The focus for the initial development of School-Link was to build the relationship between schools, TAFEs and mental health services across NSW at all levels including state, Area Health Service, regional and local. Building the capacity of health and education to work together in partnership is a positive step towards proactively addressing mental health issues.
The strength of School-Link is the effective partnerships at all levels. This has provided an excellent foundation for further collaboration and cooperation to address current and emerging child and adolescent mental health issues.
The NSW Interagency Action Plan for Mental Health identifies the expansion of School-Link as a priority.
The Centre for Mental Health, NSW Health has worked in close partnership with the NSW Department of Education and Training to develop and implement the School-Link initiative. It is important to have formal links in place to sustain this relationship. At the local level health services also work with schools that are part of the Catholic Education system and Association of Independent Schools.
School-based counsellors, general practitioners and paediatricians are the services most commonly utilised by children and adolescents with mental health problems . School counselors, TAFE counselors and child and adolescent mental health staff have been the key partners in establishing School-Link because of their important role in the provision of mental health services for young people with mental disorders. These continue to be key personnel for the focus of School-Link.
Other key personnel in schools who have a role in providing support to students with mental health problems are head teachers welfare, pastoral care coordinators, deputy principals and principals.
Children and adolescents who are experiencing mental health problems can also have multiple problems which bring them into contact with a range of other services such as the Department of Community Services, Juvenile Justice and drug and alcohol services. Many School-Link Coordinators have worked collaboratively at a local level with these other partners. The statewide School-Link Training program has given recognition to the role these services play and has extended participation to include relevant staff from these services in accordance with the NSW Interagency Action Plan for Mental Health4.
The focus for the establishment of School-Link was adolescent depression and related disorders. Mental disorders are at their most prevalent during adolescence and young adulthood, and account for 55 percent of the disease burden among those aged 15-24 years . The first onset of depression commonly occurs during late adolescence or early adulthood years and is often preceded by identifiable warning signs. Mental disorders like depression can have a significant impact on the young person’s social, educational, emotional and vocational development and can considerably impact on a young person’s family. They are commonly associated with serious risk factors and are linked with substance use and increased risk of suicide2.
Much of the work to date has been with secondary schools across NSW. While this remains an important and continuing focus, mental health problems are not exclusive to adolescents. For example, problems such as anxiety begin in younger children and can increase the likelihood of depression in secondary school if left untreated. The NSW Interagency Action Plan for Mental Health4 identifies the extension of evidence-based prevention programs to primary schools as a priority. A new Commonwealth primary school mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative, KidsMatter is being piloted across Australia during 2006/07 and School-Link Coordinators have been identified as important to the success and the integration of the initiative in NSW.