School Avoidance: Overcoming school-related stress and anxiety

PLEASE NOTE: Please be aware that the 10am-12pm session is delivered online via Zoom, while the 4.30-6.30pm session is delivered in person at Groundworks Youth Hub. If you register for the online session, you will receive the Zoom link in a follow-up email.

If your child is refusing to go to school, you are not alone! Approximately 1 in 20 Australian students experience school avoidance, and this rate is increasing, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic.

School avoidance is different from just not liking school or 'wagging'. Children and teens who are otherwise cooperative and happy, but regularly refuse to go to school, often do so because they are genuinely distressed. Handling these overwhelming emotions day after day and juggling the ongoing disruptions to family routines is incredibly stressful for parents and carers, too.

Join experienced youth workers to learn the emotion coaching approach to respond effectively and support your child to return to school.

Learn to:

• Stay calm and 'in tune' to coach your child through their overwhelming feelings and bring awareness to the root causes
• Accept and validate their experience and feelings, while building their skills to calm down and de-stress
• Work together to develop effective coping strategies that build the resilience needed to return to school
• Communicate effectively with your child's school and advocate for your child to set them up for success.