The city council has vowed to review its efforts in providing support for children and young people in need of mental health services.
Youth counsellers are being employed to help meet the demand for support across the city.
The local authority pledge came on the back of the Scottish Government’s announcement to invest £250million of funding for mental health services across the country over the next five years.
This includes £60million for schools, with the aim of employing 350 counsellors and 250 extra school nurses.
Lesley Dunbar, vice convener of Aberdeen City Council’s education operational delivery committee, said: “The council believes the time is right to review, refocus and invest in early intervention and preventative support for children and young people.
“In 18/19 we have already invested £100,000 in additional funding for school counselling.
“Improving the self-esteem, resilience and wellbeing of all our young people must be a priority for us all.
“We can’t always prevent young people from developing a mental health problem but we can give them every chance to understand their mental health and support their help-seeking without stigma.”
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Matt Connelly, fundraising manager at Mental Health Aberdeen, said the charity already had counsellors working with children attending primary and secondary schools as part of a youth project.
He said: “Our counsellors help schools to support pupils’ emotional and psychological wellbeing.
“We appreciate that there are financial considerations for each school in determining the number of counselling appointments available to pupils and that schools have finite budgets to work with.
“Any additional support which would allow us to reduce waiting times for pupils would always be welcome.”
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood earlier today, Coatbridge and Chryston MSP Fulton MacGregor asked the First Minister what action the Scottish Government will take to support the mental wellbeing of young people.
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