Taking action to help school refusers

Many parents who use this site have written to me, making points that they feel need to be addressed so that we can help families who are struggling with a school refuser, or who want to make the process easier for those who are encountering the problems for the first time.

I have listed these in no particular order, because they are all as important as each other. If you feel I have left out something important, or want to discuss one of the points further, please make a comment below.

• Raise the profile of anxiety in children and how debilitating it can be. Schools need educating about how awful for the children it is.

• Raise awareness of School Refusers with the public, schools, professionals etc. and hopefully enable the professionals to have a little more training/empathy regarding S.R. and their parents.

• School need a 'central point/link' where the S.R, parents, teachers, health professionals etc can send all information.

• Procedures must be put in place for SR to be picked up at an early stage as possible and acted upon quickly, there has to be immediate access to 'professionals' instead of months waiting for referrals, as we know that the quicker this is dealt with the better.

• It is so hard to get the professionals together, My daughter is under three different people, a psychiatrist, a paediatrician and a psychologist, but they don’t talk to each other.

• Why are these children are not diagnosed and treated effectively and it is left for the families to sort the problems out themselves?

• Am I able to get funding from my local Education Authority (for alternatives to school education)?

• SR should be recognised by schools and the professionals as a real illness.

• SR families should not live with the threat of prosecution

• Let SR to go to the PRU full time if they can. (PRU is pupil referral unit but now called alternative route centre in some places.)

• Make SR more well understood; School Phobia is something that affects the whole family; everyday we wake up wondering, will our daughter be ok today?