My Department is committed to supporting the emotional wellbeing of our children and young people. In 2023 my department launched two landmark initiatives, one to one counselling provision for children in all primary schools in Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary and access to an Education Wellbeing Practitioner, a new type of in-school support in selected schools in Carlow, Cork, Dublin 7 and Dublin 16. As the Deputy will be aware, this Pilot sees direct counselling supports being provided to children in their primary school for the first time. These initiatives are being provided in addition to the other wellbeing and mental health supports provided by the Department and its agencies.
In October 2024, my Department announced the extension of the Pilot to 61 urban DEIS primary schools in Tallaght, Clondalkin, Finglas, Ballymun and Darndale. The schools included in the pilot were identified by my department as supporting children from areas with some of the highest levels of disadvantage in the State. I also recently announced the extension of this counselling provision to 102 primary schools in the DEIS Plus scheme. The 102 primary and 27 post primary schools in the scheme will have access to the support of an Education Wellbeing Practitioner.
It should be noted that the provision of child and adolescent mental health services lies within the remit of the Department of Health and the HSE. The counselling service provided through the Pilot Programme is designed as an interim, early-intervention support for children with mild to moderate mental health needs. It is not intended to replace the role of the psychologist from NEPS or services provided by HSE Primary Care Psychology or CAMHS, but rather to complement and enhance the existing supports available to children and families. The pilot operates on the clear understanding that children who are attending HSE Primary Care Psychology or CAMHS should continue to engage with those services. Similarly, children who are awaiting assessment or intervention through HSE services should remain on those waiting lists. The CPS-P is designed as a supplementary support and not as a substitute for clinical assessment, diagnosis or long-term therapeutic intervention. Where a child presents with needs that require ongoing or specialist intervention, appropriate referral pathways through HSE services remain available and should be pursued.
It should be noted, primary school teachers are not providing counselling sessions in this pilot. The counselling supports are being provided to children by private counsellors. Counsellors must have a recognised qualification at Level 7 (primary degree) or higher in a relevant human science as well as an accredited qualification in counselling or psychotherapy or hold a professional accredited qualification in the area of child and adolescent counselling. They must also have supervised experience of providing counselling for children and be an accredited member of one of the following professional bodies: the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI); Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP); Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP); Irish Association of Psychotherapy and Play Therapy (IAPTP); Association of Child Art Psychotherapists (ACAP); or one of the ten accrediting psychotherapy bodies within the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP).
The Department of Education and Youth has established panels of pre-approved private counsellors to provide this one-to-one counselling to children in the pilot primary schools. Accepting accredited counsellors from these bodies for placement on the panels ensures that;
• the high level of governance and quality that is required for this landmark project is achieved particularly in view of the highly sensitive nature of providing counselling for children.
• that the counsellors have appropriate training, skills and competencies to engage ethically, professionally and effectively with this age group.
• that the counsellors operate and adhere to the Code of Ethics of their relevant accrediting body
Under the Terms and Conditions of the pilot, the private counsellors are paid €80 per session. In order to ensure that counsellors were travelling to small, rural schools the department introduced a change in fee structure from €80 to €100 per session for counsellors who work for 40% of their time in rural schools.
The change in fee structure was welcomed by counsellors and schools and resulted in an increase in the number of counsellors willing to travel to smaller, rural schools. This payment is to include their travel and subsistence expenses in addition to the session fee. For counsellors who only wish to work in urban schools, they receive €80 per session. As the counsellors are sole traders they do not have a designated place of the work from the department’s perspective which is required in order to pay travel and subsistence, which relates to how far an employee is from their designated place of work.
There are currently 44 counsellors on the panel for the 7 pilot counties and 11 counsellors on the panel in the Dublin DEIS expansion areas. NEPS have undertaken significant work to secure counsellors for this important work. NEPS operate a rolling application process for counsellors and process applications as quickly as possible. This includes meeting of the vetting committee; processing garda clearance and checking of references. NEPS engages with the accrediting organisations on an ongoing basis in an effort to encourage their members to apply. NEPS went out to tender for an external service provider to augment the panel of counsellors. Following a competitive tendering process, Cpl Healthcare, were the successful bidder and since February 2025 have overseen extensive recruitment campaigns to secure additional counsellors for this pilot.
