By Lesley Walsh
A YOUNG girl, unable to secure counselling after the Carrowdore school bus crash last month, has finally been provided with support.
Last week the Chronicle revealed how an 11 year-old involved in the October 7 crash on Ballyblack Road East had been so traumatised she had been unable to get back on the school bus to Strangford Integrated College.
Seventy six students from the College were on board the bus when it toppled into a field as the pupils were being brought to Newtownards.
The girl’s parents and grandparents had to step in to drive the child to school every day to ease the distress and nausea she was plagued with at the thought of boarding a bus without an adult.
On a list for counselling at the school as part of a support package from the Education Authority, the child had not been seen by a counsellor, six weeks after the crash.
The girl’s father had been so frustrated watching her daily turmoil that he and her mother had agreed to pay for private counselling, at £60 per session, which would have presented a financial burden on the family’s purse strings.
However, the child’s father is convinced the intervention of this newspaper in shining a light on the issue, has helped secure counselling for his daughter.
“We have just got news that our daughter is going to receive support through the school,” he said.
“We have just had an initial review with a counsellor in school and they have phoned us to say they are recommending immediate counselling support for my daughter as they can see the anxiety and mental torture she is going through.”
“I truly believe without the intervention of the media we would not have got that news through today, it’s a clear reaction to people asking difficult questions. So many children in that school will be helped by that story being run,” he added.
Following the publication of the story, a spokesperson for the Education Authority (EA) confirmed: “The EA can confirm that the counselling provider has deployed another counsellor to the school to assist and all pupils have now seen a counsellor for assessment.
“During the period of extended critical incident support for the school due to the number of impacted pupils, all pupils were offered emotional support with most, but not all, availing of it.
“In addition, school staff were trained to provide emotional support for pupils post critical incident once the Critical Incident Team exited the school.”
The EA added that extra sessions of its HOPE Post Primary School Counselling Service for pupils had been requested by the college ‘because the number of referrals for counselling had increased as a direct impact of the bus crash’.
“In addition to the HOPE service, Strangford College has also offered a YMCA Targeted Life skills programme to pupils.”
