Tough for us all right now. AD struggling, & lashing out. We feel let down by health services, we’ve had some assessments over phone, but no actual F2F support from mental health practitioners. AD won’t engage with websites & apps, we want a real diagnosis to help her. We keep looking #KidsMH
AD struggling to find her way, scared to go to bed, scared to wake up. Scared to go to school, scared not to. Scared that she might have ASD/ADHD, scared that she might not. We just want to help her to make things less scary. ASD/ADHD assessment is next #KidsMH #Anxiety #SchoolAvoidance #SchoolFear
This blog is really interesting. The “school on fire” metaphor is particularly engaging
For us, so much of this rings true with our situation with AD - stevebheadteacher.wordpress.com/2023/08/29/s... #KidsMH #KidsAnxiety #ChildAnxiety #SchoolAnxiety
A few weeks away from social media. AD still really struggling, no school at all for 3 weeks. 1st ND assessment complete, recommends full ADHD/autism assessment. Seeking support from The Children’s Society for emotional training. Still trying to navigate through this with her #KidsMH #SchoolAnxiety
AD was happy at the weekend, had a friend to stay. Back to school avoidance with a vengeance now, won’t engage, won’t get into a routine. Heartbreaking to not be able to help her. She started counselling again yesterday, hoping to see some progress #SchoolAnxiety #KidsMH #SchoolRefusal
AD crossed the school threshold 3 times this week. 1st for our meet with head of year, then after school to spend an hour with mentor, and today for form time & first lesson. She got up & dressed at 5.30 this morning! Whatever it takes, we carry on🤞🏻 #KidsMH #SchoolAnxiety #SchoolRefusal #SmallSteps
The roller coaster continues. AD hasn’t gone to school yet this year, but has more responsive at home these last couple of days. We met her head of year today and have a gradual return plan that she’s agreed to. We’ll see how it goes, and keep encouraging her #KidsMH #SchoolFear #SchoolRefusal
AD didn't make school at all this week, & some of her behaviour at home was a little alarming. We had a telephone consultation with local CAMHS yesterday, who are referring us for extra support. Positive start to the weekend, AD is up & has gone out for breakfast with her friends #KidsMH #SchoolFear
Another day, another refusal. AD barricaded herself in her room last night, says she hates life. School have told us they’ll no longer authorise absence without evidence of mental health issue from GP. All feels hopeless right now, not clear how we can help her. #SchoolAnxiety #KidsMH #SchoolRefusal
AD hasn’t made it to school yet, so 2 days down already. We’re really seeing her grappling with this & just want to protect her mental health, so we’re not forcing school at the moment, she needs to find her own way with our support. #KidsMH #SchoolRefusal #SchoolAnxiety
School starts tomorrow. It’s been a tense day, but we’ve had a calm evening, favourite dinner, and she’s gone to bed early, to be ready. We can see that AD has been anxious today. We’ll see how the morning goes #SchoolAnxiety #SchoolFear #KidsMH
Xmas holidays have been a mixed bag, AD is mostly happy, but we've had some moments where her anxiety has spilled over. We've visited GP to talk acne treatment which might help be a root cause. We're all looking positively to school starting again next week #KidsMH #SchoolAnxiety #SchoolRefusal
Tough week for AD. Went out ice skating with school friends, was upset when she came back as she thinks that they’re looking at her spots/acne. We missed this as a school/public anxiety cause, but now it’s so obvious and is key. We’re onto ways to support her with this today #SchoolAnxiety #KidsMH
It hasn't been a great week for AD. Hasn't been able to manage her school anxiety & her routine is all out of kilter, late nights, unable to get out of bed in the morning, very withdrawn. We're trying to help her, but falling on deaf ears. Hoping the Christmas break acts as a reset for her #KidsMH
No go for school today ☹️. The relentless fear that she has is heartbreaking, we feel so powerless to help. Concerned at the amount of school she is missing & her reluctance to do work at home, we're considering the daunting/impossible prospect of home-schooling. #SchoolFear #SchoolRefusal #KidsMH
This weekend we’ve been out a little as a family, AD had her BF over for a sleepover. All was good. Tonight, she’s anxious, angry, locked in bathroom and refusing to speak to us. The only obvious trigger is that it’s Sunday night. ☹️ #SchoolAnxiety #SchoolFear #KidsMH
AD's anxiety is still causing her problems today. Last night she got her bag packed for school, even though PE was first lesson today, & that makes her even more anxious. This morning, she just can't bring herself to get ready, she's too scared, hiding under her bed covers. #SchoolAnxiety #KidsMH 😔
Back to a no-go today. Even just going in for a couple of hours yesterday seemed to wipe out her energy and confidence as she battles her anxiety. She still got a cold too, we see how she feels tomorrow. #SchoolAnxiety #SchoolRefusal #SchoolFear #KidsMH
AD still feeling unwell today but, that hasn’t stopped her. She got up, got ready for school and has gone in! She’ll only stay for a couple of hours before we pick her up, but so proud of her for facing down her anxiety and fear this morning. #SchoolAnxiety #KidsMH
AD has a cold today, so despite getting up early she wasn’t really up to school anyway. Our more relaxed approach has removed tension from the family, just need to figure out how we can help her to help herself back to school now #KidsMH #SchoolAnxiety
School are v. supportive. Separate route into school, access to quiet space, hall pass, toilet pass, moved form group to be with best friend. More pastoral & MH support with counselling and mentoring, although accelerated by us doing a self-referral with GP and local MH services.
AD is trying so hard to manage this, she wants to go to school. She does her evening routine, tries to relax, but we can see that she’s anxious by bed-time. This morning she got up & started to get ready, but her anxiety was too much & made her crash. It’s heartbreaking. #KidsMH #SchoolAnxiety #EBSA
No-go again today 😔. We’ve had to re-learn how to react. Where we’d once try to coerce, persuade, reason, shout, to get AD to school, we now try to encourage but give her space. It can feel like we’ve given up, we haven’t, just trying to support without overwhelming her #KidsMH #SchoolAnxiety #EBSA
This evening, AD is talking about what job she wants to do, and what subjects she needs to do at school. She’s preparing and packing her school bag to go tomorrow, she really wants to go! We know she’ll be scared in the morning, we’ll support her however we can #SchoolAnxiety #KidsMH #SchoolRefusal
Managed to get AD out of the house last night to watch little sister in her performance of Grease. It was at AD’s school, so we saw some anxiety in the queue whilst waiting to go in. But she did go in, and even enjoyed herself! #KidsMH #SchoolAnxiety #SchoolRefusal
There's a few interesting articles in the UK press at the moment about this. Sad to see so many families going through this (but also reassuring that we're not alone!)
#SchoolFear #SchoolAnxiety #KidsMH #Education
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Another day, another no-go for school. Refusal isn't the right term for it, AD wants to go but, whatever plans she maps out the day before, her anxiety and fear is so great in the morning that it overwhelms her, and she just wants to hide from us. #SchoolFear #SchoolAnxiety #KidsMH
Very anxious about school again and not going. But, there's glimmers of positivity today. AD is out of bed, dressed and fed, she's talking about how she feels and trying to understand why. Less withdrawn and engaging with us, we'll take that for today. #Kids #SchoolAnxiety #SchoolRefusal
AD is not doing well this week. She’s scared, and angry, hiding herself away from us. No school at all so far. It feels very desperate. We’re trying all we can as a family to encourage her, but we can’t find the right approach right now. #KidsMH #SchoolAnxiety #SchoolRefusal
We’re struggling, it’s so hard and we feel so helpless. But we’re being strong for AD, developing a thick skin, as we know that she just needs us to be there whilst we all try to find ways to ease the anxiety