What issues bring primary school children to counselling? A service evaluation of presenting issues across 291 schools working with Place2Be

Tóth, Katalin; Samad, Lamiya; Golden, Sarah; Johnston, Patrick; Hayes, Rachel; Ford, Tamsin

doi:10.1002/capr.12333

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Presenting issues. Presenting issues were selected from a pre-defined bespoke list of 21 difficulties (see Toth et al, 2020 for more details). Examples of issues that children can experience include general, social or separation anxieties, troublesome behaviour, ongoing family tensions or eating difficulties.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The counsellors undertake a systematic assessment and formulation, which involves meeting with the teachers, parents/carers and the child/young person. Formulation follows an explicit framework and aims to identify strengths as well as difficulties, the source of the presenting issue and the urgency of the case (for more details see Toth et al., 2020). The clinician sets out their plan for the child / young person and the expected outcomes from the work and makes a recommendation of the type of intervention needed.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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From a child who IS a problem to a child who HAS a problem: fixed period school exclusions and mental health outcomes from routine outcome monitoring among children and young people attending school counselling

Tóth¹,

Cross

Golden³

et al. 2022

Child Adoles Ment Health

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Background Exclusion from school is a disciplinary tool with an increasingly recognised relationship to poor mental health among children and young people. We explored the relationship between mental health and school exclusion for a cohort of children and young people receiving one to one counselling. Method We analysed routinely collected data from a diverse UK sample of children and young people aged between four and 16 years old and receiving school‐based counselling (n = 6712 students from 308 primary and 61 secondary schools). Fixed period school exclusion rates (number of sessions) were compared between the academic year before and the academic year in which the child attended counselling. Mental health (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) was compared at baseline and at the end of the intervention (after between 16–22 counselling sessions depending on the phase of education). Results Despite more complex and severe initial difficulties, and facing greater adversity, children and young people who experienced school exclusion prior to counselling demonstrated a significant reduction in subsequent sessions of school exclusion in the academic year that the counselling took place (from two full school weeks to half a school week). Moreover, over 74% of the students had fewer reported exclusions and more than half (56.14%) did not have any further subsequent exclusions. They also had better mental health measured by the teacher reported SDQ (pre‐intervention M = 18.94, SD = 6.83 vs. postintervention M = 15.67, SD = 7.56, t(310) = 8.23, p < .001) or by the parents (pre‐intervention M = 18.09, SD = 6.42 vs. postintervention M = 14.0, SD = 6.99, t(171) = 7.71, p < .001). Conclusions School‐based mental health interventions may positively influence educational engagement as well as mental health. Providers should, therefore, monitor both to explore the impact of their interventions. The identification of poor mental health may alter staff perceptions and management of challenging pupils, which future studies should explore.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From a child who IS a problem to a child who HAS a problem: fixed period school exclusions and mental health outcomes from routine outcome monitoring among children and young people attending school counselling

Tóth¹,

Cross

Golden³

et al. 2022

Child Adoles Ment Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Place2Be school‐based counselling has been shown to significantly improve pupils’ social and emotional wellness, as rated by both school staff and parents (Lee et al., 2009). Young people accessing Place2Be counselling are shown to present with multiple, and often severe, difficulties, including generalised anxiety, low self‐esteem, family tensions and mood swings (Toth et al., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of counselling provision in primary schools on child and adolescent mental health service referral rates: a longitudinal observational cohort study

Grant

Blackburn

Harding

et al. 2021

Child Adoles Ment Health

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Background: In the United Kingdom, schools play an increasingly important role in supporting young peoples' mental health. While there is a growing evidence base to support the effectiveness of school-based interventions, less is known about how these provisions impact on local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) referral rates. There is a concern that an increase in school-based provision might lead to an increase in CAMHS referrals and overwhelm services. We aimed to examine the longitudinal association between Pla-ce2Be counselling provision in primary schools on CAMHS referral rates in South London. Method: This was a retrospective cohort study using linked data from the National Pupil Database (NPD) and CAMHS referrals to the South London and Maudsley's NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) identified through the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) tool. The cohort included a total of 285 state-maintained primary schools in four London boroughs for the academic years of 2007-2012. During the study period, 23 of these schools received school-based mental health provision from Place2Be. The primary outcome was the incident rate ratio (IRR) of school-level accepted CAMHS referrals in 2012/13 in schools with, or without, Place2Be provision. Results: There was no significant association between elevated rates of CAMHS referral and Place2Be provision, even after comprehensive adjustment for school-level and pupil characteristics (IRR 0.91 (0.67-1.23)). School-level characteristics, including higher proportion of white-British pupils (IRR 1.009 (1.002-1.02)), medical staff ratio (IRR 6.49 (2.05-20.6)) and poorer Ofsted school inspection ratings (e.g. IRR 1.58 (1.06-2.34) for 'Requires Improvement' vs. 'Outstanding') were associated with increased CAMHS referral rates. Conclusions: Place2Be provision did not result in increased specialist mental health referrals; however, other school-level characteristics did. Future research should investigate pupils' Place2Be clinical outcomes, as well the outcomes of individuals referred to CAMHS to better understand which needs are being met by which services. Key Practitioner Message• Schools play an increasingly important role in supporting young peoples' mental health, and there is growing evidence in the effectiveness of school-based mental health provision. Yet some people are concerned that increasing mental health support in schools may lead to a surge in referrals to specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)overwhelming services.• We found that having counselling provision in schools did not increase referral rates into CAMHS. In combination with the known effectiveness of school-based counselling, this generates evidence that having a school-based counselling service does not lead to a flood of referrals to CAMHS but is likely to be doing well at treating mental health challenges within schools.• Schools with a higher proportion of white-British students were associated with higher referral rates to CAMHS, indicative of an under-referral...

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Investigating the academic attainment and progress of children in receipt of individual counselling: A matched comparison study of primary school age children in England

Toth,

Golden,

Sammons

2024

Couns and Psychother Res

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IntroductionIn 2016, the UK government identified the need for counselling services in schools to be evidence‐based (Department for Education, 2016). While there is more empirical evidence on counselling and improvement in mental health (Daniunaite et al., Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 2015, 15, 251; Finning et al., European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2022, 31, 1591), less is known about the associations of counselling with children's academic attainment and progress.MethodThe aim of the paper was to provide more pieces of evidence on the possible associations between school‐based individual counselling and the academic attainment and progress of primary school–aged children. The academic outcomes of children receiving one‐to‐one counselling were compared with those of children who did not receive counselling, but who had similar background characteristics. Coarsened exact matching method was used to match similar children for these comparisons based on national data sets available in England. Data were analysed with inferential statistics and multilinear regression.FindingsBefore matching the samples, analyses revealed children attending Place2Be's counselling services were significantly more likely to be boys (56.6% vs. 51.1%), of ethnic minority origin (46.4% vs. 21.5%), eligible for free school meals (FSM; 52.7% vs. 16.9%) and have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) status (43.1% vs. 21.1%) than the comparison group. They also had lower academic attainment than children who were not in counselling. However, after a coarsened exact matching on relevant background characteristics, the Place2Be sample was found to have similar levels of academic progress to the matched national sample, suggesting they did not fall behind similar children.ConclusionsFindings indicate that individual school‐based counselling may be helpful as a potential intervention for supporting vulnerable children's (defined as those identified by schools or parents as in need of individual counselling) academic progress in primary schools, as well as socio‐emotional outcomes; however, further research is needed.

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What issues bring primary school children to counselling? A service evaluation of presenting issues across 291 schools working with Place2Be

Abstract: A meta-analysis of 41 populationbased mental health surveys of children and young people (n = 87,742) under the age of 18 years estimated the worldwide prevalence of all mental disorders combined to be 13.4% [95%

Cited by 4 publications

References 31 publications

From a child who IS a problem to a child who HAS a problem: fixed period school exclusions and mental health outcomes from routine outcome monitoring among children and young people attending school counselling

From a child who IS a problem to a child who HAS a problem: fixed period school exclusions and mental health outcomes from routine outcome monitoring among children and young people attending school counselling

Impact of counselling provision in primary schools on child and adolescent mental health service referral rates: a longitudinal observational cohort study

Investigating the academic attainment and progress of children in receipt of individual counselling: A matched comparison study of primary school age children in England

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