School counsellors alone will not be enough to address pupils’ mental health needs, a Scottish Parliament committee has warned.

Today’s report raises “serious concerns about the experiences of young people seeking help for their mental health”.

The Public Petitions Committee found a “troubling picture” when it came to mental health support for young people, which could be “confusing and often cluttered” and too frequently did not provide the support needed.

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They welcomed the Scottish government’s commitment to placing a school counsellor in every secondary, but said it could “only be part of a suite of measures to support children and young people with their mental health” and called for the provision to be reviewed to ensure the counsellors were delivering their services “most effectively”. The review should be completed by early 2022, they said.

The committee also said it supported the implementation of the government’s review of personal and social education (PSE), which is due by March.

It said that PSE needed to be “more relevant, more consistent and a protected part of the timetable”, and called for mental health first aid training to be included in initial teacher education by the 2021 academic year so teachers are “ empowered to identify and support young people with their mental health”.

The inquiry was launched after a petition by Annette McKenzie called for consultation and consent from parents or guardians of minors before prescribing medication to treat mental ill health. Ms McKenzie created the petition after her daughter, Britney, died from an overdose of prescription medication.

While there was limited support for Ms McKenzie’s request, MSPs said the inquiry raised other concerns. It found that young people and those supporting them are often unaware of the availability of initial support services.

This often results in the young person being referred to Camhs, the inquiry found, only to be rejected for not meeting NHS board criteria.

The committee has made a number of recommendations to the Scottish government to support young people’s mental health.

Other recommendations include the creation of local “inventories” of mental health services in each area to ensure there is a clear resource list.