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(Australia) "Growing number of students with challenging behaviours or mental health issues"

Aug 13, 2018, ABC: Canberra to fall short on school psychologists, despite three-year hiring effort http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-13/canberra-to-fall-short-on-school-psychologists-by-2020/10108136 Canberra will not have enough school psychologists to meet the demand of students with mental health issues by the time it has finished hiring in 2020. Last year, the ACT Government committed to employ an additional 20 school psychologists over three years — one of the recommendations made in the Shaddock review, the report launched after the discovery that a boy with autism had been kept in a cage at a Canberra primary school. That review determined there were not enough psychologists to help the growing number of students with challenging behaviours or mental health issues. … The head of the Psychologists Association in the ACT and school psychologist, Rosie Jovanovic, said students were already falling through the gaps. "There's a far greater increase in acute presentations," she said.. … But Ms Jovanovic said while allied professionals did help, schools needed professionals with psychological qualifications who could respond to the complex issues students have. … Ms Jovanovic said school psychologists were frustrated and often burnt-out by the case loads they were managing. "Most school psychs, most schools would be aware of students who are at significant risk of harm or at risk of killing themselves," she said. "Students do fall through the gaps."

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