Student Mental Health Bill

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B I L L

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Introduce the 250/1 student/counselor ratio, establish better connections between mental health officials and schools, require testing accommodations and other related purposes.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

Section 1 - Definitions

(1) For the purposes of this act

Counselor shall refer to a qualified individual employed by a school to provide basic mental healthcare and career advice to students.

Therapist shall refer to a qualified therapist associated with the NHS’ mental healthcare provisions.

Psychiatrist shall refer to a qualified psychiatrist associated with the NHS’ mental healthcare provisions.

Section 2 - Student Counselor Ratio as a statutory target

(1) There shall be as a statutory target a ratio of 1 counselor for every 250 students in all Public Primary and Secondary schools as recognized by the Education Act 1996.

(2) The Secretary of State may make available funds to help schools hire and maintain counselors to reach the statutory target established in subsection 1.

(3) School governing bodies shall have the ability to petition the Secretary of State for access to funds made available for the purposes of meeting the statutory target established in subsection 1.

(4) The Secretary of State shall be at liberty to designate additional guidelines for hiring qualifications as part of adequately meeting the statutory guidelines established in subsection 1, particularly in terms of what training school counselors should receive.

Section 3 - Links Between Schools and NHS Professionals

(1) Therapists and Psychiatrists operating within a school’s operating area shall establish contacts with school counselors inside the school.

(2) Counselors may recommend students to see a therapist or psychiatrist as needed should their needs not be fully met by the counselor.

(3) If a counselor recommends a therapist or psychiatrist to a student, then that professional should report to the counselor:

(a) Any needed accommodations for the mental health of the student,

(b) Any advice for teachers to approach that student,

(c) Any recommendation for special education and,

(d) Any other information that the professional should report to the counselor for the success of the student.

(4) Therapists and Counselors, in making reports under subsection (3) should take care to not breach medical confidentiality and preserve the confidentiality of a meeting between a therapist.

(5) Schools and local NHS clinics responsible for mental health must also establish contact and cooperation in dealing with mental healthcare in students.

Section 4 - Duty to Report

(1) Any counselor employed by a covered school in this act shall have a duty to report student self harm or imminent threat of such, and suspected prolonged abuse by parents, kin, or teachers or students within the school.

(a) For added clarity, a student confessing thoughts of self harm but is determined to not be in imminent threat of acting on those thoughts does not apply for a duty to report in this section.

(2) Failure to report on a covered topic in subsection (1) that results in harm being given to the child shall be a level 2 offense on the standard scale.

Section 5 - Student Accommodations

(1) Schools must make available to students accommodations for mental health in regards to testing, class pace, and workload on assignments.

(2) For exams, defined for this paragraph as an assessment of curriculum knowledge taking place in a single and, usually, timed session, the accommodations should take the form of:

(a) Extra time to complete the exam or,

(b) A rescheduling of the exam to reduce the amount of exams given in a short period of time and,

(c) Accommodations in this should scale with the weight of the exam in question, where more important exams should be given priority with accommodations.

(3) For class pace, defined for this paragraph as the speed in which a student goes through the material on the curriculum, accommodation should take the form of:

(a) Dedicated tutoring hours after school, either in person or online or,

(b) Having more school days assigned to a part of the curriculum that a student may be struggling to comprehend in the allotted time.

(4) For workload, defined for this paragraph as the amount of assignments both at home and in class meant to complement a lesson plan for a given day, accommodations should take the form of:

(a) Spreading the workload out over a larger period of time or,

(b) Working within reason to remove some minor assignments from the workload.

Section 6 - Miscellaneous Provisions

(1) This act shall be cited as the Student Mental Health Act.

(2) This act shall extend only to England.

(3) This act will come into force 8 months after receiving royal assent.

This bill was written by /u/phonexia2 on behalf of the Liberal Democrats.

Deputy Speaker

This was a campaign pledge I had made and I hope to gather support on. It is a bill that seeks to create both a statutory target for counselors and streghen the connective tissue that past governments have already put into place. This is an important issue to me as I believe that student mental health is one of the most impactful yet underdeveloped issues we face in the education system. The effects of a failing mental health in school are long term, often life damaging. By investing in and creating a strong framework for mental health, we create a stronger, smarter, and healthier population.

I also hope the House considers the testing burden in deciding both this legislation and future legislation. It is important to recognize that testing our kids to death is not the solution to failing schools, and while there are data gathering benefits we risk losing out on educational outcomes. I hope to see us take a student-first approach in the coming months.

This division will end on 18th December at 10pm GMT.