Minister Foley announces funding for wellbeing and mental health supports in post-primary schools
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From: Department of Education
- Published on: 3 April 2024
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
Minister for Education Norma Foley has announced she will publish a tender in the coming days to procure services to further support wellbeing and mental health in post-primary schools.
The tender will invite suitable providers to work closely with the Department of Education over a two/three-year period to develop and deliver additional supports to complement existing systems and structures in post-primary schools for wellbeing and mental health.
Minister Foley said:
"I am pleased to announce that funding has been made available to enhance the existing wellbeing and mental health supports in our post-primary schools. We know that young people learn more effectively and have better academic outcomes if they are happy in their work and feel acknowledged and supported in school. The demand for responsive services to support the mental health of children and young people is increasing, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and reported associated heightened levels of anxiety.
“The services sought through this tender will target students, parents and school staff and see post-primary schools benefit from the provision of additional, readily-accessible support to enhance Student Support Team capacity. This will build on the good work already happening in schools to enhance wellbeing and mental health and will complement existing supports provided through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), Oide and other services and agencies.
“I would strongly encourage service providers with experience of delivering high-quality mental health supports on a national level to young people of school-going age to apply when this tender issues in the coming days.”
Notes
Services sought in the tender
The Department of Education, through NEPS, wishes to enhance the support already being provided to post-primary schools to strengthen supports and resources available to Student Support Teams to enhance the wellbeing and mental health of young people in the school community.
The department will be seeking proposals from service providers for the development and delivery of additional supports to complement existing supports and structures in post-primary schools. The resources and supports developed will support students, parents and school staff.
The service provider in relation to students will be asked to:
- enhance the capacity of Student Support Teams to actively seek and respond to the voice of young people in relation to wellbeing and mental health in schools
- provide learning opportunities for students that promote mental health and wellbeing
The service provider in relation to parents will be asked to:
- enhance parent/carer involvement in wellbeing school initiatives and engagement in promoting wellbeing and mental health in the school community
- enhance Student Support Teams to actively seek and respond to the voice of parent/ guardian in relation to wellbeing and mental health in schools
- provide psychoeducation on the promotion of wellbeing/mental health for parents via the provision of parent workshops/e-Learning opportunities
The service provider in relation to school staff will be asked to:
- build capacity of staff to promote whole school approaches to wellbeing and mental health awareness
- enhance training and support for Student Support Teams to raise awareness of positive mental health and wellbeing
- provide e-learning opportunities for staff on mental health and wellbeing promotion
- provide wellbeing and self-care workshops for school staff
It is anticipated that the tender will open in early April with contract awarded and work commencing by July.
Counselling in Primary Schools
In addition, the department has also established the Counselling in Primary Schools – Pilot (CPS-P) to enhance support for wellbeing/mental health at the primary school level.
For the first time the provision of direct counselling and wellbeing supports in almost 650 primary schools is available. This complements the excellent work that schools already undertake in respect of wellbeing, as well as other services provided by the state, such as the National Educational Psychologists Service and by the HSE.
The Pilot includes two Strands. Strand 1 is the provision of one-to-one counselling to support a small number of children in all primary schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary. Strand 2 of the pilot is the establishment of a new type of support to schools from Education Wellbeing Teams and the introduction of Education Wellbeing Practitioners to support clusters of schools in Cork, Carlow, Dublin 7 and Dublin 16.