North Coast headteacher tells Sutherland councillors of concern over rising stress and anxiety levels in pupils, with the Ukraine war a factor: Katherine Wood cites three-year waiting time for professional help and says greater support is needed
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A SUTHERLAND headteacher has said that the war in Ukraine is increasing the anxiety levels of pupils who are already under a huge amount of stress.
North Coast Campus headteacher Katherine Wood has revealed that levels of self-harm and panic attacks amongst pupils in her school group, which includes Farr High School along with Tongue, Melvich and Farr primary schools, are increasing.
And she said students referred to specialist support services were waiting years for an appointment with teachers left to do the best they could to provide support. She said more services were needed.
The school has formed links with award winning, Inverness- based mental health service Mikeysline with the charity holding an online session last month to alert parents and carers of pupils at the campus to signs of mental distress.
Ms Wood passed on her concerns to Sutherland County Committee at its last meeting when she updated councillors on the activities at the campus.
She said: "The thing I really do want to emphasise is the amount of stress that children, particularly in secondary, are under at the moment.
“While they have always had stresses of different kinds, the difference is now it is a constant stress. There is never a time when they are not feeling stressed and anxious and it does not take very much to push them over the edge.
"We have got more issues of self-harm going on and more panic attacks than we have ever had and what is currently going on in the world is just adding to that.
"We are really worried about our children and the impact this is having on them."
Ms Wood continued: “I have to say we do not feel the support services are there. We are the ones that are carrying a lot in the schools.
"For example, I haven’t had a school nurse physically in the building other than to do vaccinations for three years. And it is the same with the educational psychologists. We haven’t seen one in the building, although there has been some virtual engagements.”
Ms Wood cited an example where a NDAS referral (for children with significant mental health issues) ha been made by the school in 2019 but an appointment for the pupil involved had only just come through.
"That is three years it has taken to see anyone,” she said. “That has had a huge impact. Schools are under a lot of pressure in terms of trying to help the children just now. Children have significant difficulties. We are doing what we can but we cannot keep filling the gap. It would be good if we had more services.”
In the circumstances, Ms Wood said schools were trying to equip pupils with the tools to help each other. Health and wellbeing days have taken place.
"We have brought Mikeysline in, which helps children with a range of issues," she said. "They have come in and done a whole session for our pupils.
They have Youth Champions - children trained in different ways of supporting others.
"Of our senior pupils, we had 15 volunteer to undertake this training. That is phenomenal. The lady who came in said that she was in a much much bigger school in Highland and they did not have a single child come forward to be one of their champions.
“We are delighted with that and it is really important as it is giving the children the power they were looking for in terms of being able to help each other and themselves."
Mikeysline was named Third Sector Organisation of the Year at the Highland Third Sector Interface (HTSI) Awards last month. It was also named charity of the year at Highland Heroes 2022.
Mikeysline has recently expanded its reach by introducing a new What’s App support service.
