Mount Clear College school captain Peter Davies regularly sees his peers struggling with mental health issues.
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“The big one is probably depression. A lot goes on in schools, not just school work itself, and teens have a lot of drama. It gets to students and school on top of that can eat away from them. It’s really hard to see. Sometimes you see it in peers and don’t know what to do.”
It’s a story echoed at schools across the state, and the reason why the state government has announced a $51.2 million program to support mental health in secondary schools.
“A lot of students don’t seek help when they need it. They just try and hide it away but if they see there’s more options and better options, they might speak out and get their problems fixed,” Peter said.
Minister for Regional Development Jaala Pulford was at Mount Clear College on Thursday to announce the Mental Health in Schools program.
“In a 2016 report, the incidence of psychological distress among year eight students was 20 per cent, and 26 per cent in year 11. That’s a really large number of young people who have got so much going on with their health and their mental health that doing the best they can at school is going to be just that much harder than we would like it to be,” Ms Pulford said.
The funding will provide the equivalent of 385,000 counselling hours for secondary students, but schools will be able to decide the best way to use the funds to support their students.
A lot of students don’t seek help when they need it. They just try and hide it away but if they see there’s more options and better options, they might speak out and get their problems fixed.
- Mount Clear College captain Peter Davies
The program will allow schools employ more than 190 qualified mental health professionals such as counsellors, youth workers or psychologists and every school will receive between one and five days a week of support from a mental health professional.
The Labor Government will also partner with the Orygen National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health to promote student wellbeing within secondary schools.
“Our students in secondary schools right across the state are going to have better mental health support than ever had before,” Ms Pulford said. “This will create better schools and better health and wellbeing for them and is an investment not just in their school years but their entire lifetime.”
One in seven Victorians between the ages of four and 17 are estimated to have a mental health issue, with prevalence higher in secondary school.
Mount Clear College acting principal David Stuchbery said the school had a visiting psychologist and two full-time counsellors supporting its students in addition to an extensive wellbeing program.
He said anxiety was a big problem among teens, and welcomed the government announcement of more support for schools supporting students with mental health issues.
”Anxiety is a fairly common experience for students and it’s really important schools have support mechanisms there to assist them through a variety of different reasons for their experience with anxiety.
“The issues students are experiencing are right across the year and can come from outside school and from school-based assessments. This is really about schools being proactive and providing students with skills to cope with these every day stresses before they become a major issue.”
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