Funding for counselling faces crisis
Hearing You is a mobile, professional counselling service for school children aged 5 to 13, many of whom face complex issues such as anxiety, social challenges, family trauma and even self-harm.
It circulates through 11 district schools and is set to lose its core funding in less than a year.
Launched in 2021 as a post-Covid-19 initiative to address rising levels of anxiety and emotional distress among schoolchildren, Hearing You replaced the Chat Bus service to quickly become an essential part of student wellbeing in the region.
At present, schools receive a half-day to a full day of counselling per fortnight, an amount stakeholders say is already far from sufficient, given the demand.
But Hearing You is supported under a collaborative educational network called Kahui Ako, a model to be phased out as the government reallocates $680 million towards Learning Support initiatives.
While the new investments are aimed at helping children in the classroom with learning needs including neurodiversity issues, they do not include dedicated funding for counselling services like Hearing You.
Stakeholders wanted to highlight Clutha businesses, organisations and individuals who have stepped up to help provide resources from vehicles to sponsorship and reiterate their gratitude.
But with Kahui Ako to be fully disestablished by January 2026, schools and supporters were already working to secure future funding for counsellors' wages, fuel, insurance and other costs.
Counsellors are at present sourced through Catholic Social Services Dunedin, which also provides the necessary supervision and training.
"It's really challenging for parents to get their children into town to see a counsellor," Balclutha Primary School principal Vicki Neave said.
"They have the counsellor go to their schools. It makes it so much more accessible and it breaks down that geographical barrier."
"Hearing You really does work and it improves school attendance levels because students are coming to school to see the counsellor and just knowing they have someone coming they can safely talk to is enough to keep some of them hanging in there."
The service's backers are working to create a sustainable future model by demonstrating and pooling community support as they seek out funding in hopes of not just maintaining, but expanding the provision.
Without swift and secure funding solutions, a service many now see as indispensable could soon be lost — leaving some of Clutha's most vulnerable without vital support.
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