Hundreds of children attending primary schools are receiving counselling for behavioural and emotional problems linked to issues such as the separation of parents, bereavement and school-related difficulties, new figures show.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children's (ISPCC) Childfocus service, which works with vulnerable children aged 12 or under, provided counselling or therapeutic services to more than 1,000 children last year.
The service aims to provide support to children by helping them resolve their difficulties, as well as building up each child's psychological resilience to enable them to overcome difficulties in the future.
The figures are an illustration of the growing demand for mental health support services among children in the State.
While groups such as the ISPCC are providing services, the intervention provided by the State for children with emotional or behavioural problems has been repeatedly criticised by children's rights campaigners. Figures show some 3,100 children are waiting for psychiatric treatment for up to two years.
More than 200 children received one-to-one counselling under the ISPCC's programme, while a further 1,000 participated in group work programmes on self-esteem, bullying and transition to secondary school.
The Childfocus service includes new forms of support such as web-based, phone and text counselling, as well as face-to-face counselling.
The ISPCC is providing positive parenting courses for hundreds of parents and carers. Commenting on the publication of the new statistics, the ISPCC said it was now time for the Government to show its support for parents by acting on its pledge to introducing a State-funded, comprehensive positive parenting campaign.
The ISPCC said it should aim to place a greater emphasis on alternatives to slapping as a parenting tool.
It said: "The ISPCC believes it is the right time for the Government to introduce a ban on physical punishment of children."