Student Welfare lends a listening ear to stressed students

Being a teenager can be hell! Bullying, friendship issues and exams are just some of the many issues sending students at Neale-Wade to seek help from student welfare. Mrs Butler is the friendly face who is there to give support, advice and provide a listening ear. Everyone is welcomed into her supportive circle, and she was more than happy to talk to us about mental health issues she deals with daily.

It Is a frightening statistic that one in 10 young people have a mental health issue, and in an average school class of 30, three young people will be forced seek help because of this. Over the last five years at Neale Wade Academy, Mrs Butler has seen a “massive” increase in numbers of students knocking on her door.

When asked to outline the most common problems that she deals with, she said that bullying and friendship issues were top of the list. While you may think Year Elevens are under the most stress due to exams, or year Seven students because of the transition to secondary school, Mrs Butler says stress is equal across the board for all years; this common misconception may lead to some issues being missed.

It is a fact that most children and young people just want someone to talk to and for someone to listen and acknowledge what they are going through. Suicide hotline services confirm that callers want someone to pick up the phone and listen, and that is what our student welfare offers. One-to-one mentoring and also designated carers to talk to are some of the available services. They also refer some children to professional agencies so they can receive more long-term expert help, ensuring that the individual has the best possible care.

Mrs Butler says that social networking is one of the main influences on rising stress and pressure levels with cyber-bullying becoming an increasingly common concern. Alarmingly national statistics show that 43% of children experience cyber-bullying – that’s 817 million worldwide.

Mrs Butler says that in the past, girls have been more frequent visitors to her office, but now there are equal numbers showing that boys are just as comfortable talking about their problems, rather than seeing it as a weakness.

Over the 22 years of her working within the welfare sector she has linked children with professional agencies, come up with many successful strategies of her own to help young people, and most importantly enjoyed working and helping all the people she has come into contact with. She finds it a very rewarding and worthwhile job which is vitally important in helping young people deal with the pressures of the 21st Century.