481. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will provide details on specialist supports available to teachers in County Offaly for handling complex pupil needs related to drug awareness and mental health; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7545/26]

Hildegarde Naughton, Minister for Education and Youth: The area of wellbeing and the promotion of positive mental health is a priority for the Department of Education and Youth. This includes promoting emotional wellbeing and resilience and positive coping skills, which support children and young people to manage the complexities of modern life

The department’s approach to supporting wellbeing and mental health is set out in its Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice which can be found at the following link Wellbeing in education (www.gov.ie) and informs the department’s extensive and ongoing work in the area of student wellbeing. The departments approach is founded on research and best international practice of how schools can best support the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. The approach proposed is a whole school and preventative approach which has multiple components that include:

- Providing children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencie

- Providing children and young people with opportunities to experience supportive relationships within the school setting and to learn through those relationships

- Providing children and young people with opportunities to be part of a school environment and culture that feels both physically and psychologically safe

- Schools are encouraged to develop policies that create an environment in which children and young people feel a sense of belonging and connectedness, in which they feel their voice is heard, and they feel supported.

- Schools are encouraged to use a reflective, school self-evaluation approach to identify and prioritise the needs of its own school community in relation to the promotion of wellbeing and mental health, and to respond to meeting those needs.

A dedicated wellbeing portal has been developed and is now available, bringing together all the wellbeing supports and resources that have been developed by the Department and the Department’s support services, which are available to view[ here] on gov.ie - Wellbeing in education.

Policy implementation responsibility is coordinated by the Wellbeing Office which is situated within the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).

The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary and special schools. The NEPS service provides access for all schools to: 

- Psychological support in the event of a Critical Inciden

- A Casework Service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA).

- A school staff Support and Development Service, to build school capability to provide a comprehensive continuum of support in schools and

- Ongoing access to advice and support for schools.

- NEPS teams offer training and guidance for teachers in the provision of universal and targeted evidence-informed approaches and early intervention to promote children’s wellbeing, social, emotional and academic development.

The following programmes of support are available to schools by NEPS nationally

- FRIENDS Resilience: The evidence-based anxiety prevention and resilience building programmes for all schools available online with implementation supported online or through in person cluster supports meetings.

- Student Support Teams: Training and in school implementation support for post primary schools to review and develop their systems to support the wellbeing and welfare of all students

- Trauma Informed Practice: ‘Introducing a Trauma Informed Approach, the Stress Factor: Getting the Balance Right’ e learning and live webinars to all teachers.

- Responding to Critical Incidents eLearning Course: NEPS continue the roll out of critical incident training to all schools via an eLearning platform.

- Embracing Diversity includes looking at cultural and linguistic diversity, promoting inclusive practice in education, key psychological constructs such as bias, stereotyping and intersectionality, inclusive language and examples of good practice in schools. Support is available through webinars.

- Welcome to our school: addresses how to support children and young people from international backgrounds, adopt key psychosocial principles (the Hobfoll principles) effective at addressing the wellbeing needs of those impacted by a traumatic event. [NEPS welcome to our schools]

- Reluctant School Attendance and school avoidance behaviours: Resources and webinars on how to support children and young people who display reluctant attendance and school avoidance behaviour.

At post-primary level students have access to guidance counselling which may be provided on an individual or group basis as part of a developmental learning process, at moments of personal crisis and at key transition points, such as transitioning to further education or employment Guidance.

Also at post primary a Student Support Team is a student-focused mechanism put in place by a school in order to co-ordinate the support available for students in the school and to facilitate links to the community and other non-school support services.

Jigsaw, in partnership with the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS)/Department of Education & Youth, provides a comprehensive suite of mental health and wellbeing resources, training and programmes for post-primary schools through Neart. Neart supports schools to provide learning opportunities for students to promote mental health and wellbeing, as well as mental health webinars and eLearning courses for school staff, Student Support Teams and parents. A full outline of all Neart supports and resources on offer for the 2025/26 academic year is available here Neart Programme Areas 2025-2026.

In 2021, under the National Drug and Alcohol Strategy Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery 2017-2025, the Department of Education and Youth, in conjunction with the national network of drug and alcohol task forces, developed and circulated an information resource for schools, providing information on the supports taskforces can provide to schools, students and parents to prevent and respond to drug and alcohol use.

The information was provided to assist schools in tackling and responding to drug and alcohol related issues as they arise in schools and also in supporting prevention education on substance misuse

Working with the task forces, the department reviewed and updated the leaflet which was reissued to all schools in May 2025.

The leaflet includes information on a number of programmes and online resources relating to drug and alcohol use that may be helpful for schools and parents as well as the range of supports task forces can provide to schools. It also includes the contact details for task forces throughout the country.

Schools were encouraged to share the resource widely with teachers, particularly SPHE teachers and co-ordinators, parents and the wider school community.

Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) is a key part of the Primary and Post-Primary curriculum, in Irish schools. SPHE provides vital opportunities for the development of children’s wellbeing in the physical, social, emotional and intellectual domains.

Some learning objectives of the updated Primary Wellbeing curriculum, which incorporates SPHE, include that children should be able to recognise and describe a range of common emotions and feelings, to develop empathetic skills and to apply regulation skills to manage emotions. Children also learn to understand ways that physical activity, outdoor experiences, food, hygiene, sleep, rest and relaxation can impact wellbeing.

The updated Junior Cycle specification provides clear direction on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that all students should gain during the 3 years of junior cycle SPHE. It places a strong focus on the development of important life skills that young people need growing up in a fast changing and complex world. The SPHE specification is grounded in values of respect, equality, inclusivity, responsibility, dignity, compassion and empathy.

The Making Healthy Choices learning outcomes include that students should be able to ‘consider the multifaceted nature of health and wellbeing, and evaluate what being healthy might look like for different adolescents’, to ‘discuss societal, cultural and economic influences affecting young people when it comes to making healthy choices about smoking, alcohol and other addictive substances and behaviours (including gaming, gambling and social media addictions)’, and to ‘demonstrate skills and strategies to help make informed choices that support health and wellbeing and apply them in real-life situations that may be stressful and/or involve difficult peer situations’.

The updated Senior Cycle SPHE specification provides an opportunity for students to extend their health literacy skills, as they learn how to access, understand, appraise and use information and services related to health and wellbeing and build their confidence to communicate and act upon this information.

Some of the learning outcomes of Senior Cycle SPHE specification include that students should be able to explore the factors that influence mental health and wellbeing, including the influence of family, peers, societal attitudes, media, technology, alcohol and drugs, and one’s sense of self; recognise unhelpful thinking patterns and negative self-talk, as well as the signs and symptoms of low mood, stress and anxiety in themselves and others, and recognise when help should be sought, where to go and how to access help if needed.

The Department’s Wellbeing Office has initiated a Policy and Implementation Plan Review to plan for the next school wellbeing strategy. A broader stakeholder engagement process will take place to consult on a successor Wellbeing in Education Policy and Implementation Plan which will inform the priorities when we produce an updated strategy incorporating the continued, adapted, or new areas of agreed focus in educational wellbeing. Department officials will advertise this review on gov.ie and will communicate with stakeholders in coming months to include them in the consultation process, that will lead to the new Wellbeing Policy and Implementation Plan going forward.