Israel: 100 new school psychologists; it's not enough

Feb 11, 2018, (Israel) Haaretz News: Educational Psychologists in Israel Sound Alarm as Demand Rises Among Students https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-educational-psychologists-in-israel-issue-cry-for-help-as-demand-rises-1.5807243 An educational psychologist in Israel admits she was unable to help a fourth-grade student with suicidal thoughts recently, because he didn’t seem likely to do anything soon. Even worse, this is the standard response in an increasingly overburdened profession. … While wealthy parents can finance private treatment for their children, others must wait six months for an appointment at their health maintenance organization or a mental health clinic. … Though educational psychologists are responsible both for treating children and advising parents, teachers and principals, most of their time is devoted to advising rather than treating individual children, due to their excess workloads. As a director of the Educational Psychology Service’s Central District explained (again, speaking on condition of anonymity), if forced to choose between an hour treating a child and an hour advising teachers, he said he would “obviously choose the latter – that helps more people. “A principal once called and asked me to treat a first-grade girl suffering from anxiety,” he recalled. “It’s not dramatic, it’s quite common. But I look at my staff and have nobody who can take her.” … The ministry is aware of the problem and has tried to solve it by hiring 100 new educational psychologists each year for the past decade. But the Movement for Public Psychology in Israel says that even if all the available positions were filled, it wouldn’t be enough….