The stress of dealing with a seemingly continuous run of death and violence was so traumatising that a pair of high school counsellors were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The husband and wife team have now been deemed by a judge to be deserving of almost $1.8 million in damages for workplace stress.

During their time at Melville High School, Ronald and Kathleen Cronin-Lampe dealt with 32 deaths in the community – including student suicides, fatal crashes, terminal illnesses and murder.

“This has been a process for my clients. It’s been horrendously gruelling,” the couple’s lawyer, Toby Braun, said.

It had been more than a decade through the courts, and they were both relieved and exhausted. “They have been carrying this burden for a long time.”

Melville High School had claimed the pair had an obligation to tell the school if the other was suffering and didn’t, Braun said, but this was dismissed by the judge.

Braun said they were both suffering, and to expect them to be able to identify it in each other when they were struggling themselves was not logical. It was the school that had an obligation to look after them as employees, he said.

Employment Court Judge Bruce Corkill said in a recent judgment that the school of 900 had suffered “an extraordinary number of traumatic events in its student body, staff and wider community over the period”.

This included groups of current and former students dying in suicides, and involvement in murder and manslaughter cases too.

The couple worked as guidance counsellors at the lower decile high school for 16 and 15 years, from 1996 and 1997, until their employment ended on medical grounds in 2012.

The Cronin-Lampes said they provided counselling, pastoral care, ongoing risk assessments and assistance to students, including a high number of at-risk students who required extensive support, as well as to staff and the wider community.

Court documents said the period of inquiry began in September 1997 with the suicide of a 15-year-old boy.

Kathy Cronin-Lampe was asked to visit the family and manage their anger towards the school, as well as to carry a cellphone to be readily contacted at all times.

The following month, a 16-year-old boy – who’d recently left the school – died in a suicide. The couple worked with family and students, and said their cellphone number was circulated in the aftermath.

In January 1998, a 15-year-old boy, whose twin sister was also a student, died in a suicide – only for another student to die in a suicide the following day.

The following month, a long-serving staff member with brain cancer died. His wife was staff and Ronald Cronin-Lampe provided grief counselling to their family.

At this point, David Randell – who was principal from 1995 and 2000 – said the student body was in “extreme unrest” and that the couple “were thrust into chaotic times for which they were totally unprepared, untrained and unskilled”.

In March 1998, Kathy Cronin-Lampe sent a letter to the assistant principal noting the work hours due to emergencies and suicides left her and Ronald with a “sense of exhaustion”.

A trauma expert was sent and a “Postvention Team” was set up, but requests for funding – including for supervision of the counsellors – were declined by the Ministry of Education.

The Postvention Team told the Cronin-Lampes they should see all people at risk and were not permitted to say they could not help anyone.

They were told to be reachable at all times and their business cards were given to families.

Court documents said there were serious threats of suicide, or attempted suicide each week for the duration of 1998, but many of the students didn’t meet the criteria for referral.

By 2000, and following several more incidents, the principal said the couple were “run down by the demands of their jobs, a lack of proper supervision and the needs of the Melville High School community”.

In January 2000, Kathy Cronin-Lampe wrote a letter to the deputy principal outlining their onerous duties, including 24-hour on-call responsibilities, home visiting, assisting students in emergencies like domestic violence, locating emergency placements, supporting them through pregnancy terminations, attending family group conferences, and supporting students in court.

The pair provided support relating to the death of a senior student’s mother in February 2001, and then in March when a staff member’s child died, and a child was struck by a vehicle tyre on the way to school.

In 2002, a recent school-leaver was murdered by another recently former student,and the Cronin-Lampes supported family and friends of a student who died in a car accident. The car was driven by another student, who was charged with manslaughter.

Kathy Cronin-Lampe was also asked to tell two students their parent had died en-route to pick them up, before another student died in a suicide in July.

She was then a second responder to a student’s suicide in October 2003 and managed the crisis response following – but then three days later another student died in a suicide.

From December 2003 until 2012, there were another 14 deaths in the Melville High community – including 12 current or former students, a parent, and a staff member’s partner.

This included suicides, car accidents, terminal illness and electrocution.

One of the incidents was a car accident where two current students and a recent leaver were killed.

The Cronin-Lampes cared for the driver who survived and faced criminal charges, as well as the families of the deceased.

After leaving in 2012, they raised unjustified action grievances that said the board failed to meet health and safety obligations and to manage workload and workplace conditions adequately.

This, they say, led them to suffer severe stress and exhaustion. Kathy Cronin-Lampe said they were “unravelling” and that she was “starting to shut down”.

They were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and did not return to school in 2012.

A health professional noted they were suffering emotionally, mentally, and physically from the effects of prolonged stress, and it was recommended they take time off.

The judge awarded the couple $1,792,317 in lost income, superannuation, rental income, interest, and medical expenses.

Where to get help

• 1737, Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 to talk to a trained counsellor.

• Anxiety New Zealand 0800 ANXIETY (0800 269 4389)

• Depression.org.nz 0800 111 757 or text 4202

• Lifeline 0800 543 354

• Rural Support Trust 0800 787 254

• Samaritans 0800 726 666

• Suicide Crisis Helpline 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)

• Yellow Brick Road 0800 732 825

• thelowdown.co.nz Web chat, email chat or free text 5626

• What’s Up 0800 942 8787 (for 5 to 18-year-olds). Phone counselling available Monday-Friday, noon-11pm and weekends, 3pm-11pm. Online chat is available 3pm-10pm daily.

• Youthline 0800 376 633, free text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz, or find online chat and other support options here.

• If it is an emergency, click here to find the number for your local crisis assessment team.

• In a life-threatening situation, call 111.