Nicola Sturgeon has said "far too many" youngsters have to wait more than a year for specialist mental health treatment.

The First Minister spoke out as "deeply shocking figures" revealed 934 children in Scotland contacted Childline last year about suicide - an average of almost 18 a week.

Meanwhile, in the last year 608 children and young people have had to wait 52 weeks or more to get help from the dedicated Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), according to Labour's Kezia Dugdale.

The Labour leader warned that total could be "just the tip of the iceberg" as more than 9,000 CAMHS referrals have been rejected since January 2015.

She urged the First Minister to consider a scheme being put forward by her party which would ensure every high school in Scotland has access to a counsellor.

The £8 million proposal "is exactly the type of early intervention the First Minister tells us she supports," Ms Dugdale said.

She added: "Given we are the only country in the UK without a national strategy for school-based counselling, can I ask her today to seriously examine Labour's proposals?"

Ms Dugdale raised the issue at First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament, blasting the number of youngsters forced to wait for 12 months or more as "utterly shameful and nothing short of a national scandal".

She added: "It is also just the tip of the iceberg because since January last year more than 9,000 Scottish children have been referred to mental health treatment only to have that referral rejected or denied, and we don't know why."

Ms Sturgeon said Health Secretary Shona Robison would look into that and also pledged the Scottish Government would consider Labour's proposal for school counsellors.

"If Kezia Dugdale wants to send me her proposals I will ensure that the Health Secretary considers them," she stated.

She said that "several hundred" young people had had to wait more than a year for help since the start of 2015 and stated: "That is far too many - one waiting more than 52 weeks is one too many."

The First Minister told MSPs: "Demand for child and adolescent mental health services has increased by more than 30% in the last two years.

"Actually, I take the view that that is a positive development - it doesn't sound like it - but it does mean that the stigma around mental health is decreasing and more people, in particular more young people, are feeling able to come forward for help."

She added: "The challenge that poses for us, the responsibility on my shoulders and the shoulders of the government, is to make sure in the face of that rising demand we are building up services to cope with that demand.

"That is what we are doing, we have increased funding and resourcing for mental health services and we have plans to further increase that funding and resources over the life of this parliament."

While "acknowledging there is more work to do", Ms Sturgeon said: "Since this Government took office, investment in mental health services by the NHS has increased by almost 40%.

"The number of CAMHS psychology posts has more than doubled in the period we have been in office.

"We actually were the first country in the whole of the world that set a target for access for children and adolescents to mental health services."