Child Psychotherapy at schools, from the perspective of a Headteacher

As a Headteacher, working with a range of agencies including social care, health and SEND services, any support for our most vulnerable pupils is welcome and seen as a valuable contribution to support the holistic development and progress of each individual child.

What we often do not have, however, is the knowledge and understanding of what the most effective and appropriate support and intervention looks like for these children, in terms of the qualifications, skills, training and approach of the adults bought, invited or sent in to offer support. We rely upon DfE guidance, what we deem has worked well previously, feedback from the children/families, recommendations from colleagues, and who other agencies or organisations send to us.

Headteachers are therefore not often able to distinguish between what is appropriate and what is inadequate therapeutic support, eg counsellor v child psychotherapist. We do not have the therapeutic training or understanding to recognise what type of support is best. Surely therefore, this is something that should involve but rarely be solely determined by the Headteacher. We have a certain context, relationship with and valuable information about the child but we do not have the full picture or the skills, training or qualifications to begin to gather together all of the pieces needed to be able to genuinely support the mental health and wellbeing of the children with the most complex needs and fragile mental health.

Other thoughts/considerations

·       Funding – often, interventions and initiatives are short term due to current school and local authority budget uncertainty which means that short-term planning, year by year only, is realistic. Short-term support for vulnerable children, with the adult often changing mid-programme/intervention, is common.

·       Support for families – schools already work closely with families but more extensive, specialist work is often needed with the families of vulnerable children, to ultimately help the child. However, the scope and nature of the work, is beyond the remit, skills and experience of school staff. School ‘family support workers’ - if schools choose to have them - are interested in and keen to work with families and they are seen as ‘early help’ but are often unqualified and inexperienced in effectively recognising and supporting the families

·       Reality is that unless appropriate support is sourced externally, it is often the least qualified members of staff, sometimes vulnerable themselves, who are often leading on the frontline support for children with most complex needs, in schools.

It is essential that child psychotherapists are involved at the consultation, planning and delivery stage of support for and work with children – not necessarily always delivering the support or intervention themselves but could be acting in an advisory and/or supervisory capacity, with their knowledge and expertise dictating the decision making and planning of support.

Maybe it should also be an expectation that a child psychotherapist is part of every local authority panel or board of professionals working with vulnerable children eg. Child Protection Conferences, Safeguarding Boards, MASH referrals, Team Around the Family involvement etc.