Youth mental health strategy
Deputy Buckley asked when the promised youth mental health taskforce and related training programmes would be established. The Minister said a well-being strategy would be published shortly and would expand the relevant programmes later in the summer.
Page 67 of the programme for Government reads:
A National Taskforce on Youth Mental Health will be established to consider how best to introduce and teach resilience, coping mechanisms, greater awareness to children and young people, and ... we will invest in SafeTALK and ASIST courses.
When will this happen?
Comment on this
Our Department will shortly publish a well-being strategy. It will involve a range of commitments to roll out programmes, including the one that the Deputy referenced, which will be expanded later in the summer to make further provision. We regard the well-being strategy as a high priority and are investing more resources in the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, to back it. It has been well received by the various education stakeholders with whom we consulted. We look forward to rolling it out in the coming months.
