Can We Talk: Teachers overwhelmed with student mental health issues

Almost 90 students attempted suicide on school grounds in 2019, with hundreds of other incidents of self-harm, as teachers become overwhelmed with cries for help.

Teachers are being swamped with cries for help from suicidal students, with more than two suicide attempts a week on school grounds each term.

In 2019 there were 88 suicide attempts on school grounds across the state, according to NSW Department of Education, with 215 incidents of self harm and 196 reports of students with suicidal intentions during the four 10-week terms.

Alongside the mention of teachers in almost every incident, there were 42 direct mentions of the school counsellor.

The incident reports — which private schools are not required to make public despite receiving taxpayer funding — mention kids harming their wrists in the playground, being taken to hospital via ambulance and having an “anxiety episode in the classroom”.

There were also reports of “student discloses to another student she felt suicidal”, “students in distress indicating self-harm and helplessness”, “two students found to be self-harming on school grounds” and a “student was found to have both arms bandaged”.

Professor Ian Hickie says teachers are very important people in the lives of children.

There were also a number of reports detailing schools going into lockdown.

“Teachers are often the most trusted person outside the family that young people can turn to,” Brain and Mind Centre policy co-director and psychiatrist Professor Ian Hickie said.

“They are important people in children’s lives and they need to be supported both within the school and also with services outside of the school.

“But these figures are just the tip of the iceberg.

“Historically there was a tendency to say that children’s distress will just go away.

“All the evidence is saying that this situation is incredibly problematic and will not just disappear.”

There were no completed suicides on school grounds in 2019 or 2020.

NSW Health data reveals there were 30 suspected suicides of under-18s in 2020, one less than in 2019.

This is despite the overall number of suicides dropping in NSW from 943 to 896 over the same period.

“The Berejiklian Government knows youth suicide is a massive issue, it knows students are self-harming and it knows there aren’t enough school counsellors,” NSW Labor education spokeswoman Prue Carr said.

“School counsellors can be the lifeline for students when they need it most, but there’s still not enough. What more will it take for Gladys Berejiklian to act?”

Labor education spokeswoman Prue Car says there are not enough school counsellors.

The Sunday Telegraph’s Can We Talk campaign is calling on the state government to provide one counsellor for every 500 students, a ratio that former education minister Rob Stokes agreed to in 2018 but the government has never reached.

The ratio remains around 1:750.

“Our NSW public schools have some of the best suicide support programs in the country,” Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said.

“All of our schools care deeply about their students and support them through a range of initiatives, partnerships, and community youth mental health programs.

“We take a holistic approach to our support for students. We have invested $290 million to support students’ wellbeing and mental health at school.

“We have over 2000 staff providing wellbeing support to schools, including school counsellors, school psychologists, student support officers, behaviour specialists and wellbeing health in-reach nurse co-ordinators.”

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