Help demanded: More psychosocial support for the schools
The last few years of the corona crisis were a challenging time for all of us. As experts and organizations confirm, children and young people in particular have suffered greatly from the crisis. This may have relaxed a bit. However, the psychological problems remained with many.
SALZBURG. After an application by NEOS, the state parliament came together in the spring to demand that the federal government increase psychosocial support for schools. Since then, however, the topic has become quite fashionable again. As experts and aid organizations such as the addiction help clinic and the “Rat auf Draht” hotline confirm, psychological abnormalities such as eating disorders, depression and addiction problems have risen sharply during the crisis years. The psychosocial support staff would be urgently needed.
The situation
The last few years of the corona crisis have left their mark on many children and young people as well as adults. That much is certain. Even during the height of the crisis, child psychologists sounded the alarm in Vienna and other federal states. The number of young people who were struggling with psychological problems and who therefore sought professional help had risen alarmingly. Even if the Corona crisis has eased a bit, the problems and crises have stayed with many children and young people. According to the current KOPSY Study (2020-2022) shows almost every third Austrian type mental abnormalities.
Eating disorders and depression in children, as well as other mental illnesses, were increasingly identified. In 2021, the hotline “147 Council on Wire” recorded as many consultations on the subject of overwork at school as before the coronavirus pandemic. Sleep disorders and problems in the family have also risen sharply. According to Caroline Weinlich from the addiction help clinic, addictions in adults as well as in children and adolescents have risen sharply during the corona crisis. In general, according to Weinlich, people simply spent a lot more time in front of the screen during the pandemic. This has led to increased addiction to smartphones and the internet in general.
help for the schools
“School lockdowns and long distance learning phases have had a particularly negative impact on the mental health of children and young people,” said NEOS health spokesman and doctor Sebastian Huber. “Now there is a need-based increase in psychosocial support staff, we have submitted the corresponding application. The educational staff must be supported in recognizing mental problems in students,” Huber demands from Minister of Education Polaschek.
In principle, the current government program provides for a need-based increase in support staff. But in order to be able to help and teach students with mental health problems in the current crisis, the teachers in the schools would need immediate support.
Low-threshold offer
As experts also confirm, a first important step would be to expand a low-threshold range of help. Contact and advice centers would be particularly important here. Short-term training for educators by school psychology and external providers could also provide relief.
It seems that not only the NEOS see it that way in the state parliament. The motion they submitted was unanimously accepted by all parties in the state parliament in the spring. It was decided that the state government would approach the federal government with concrete demands. A good sign. It remains to be hoped that action can follow the bald man.
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