Maria* was still a baby when her parents separated after her mother sought support at a domestic violence shelter.

She remained on good terms with both parents but, as she approached adolescence and started coming to terms with their separation, Maria struggled with mixed emotions, becoming very reserved.

Her mother was worried, fearing the worst.

“She became increasingly confused and I realised she was making a conscious effort to hide her feelings from me,” the mother told Times of Malta.

Three years ago, Maria realised she could speak – with no strings attached – to a counsellor from the Blossom Counselling services at her school and has stopped confiding in her mother since.

The service, run by the Malta Trust Foundation, has supported over 400 students like Maria at St Paul’s Bay and Qawra primary schools and the Naxxar middle school.

During the pandemic, counsellors provided psychosocial support to 1,500 students and their families. The foundation will this year extend its services to the Birżebbuġa primary school, which hosts 630 students from 40 countries, after receiving financial support from the Malta Freeport Terminals and the Malta Freeport Corporation.

“Knowing she was speaking to a counsellor put my mind at rest. I do not want to know what she talks to her counsellor about,” Maria’s mother said.

“Just knowing that there is someone she can speak to and that she actually speaks to them is enough for me. 

“I have since seen a great change in my daughter. She is more relaxed and tranquil and has also done well during her exams, despite the pandemic.”

Increased anxiety and panic attacks

Maria is not alone in feeling this way.

Isabelle Anastasi has noticed increased anxiety and panic attacks among 11- and 12-year-olds who would have struggled with feelings when their parents went their separate way.

Separation anxiety might resurface as the move from primary to secondary school triggers recollections of separation, the teacher by profession and warranted counsellor said. 

Since being roped in for the Blossom service, she has been based at one school – the Naxxar middle school within the Maria Regina College – allowing her to build a trusting bond with students, who, at that age, might be reluctant to speak to a visiting counsellor.

During the last scholastic year, Anastasi actively supported 45 children.

However, together with her colleagues, they tried reaching out remotely to more than 800 students during lockdown.

“We called at their home and kept in touch with families, becoming aware of issues that would otherwise not have been tackled, such as not being able to afford multiple laptops for all the family and an increase in domestic violence,” she said.

“There was an increase in eating problems among girls and self-harm. Physically vulnerable children or students who lost relatives to COVID grew increasingly fearful during the pandemic. So, at times, we spent over an hour on the phone or talking to them online.

“We were a bit surprised at the response as it usually takes time for people to open up and this confirmed how much people not only wanted but needed this kind of support,” Anastasi added.

A fellow counsellor at St Paul’s Bay and Qawra primary schools, Rita Galea noted that COVID also saw a spike in anxiety among children who suddenly had to follow a new set of rigid rules. 

They were burdened with the notion that if they did not follow these measures, other people could fall ill or die. 

Blossom counsellors also support families who moved to Malta from another country to adjust to their new environment.

The St Paul’s Bay school on its own hosts 61 different nationalities.

Galea recalled how one mother, who comes from a place where medical services are dire, developed a huge fear of sending her children to school even when COVID mitigation measures started being lifted.

“She stopped working to be able to be with her children at home, ending up with no financial income and we were the only support she trusted,” Galea said.

*name has been changed