Drop in student school counsellor numbers sparks call for more help for teens

Counsellor number in NSW schools have dipped sparking calls to improve the mental health response in the state’s schools. See the school list

The number of school counsellors employed in NSW schools has gone down despite spiralling mental health problems and government promises to increase resources.

Dual-qualified counsellors, who have a psychology and teaching degree, fell from 825 in 2019 to 800 in 2020.

While the state government claimed in NSW Budget Estimates that the reduction was due to counsellors still in training not being included in calculations, school experts say resourcing in schools still remain “incredibly disappointing”.

New figures have also highlighted the lack of counsellors in southwest Sydney and regional locations, where one counsellor can work across six or more schools.

There were 30 suspected suicides of under-18s in 2020, according to NSW Health.

“When a child is in crisis they do not get to pick which day they have that crisis – it just happens,” NSW Secondary Principals’ Council president Craig Petersen said.

“In regional areas everybody knows everybody, and so when you have an event like a flood or a bushfire it impacts multiple schools in the same area.”

School counsellor numbers are decreasing in NSW. Picture: Generic image

Mr Petersen represents one of 20 organisations or individual mental health experts supporting The Sunday Telegraph’s Can We Talk campaign.

We are calling for the state government to employ one counsellor for every 500 students.

The current ratio is one for every 725 students.

The number of teachers enrolled in the school counsellor in training sponsorship program has also gone backwards, from 131 in 2020 to 76 in 2021.

This includes teachers currently enrolled in either the Master of Professional Practice (School Psychology) program or Master of Professional Psychology (School Psychology) program, as well as teachers completing undergraduate psychology studies prior to starting the school counsellor in training program.

Past president of the NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations, Sharryn Brownlee, said school counsellors “save lives yet cries for help are going unanswered”.

“The best place to support children is at the schools they attend during the times that they are there,” she said.

“Areas that are already struggling with disadvantage – whether it be JobKeeper, language barriers or employment – have now got this double whammy of not having enough school counsellors for children who need it.”

Sharryn Brownlee said counsellors were needed to help teens in schools.

NSW Secondary Principals’ Council president Craig Petersen.

Both Ms Brownlee and Mr Petersen said when counsellors go on maternity or long-service leave, there is little or no provision to fill those temporary positions.

Isolated Childrens and Parents Association health and wellbeing spokeswoman Bree Wakefield sat on the recruitment panel for senior psychologists who will provide teleconferencing to kids in remote areas of the state.

She said the state government has recruited four people for these positions – with another eight due by July – but added “we still need significantly more”.

“The service will go some way to filling the gap but it won’t necessarily allow for that face-to-face interaction with school counsellors that kids need.”

A Department of Education spokeswoman said “as part of the NSW Government’s $88.4 million commitment for mental health and wellbeing support, an additional 100 school counselling positions have been funded so that every high school will have a full-time school counselling allocation by June 2023”.

“School counsellor ratios have been reducing since the mental health commitment, and will continue to reduce as we rollout the 100 additional counsellors by 2023,” she said.

“In 2015, a Stakeholder Advisory Group comprising education, parent and union representatives, guided and supported a statewide methodology for allocating school counselling resources.

“The 2019-2021 allocations for schools have been determined using the methodology agreed by the Stakeholder Advisory Group.

“The Department will be reviewing the methodology for allocating school counselling resources this year.”

Originally published as Drop in student school counsellor numbers sparks call for more help for teens