Your child isn’t happy at school. They are protesting in the mornings, or having meltdowns in the afternoons. They tell you that they don’t want to go, and you feel torn between them and the school. School are telling you that the answer is to keep pushing, as you don’t want to reinforce avoidance or behaviour. You feel blamed, and worry that you aren’t doing a good enough job as a parent.
The problems at school are starting to dominate everything about your family life, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. You don't know whether you should keep trying, or give up - and if you do, what happens then?
In this webinar Dr Naomi Fisher, clinical psychologist, will talk about what often happens when a child is saying they don’t want to go to school. She’ll talk about the different ways in which children show their distress and the different causes of school attendance problems. She'll talk about how this can be particularly hard for adoptive or kinship carer families, and how the difficulties a child has may be misinterpreted.
Drawing on her clinical experience, she’ll explain the different approaches taken by professionals and how they work (or don’t work). You’ll leave feeling better informed about what is happening, and more able to make decisions which put your child’s wellbeing first.
The webinar is recorded if you choose that option and you can watch it as many times as you like for 30 days.
Warning, This is not a webinar on how to make your child return to school regardless of what they say. Look elsewhere for that.
Dr Naomi Fisher is a clinical psychologist and author. She is registered with the HCPC and has over 18 years of clinical experience in the NHS and private practice. She is the author (with Eliza Fricker) of When the Naughty Step Makes Things Worse and The Teenager's Guide to Burnout. Visit her webside www.naomifisher.co.uk for more about her work.
Feedback from participants
Your webinar was hugely reassuring and managed to provide clarity on the complex, unfathomable, frustrating times we have had as a family. It sounds a massive cliche but I felt someone finally understood what our life has been like. You showed great empathy with children and families struggling with this baffling and painful situation, coming from a place of experience.
I really appreciated your messages of hope- this is a journey and we will come out the end.
After your webinar we are more able to support our daughter, speak to her special setting confidently & already supported better decision making with her needs at the centre.
Thank you for appreciating the reality of the situation for parents. It really means a lot to know that there are professionals out there who really ‘get it’ and who are working so proactively to offer appropriate support and advocate for us.
This webinar is not therapy or clinical advice and should not be used as a replacement for therapy. If you are concerned that your child will harm themselves or someone else, please go to your GP.
Cover Illustration by Becky Whinnerah (@BexGoneWest)
This webinar is run in partnership with Beacon Family Services. https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/
This webinar is hosted on Zoom. Please make sure you have Zoom installed. We will email you a reminder 2 hours before the event and 10 minutes before, with the Zoom meeting link
Yes, if you choose the webinar + recording option you can watch it in your own time, up to 30 days after the webinar
We'll send a link by the morning after the webinar
You can watch the recording for 30 days after the webinar