Our campaign for a paid counsellor in every secondary school, academy and FE college in England has received the backing of the Chair of the Commons Education Select Committee.

Harlow MP Robert Halfon has called on the government to 鈥渞ocket-boost鈥� it鈥檚 mental health proposals with a counsellor in every school.

Rocket boost

Mr Halfon said: 鈥淚f we are really serious about tackling the mental health crisis, the government needs to rocket-boost their existing proposals and station mental health counsellors in every school, available online and in person.鈥�

Steve Mulligan, our Four Nations Lead, welcomed Mr Halfon鈥檚 comments.

He said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e very pleased to receive such a positive endorsement from Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP, 聽who is a longstanding advocate of the need for greater investment in counselling.

鈥淩obert has spent much of his parliamentary career campaigning for the mental health of children and young people, 聽proactively championing local counselling services in his constituency, and also in his current role as the chair of the Commons Education Select Committee and in his previous role as UK Skills Minister.

Children and young people

鈥淢ost recently, he鈥檚 been the leading voice in Parliament in calling on Government to urgently tackle the extreme detrimental impact of lockdown on the long-term development of children and young people, particularly to address the psychological impact of the pandemic.

鈥淲e鈥檙e very grateful for his support.鈥�

We鈥檙e campaigning for a paid counsellor聽to be available in every secondary school, academy and FE college in England.

It would bring England into line with the other nations of the UK, which have a commitment to funded school counselling services.

The latest stage of the campaign is a call for the government to set up an emergency resilience fund for schools and colleges to pay for vital counselling support now.

School counselling campaign

Our children and young people need access to counselling now as they face increased change and uncertainty in their lives because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government plans to support children and young people鈥檚 mental health are inadequate and will not reach them in time to respond to their current needs.

This is why we鈥檙e calling for an emergency resilience fund to help head teachers and college principals access additional funding to pay for vital counselling provision now.

We鈥檙e asking our members, organisations and the public to support our campaign by signing our petition.

We鈥檒l share our support for this petition with the newly-appointed Children鈥檚 Commissioner for England, Rachel De Souza, who supports the call for a counsellor in every school, and with Dr Alex George, the new Youth Mental Health Ambassador.

Find out more and聽