298. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Education and Youth the way in which schools engage with CAMHS and other relevant professionals when a child with additional needs is experiencing significant emotional distress and difficulty accessing school; and if there is guidance around facilitating an interagency approach in such circumstances. [66905/26]

This government is fully committed to supporting students with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.

I would like to take this opportunity to outline the role of the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). All schools have access to:

• General support and advice from an educational psychologist in NEPS, either through the school’s assigned psychologist or through the NEPS Advisory Support Service.

• Support from an educational psychologist in NEPS in the event of a Critical Incident.

• National and Regional Support and Development service for school staff which focuses on building the capacity of school staff.

• Access for individual casework where a priority need is established to either an educational psychologist in NEPS or a private educational psychologist on the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA) panel.

NEPS does not operate waiting lists. In common with other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS operates on a consultative model of service with assessments only one aspect of the NEPS service.

NEPS encourages schools to support children and young people using the Continuum of Support, whereby school staff use a problem-solving approach, including school screening (assessment) and evidence-based intervention, for children and young people experiencing difficulties in the school context. The response to intervention is monitored and recorded in the Student Support File. The teachers, parents and child are involved in this process. Under this model, a diagnosis is not required for a child or young person to access supports that can be implemented at school level in mainstream classes, such as special education teaching support and special needs assistant support.

If a school has concerns that a child or young person is not making reasonable progress following evidence informed support and intervention, the school may prioritise the involvement of NEPS to support the identification of need process.

As a school-based service, requests for NEPS involvement must be made by the school principal or other designated staff member by contacting their assigned psychologist or the NEPS Advisory Service for schools temporarily without an assigned educational psychologist. Where a student has been involved with other services such as CAMHS, with parental consent, NEPS may contact those services to inform the casework.

With regard to an interagency approach my department has built strong links with the Department of Health to explore ways to improve supports for children and young people more broadly, including around increasing awareness, promoting help-seeking behaviour, school staff training, and signposting the wide range of services available to children and young people.

My department has also been working closely with the Department of Health and the HSE to agree a protocol to facilitate referral pathways to local services, on foot of Recommendation 10 of the HSE’s mental health policy Sharing the Vision. This collaboration will assist in the creation of a Single Point of Access to mental health services for children and young people as per the HSE Child and Youth Mental Health Office Action Plan.

My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to achieve their full potential.