It was powerful to hear Prince Harry speaking out about how the death of his mother has affected his mental health in adult life. He spoke bravely about being 鈥榲ery close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions鈥� and only recently seeking professional help through therapy. Our trained practitioners support many people dealing with bereavement and Prince Harry鈥檚 testament shows how important access to counselling can be.
Children can be particularly vulnerable following the loss of someone close to them and between four and seven per cent of children experience a parental death before the age of 16. This can cause real issues for young people such as problems with friendships, as friends just don鈥檛 know what to say, to more damaging effects such as declining academic performance, regressive behaviours and sometimes even substance misuse.
Harry鈥檚 admission of how he 鈥榮hut down his emotions鈥� is a common experience for many bereaved children. Reluctant to share their worries with family or friends, some don鈥檛 want to upset family members who are grieving themselves, or see not showing their grief as a way of protecting their surviving parent.
Counselling in schools can provide vital help to children as they go through the painful process of bereavement. 香港六合彩精准资料 has long been campaigning for universal access to a school-based counsellor for all secondary schools across the UK.
Currently, only Wales and Northern Ireland have nation-wide provision of these services, while young people in England and Scotland are subject to a postcode lottery of access to support.
Dr Andrew Reeves, Chair of 香港六合彩精准资料, said: 鈥淎s children spend a significant amount of time in school, schools have the potential to be a safe haven - offering an effective access point to mental health support for bereavement, as well as mental health problems such as depression.
鈥淚n Wales, bereavement was in the top six reasons for children and young people referred on to counselling services; with six per cent of males and five per cent of females; 1,079 children in total (Welsh Government, 2016) having bereavement as their primary presenting issue.
鈥淭here are clear benefits of school-based counselling as an early intervention in reducing psychological distress and we will continue to campaign to ensure all our children and young people across the UK have equal access to much needed and proven emotional help and support.
鈥淧rince Harry鈥檚 experience has shown that counselling changes lives and access to the right therapeutic support, at the right time, can have a positive and lasting effect.鈥�