Mental health help for pupils
Talks over roll-out at Blair High
A charity which supports those experiencing a mental health crisis is set to expand a new outreach service aimed at young people into Blairgowrie.
The Lighthouse for Perth recently started a pilot at Kinross High School and those behind it have said it is likely the project will be replicated in east Perthshire in the coming weeks.
Initial talks have already taken place between the Perth-based non-profit organisation – which aims to provide a place of safety for people who are at risk of self-harm or suicide – and Blairgowrie High School.
The Kinross project involves a mental health drop-in and one-to-one support hub being made available to anyone aged 12 or over one day each week at the town’s high school, staffed by a specialist mental health youth worker and supported by experienced volunteers.
The Lighthouse for Perth’s Sharon Thomas said the charity was extremely grateful to the family of Jordan Hart, who passed away in November last year aged 16, for a recent donation and said the Blairgowrie project would be dedicated to the much-missed local teenager once it gets up and running.
She went on to explain that the outreach services have been planned in response to the “massive” impact issues associated with the Covid-19 outbreak have had on young people’s mental health.
Sharon told the Blairie: “In Kinross, we’re going to be based in the school one day a week and that’s what we’d like to replicate in Blairgowrie.
“We’re there for referrals from the school – for self-referrals, but also from guidance teachers, pupil support teachers or the school counsellor – for anyone that has been highlighted as being at high risk of suicide or self-harm. Usually we work with them on a sixweek basis.
“We will be primarily focusing this on the schools because the reason we want to do outreach is because the schools in Perth use our services a lot because they’re within walking distance and guidance teachers can bring a pupil down here.
“They build it into their timetables so it might be the case that they come down here at the same time every week but, as soon as you get out into the more rural areas, that’s not possible because it’s a big chunk out of their school day travelling back and forth – and at that age, they’ve obviously not got access to transport either.
“We want to make sure that what we’ve got planned works. Kinross is very much the pilot but Blairgowrie is next on the list.”
“We’ve already got pupils booked in to see us for when we do start so we know that it is going to be a success there [in Kinross] so we’ll be looking to roll it out into other areas within the next couple of months.”
Sharon, who manages the charity based in Perth’s St Paul’s Square, continued: “Probably within the next four to six weeks we’ll start discussing it with Blairgowrie directly – but we’ve already been in touch with the school counsellor there, who is keen for us to provide support.
“It will be run for an indefinite period – for as long as we can identify a need there. We’ve seen how much the kids have been struggling – particularly in the last year.
“We’re only seeing the start of the fallout from this. I think we could be dealing with the fall-out from the pandemic for the next 10 years.
“It’s a whole generational thing as far as the schools are concerned. Even coming up through the primary schools – they’ve all been affected.
“Anyone who’s in the school system is going to be affected until the end of their school life now because of what’s happened with the year of disruption in their education.
“It has had a massive effect – not just on their education either, as there’s the social element as well.
“If there’s no a need there, then we’ll reassess it, but as long as there’s a need there then we’ll go on indefinitely.”
I think we could be dealing with the fall-out from the pandemic for the next 10 years.
Sharon Thomas