Anxiety is the most commonly cited mental health difficulty impacting young people, a survey of guidance counsellors working in secondary schools across Ireland has found.

Some 55 guidance counsellors responded to the survey from Walk in My Shoes, the national awareness-raising and education initiative from St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, which provides resources and initiatives for teachers and students to support wellbeing and positive mental health within the school environment.

Conducted during the Irish Guidance Counsellors Conference in March 2025, the survey set out to identify prevalent areas of mental health-related concerns among young people, to explore current initiatives and strategies in place in schools to support students and to identify additional resources and training that teachers and counsellors would find most useful in supporting students’ mental health.

The survey found:

• The most common concern reported by guidance counsellors among students was anxiety, followed by isolation and school avoidance. Almost every respondent (n = 48) noted a significant increase in anxiety across all year groups 
• In addition to heightened anxiety, counsellors reported a rise in other mental health concerns over the past year, including more frequent cases of eating disorders, and more complex difficulties such as trauma and psychosis
• Many also observed a decline in students’ ability to cope with everyday stressors, attributing this to factors such as social media influence, phone misuse and disrupted sleep patterns.