School psychologists suffer burnout, ongoing job insecurity amid youth mental health crisis

<p>The mental health of NSW kids is at risk as school psychologists suffer a high rate of burnout amid worsening job insecurity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The need for better conditions comes as the Federal Government considers a recommendation to introduce a ratio of one psychologist per 500 students in schools&period; But the union is warning a lack of proper recognition of the psychologists&&num;8217&semi; qualifications in the education system is learning to a high churn in the workforce&period;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;There is a mental health crisis in NSW schools and the best people to help kids are school psychologists&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Stewart Little&comma; general secretary of the Public Sector Association&period;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;But currently&comma; because of ongoing job insecurity and poor conditions&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s a revolving door of psychologists though schools and kids are missing out&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;To end the revolving door of school psychologists the Public Service Association&comma; is asking the NSW Department of Education to develop a new award&period; Currently&comma;<em> school counsellors &lpar;qualified teachers who have completed post-graduate study in psychology&rpar;<&sol;em> have access to school holidays and greater flexibility within in the system &&num;8211&semi; conditions school psychologists can&&num;8217&semi;t access&period;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;School psychologists aren&&num;8217&semi;t asking for more money or better conditions than their colleagues &&num;8211&semi; they just want working conditions that fairly represent the work they do within the school environment&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Recently&comma; the Federal Parliamentary Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention <span class&equals;"markec707o1m6" data-markjs&equals;"true" data-ogac&equals;"" data-ogab&equals;"" data-ogsc&equals;"" data-ogsb&equals;"">release<&sol;span>d made 44 recommendations to improve the mental health system&comma; which is at &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a tipping point”&comma; including introducing a student to psychologist ratio of one to 500&period;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;We absolutely welcome any improvement on the existing ratios but there is a high level of frustration about poor conditions and lack of professional recognition within schools&comma; particularly in comparison to their school counsellor colleagues&period; That is a key factor in the poor retention rates&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;Currently&comma; NSW schools have a ratio of about one psychologist to 1000 students&comma; with 250 psychologists working in schools across the state&period;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;<br aria-hidden&equals;"true" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;The union says together with improved ratios&comma; there also needs to be assessment of the complexities among low socio-economic&comma; poorly resourced communities and schools to recognise the increased workload within those communities&period; There is also a lack of Aboriginal and Torres Islander representation in mental health service provision and School Psychologist roles in schools&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Statement edited&colon; school counsellors &lpar;qualified teachers who have completed post-graduate study in psychology&rpar; <&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;