Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing
Despite baseless claims from the Opposition, the Tasmanian Liberal Government already has a strong focus on mental health and wellbeing with an unprecedented $81 million to support mental health and wellbeing in our schools.
There is no one single solution to dealing with mental health issues which is why we have taken a holistic, multi-faceted approach to supporting students.
This includes but is not limited to, a significant increase in professional support staff in schools with an extra 65 FTEs since 2014, including psychologists, social workers and school nurses, which all schools and students now have access to.
The 2019-20 Budget included funding for another eight school nurses, one in each of our eight Colleges which is the final phase of our school nurses program to provide school nurses across all Government schools.
These positions, which were cut under Labor, have been a huge success in schools with nurses assisting students who are suffering from stress, eating disorders and other mental health issues.
Last year we launched a Child and Student Wellbeing Strategy, and we have funded the establishment of a Child and Student Wellbeing Unit within the Department of Education.
We also are continuing to fund dedicated support teams that work with schools and other agencies to support students impacted by family violence, abuse and neglect.
The new annual student wellbeing survey is providing valuable student perspectives around their mental health and wellbeing. This allows for the Department to provide more strategic and targeted support for our young people.
In addition, the Tasmanian Government has committed $7.25 million over four years, to build capacity in schools to support children and young people impacted by trauma and those with emotional and behavioural challenges.
