Closed petition Make a paid counsellor available for all students in every secondary school

Closed on 3 March 2019

Adolescents aged 11-19 attend secondary school. Ages that bring their own personal, intimate difficulties and ups & downs. They are finding it harder mental health problems. There are many more school nurses on site than counsellors.

Figures suggest 20% of adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any given year, that 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 with 75% established by age 24. In 2004 10% of children and young people aged 5-16 years had a clinically diagnosable mental health problem; yet in 2008 one study suggested 70% of children & adolescents who experienced mental health problems had not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age. It is thought 13% of adolescents try to self harm between ages 11-16. Figures in 2014 suggested a 70% increase in A&E admissions for self-harm over the previous two years.