Guidance teachers’ and support staff's experience of working with pupils with mental health difficulties in two secondary schools: an IPA study

ABSTRACT

An increase in mental health difficulties in children and adolescents has resulted in teachers being asked to act as frontline mental health professionals. Previous research investigated teacher involvement in the identification and management of pupils' mental health issues, but little is known about the lived experience of such teachers. This study uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore the experiences of school staff working with pupils with mental health difficulties. Findings indicate that guidance teachers and support staff are emotionally affected by such activities and believe more time, training, a whole-school approach and access to a school-based counselling service are required to provide the optimum mental health service for pupils with mental health difficulties. Implications for practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Pupils' mental health
• teachers
• counselling
• IPA

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Marcia C. S. Stoll is a BACP qualified counsellor and teaching fellow in Counselling and Mental Health at Abertay University in Scotland, UK. She has published work with John McLeod on a Pluralistic Approach to Student Counselling and is currently developing a Postgraduate Certificate in Mental Health Interventions for Children and Young people. Her areas of interest are children and young people using cultural resources, school-based counselling, cultural differences in counselling and the use of qualitative research methods.

Julia McLeod is a BACP Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist and a lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Abertay University in Scotland, UK. She has published extensively on the effectiveness of counselling, pluralistic counselling, and psychotherapy and counselling for long-term health conditions. She is the author of Counselling skills: a practical guide for counsellors and helping professionals (Open University Press). Julia is also an accredited trainer with Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.