A new report that says schools should have at least one counsellor for every 400 students has prompted educators nationwide to urge the Government to increase its funding of wellbeing in schools.
Around 80% of schools report increased student demand for counsellors. News that two Auckland school principals hired counsellors specifically to tackle online harm issues illustrates this. The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) says half of 15 to 24-year-olds experience anxiety or depression.
“Three-quarters of lifelong mental health challenges begin by age 25, and most rangatahi who experience poor mental health will experience further challenges in adulthood,” Mental Health MHF chief executive Shaun Robinson says.
“Supporting young people with mental health challenges now can have a substantial positive impact on their lives.”
School counsellors can be the only mental health support available, but students face long wait times for cases beyond dire emergencies, says Steve McCracken, chair of the Secondary Principals’ Council.
“Being able to support our ākonga with early and low-level intervention is best for their wellbeing and their ability to engage in learning.”
He says that schools face a systemic lack of sustainable funding for wellbeing coordinators, pastoral deans, and health teams.
Specialised care is another issue. For students who are neurodivergent or facing complex mental health challenges, targeted support from professionals with specific training ensures their needs are properly understood and addressed.
“We know that neurodivergent students thrive best when schools provide inclusive, responsive, and well-supported environments.
“Every young person in Aotearoa New Zealand deserves a secondary education which meets their pastoral and learning needs, enabling them to thrive.”
Some schools report a ratio of one counsellor for over 1,000 students. In some cases, schools have no counsellor at all or rely on part-time support.
Education and counselling groups say this makes it difficult for schools to offer preventative care, forcing staff to prioritise only the most urgent cases.
The New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) says the recommended benchmark of one counsellor for every 400 students is still far from being met across the country.
“We are in danger of normalising crisis-level distress among our young people,” says NZAC President Huhana Pene.
“We continue to invest in crisis responses, and of course we should, but investing in early intervention is just as important.
“That means supporting school counsellors who are currently holding crisis-level workloads in systems that were designed decades ago.
“Funding models have not kept pace with the scale or complexity of need.”
McCracken says the Education Minister should fund counselling instead of charter schools. “How can the Education Minister justify funding French language schools and classical academies when more than 80% of teachers around the motu are reporting an increase in mental health issues with their students?
“The money being spent on charter schools could instead fund thousands of teachers or a counselling team in every secondary school in the country. This would give us an increase from one counsellor for every thousand students to about one for every 170 students.”
