File pic Photo: 123RF
The Association of Counsellors says a $1.8 million payout following an Employment Court ruling highlights the pressure on school counsellors.
Open Justice reports the court has ordered Hamilton's Melville High School to pay the money to two former counsellors who dealt with 32 deaths in 16 years.
Kath and Ron Cronin-Lampe had to help the school and the wider community deal with clusters of current and former student suicides, a staff member's attempted suicide at the school, and the suicide of a student's mother after his father already died that way.
Other unexpected tragedies involved fatal car crashes, including one where the student driver was charged with manslaughter, a student who was struck by a tyre while walking to school, terminal illnesses, and the murder of a former student by another ex-student.
Their experiences led to them feeling "stressed out", overworked and under pressure.
They also went through a 12-year legal battle to gain compensation and have now won what is believed to be the largest award made in the Employment Court .
Kath and Ron Cronin-Lampe who have won a 12-year legal battle with the school at which they both worked as counsellors. Photo: New Zealand Herald / supplied
Association of Counsellors president Sarah Maindonald told RNZ 32 deaths was extraordinary.
However, she said counsellors would identify with the high stress the couple were under.
"Managing suicidal risk in the face of mental health services being really stretched is day-to-day," she said.
School boards and principals must pay attention to the accumulation of stressors on counsellors over their careers.
Unusual events could suddenly increase demand for school counsellors' services.
"After the terrorist attack I was in a large school and the guidance department suddenly had an extra 180-200 students to triage who were very distressed and we had to then work out what level of support they needed," she said.
Maindonald said many schools did not have enough counsellors and the government should fund schools to employ at least one counsellor for every 400 students.
She said 75 percent of school counsellors have Master's level qualifications in counselling and the main problem facing them was the volume and severity of cases.
"Mental health services are only taking the more severe cases, leaving school guidance counsellors managing lots of medium to high risk while they are on waiting lists or referrals are declined.
"In the past we had a much lower percentage of mental health issues. Much of our work was supporting students to manage relationships with parents, peers, staff, normal life events like losses, grief, parental separation," she said.
Melville High principal Clive Hamill told Open Justice he was disappointed by the outcome.
A Ministry of Education spokesperson said it was considering the Employment Court ruling and did not wish to comment.
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