For an increasing number of young people, school anxiety is reaching levels that make school feel impossible, unsafe, and out of their reach. We know that ‘school refusal’, as it is commonly known, is not an intentional response. It’s anxiety. We also know that with the right strategies, support, and a holistic, collaborative, ‘wrap-around’ response, children can find their way back to feeling safe, strong, and happy at school. This workshop is designed to offer a sense of community and a compassionate, powerful way through for parents, educators, and students dealing with school ‘refusal’. We will explore proven, innovative strategies to support young people back to school. The pivotal component of this workshop involves evidence-based, practical strategies, information, and scripts for working with a child’s key adults in a collaborative approach.
by Karen Young (BSc)(Psych)(Hons)MastGestTher
[post-views] VIEWS
Overcoming School Refusal Together
![It’s the simple things that are everything. We know play, conversation, micro-connections, predictability, and having a responsive reliable relationship with at least one loving adult, can make the most profound difference in buffering and absorbing the sharp edges of the world. Not all children will get this at home. Many are receiving it from childcare or school. It all matters - so much.
But simple isn’t always easy.
Even for children from safe, loving, homes with engaged, loving parent/s there is so much now that can swallow our kids whole if we let it - the unsafe corners of the internet; screen time that intrudes on play, connection, stillness, sleep, and joy; social media that force feeds unsafe ideas of ‘normal’, and algorithms that hijack the way they see the world.
They don’t need us to be perfect. They just need us to be enough. Enough to balance what they’re getting fed when they aren’t with us. Enough talking to them, playing with them, laughing with them, noticing them, enjoying them, loving and leading them. Not all the time. Just enough of the time.
But first, we might have to actively protect the time when screens, social media, and the internet are out of their reach. Sometimes we’ll need to do this even when they fight hard against it.
We don’t need them to agree with us. We just need to hear their anger or upset when we change what they’ve become used to. ‘I know you don’t want this and I know you’re angry at me for reducing your screen time. And it’s happening. You can be annoyed, and we’re still [putting phones and iPads in the basket from 5pm] (or whatever your new rules are).’♥️](https://www.heysigmund.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
