
Reasons for accessing the supports and services
The most commonly recorded reasons for people using the supports and services were anxiety and family relationships or issues at home. The categories below do not reflect formal diagnoses of mental health conditions, but are the reasons given to the services as to why people have sought support. Individuals may have presented more than once and/or with a number of different concerns.
Presenting reasons | Total |
---|---|
Anxiety | 5265 |
Family relationships or issues at home | 3848 |
Emotional or behavioural difficulties | 3114 |
Self-esteem or confidence | 3004 |
Support for parents or parental mental health | 2773 |
Poverty or homelessness | 2674 |
Depression or low mood | 2622 |
Social interaction or peer relationships | 2166 |
School issues or exam stress | 1763 |
Trauma | 1745 |
Self-harm | 1435 |
Other | 1223 |
Suicidal thoughts or actions | 1145 |
Emotional literacy | 1139 |
Resilience | 1018 |
Violence, domestic abuse or sexual offences | 924 |
Neurodevelopmental, ASD or ADHD | 856 |
Isolation or loneliness | 853 |
Bereavement | 804 |
Body image or eating concerns | 789 |
Substance use by self or family | 772 |
Routine or boundaries | 711 |
Bullying, harrassment or discrimination | 706 |
Distress | 661 |
Sleep | 599 |
Anger | 580 |
Gender identity or sexuality | 521 |
Physical health | 260 |
Learning support | 250 |
Panic attacks | 128 |
Outcomes
Of the service users who were recorded as having used a positive mental wellbeing service, 10,382 (45%) said that they had an improved outcome. Of those who used an emotional distress service, 3617 (40%) said that they had an improved outcome.
Of the service users in at-risk groups who were recorded as having used a positive mental wellbeing service, 1054 (34%) said that they had an improved outcome. Of those who used an emotional distress service, 933 (24%) said that they had an improved outcome.
It should be noted that these figures are unlikely to reflect the full impact of the supports and services. In some cases, the person will still have been in receipt of support and will not have been ready to be asked about outcomes. It is also particularly challenging to assess the impact of supports that are preventative in nature, as is the case for many positive mental wellbeing services. In addition, local authorities are not obliged to report data on at-risk groups.
- First published
- 1 May 2024
- Last updated
- 8 July 2024 - show all updates
- All updates
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