Understanding School Attendance Barriers and How to Help
About this Event
Are you supporting young people experiencing school attendance barriers?
Many existing approaches have been developed without input from young people and their carers, and as a result, don't always provide what is needed to make meaningful change.
This practical session is grounded in extensive therapeutic group and 1-1 work, consultation and co-production with young people and their families, with their voices woven throughout.
It will offer clear ways of understanding what is happening beneath the surface, along with practical approaches to help offer support that can make a real and lasting difference.
What you'll learn
- What school attendance barriers actually are
- Why the language we use around attendance, including "school refusal," "won't attend", gets in the way of real change
- How to identify the early warning signs before a young person feels in crisis
- Learn a simple and comprehensive assessment framework to truly get to the heart of what is happening
- How to build support that's shaped around the young person in front of you
- Practical ways to bring schools and families onto the same side
- Creative ways to reach young people for whom talking therapy hasn't worked
- A plan you can put into practice for each young person you are supporting
Who this session is for
This session is suitable for anyone supporting young people and their families who are experiencing school attendance barriers, including counsellors, mental health leads, pastoral teams, youth workers, and coaches. It is suitable for practitioners working in both 1:1 and group settings.
The course views things through a therapeutic lens and is designed to offer long-term approaches of support that are child and family-centred.
If you are noticing attendance barriers linked to anxiety, panic, separation, sensory overload, neurodivergence, physical health, mental health, or trauma, this session will give you a framework and approach that can make a real and lasting difference.
What's included
- 5 hours of CPD training
- Comprehensive digital resource pack
- All delivery materials, resources, and presentations
- Refreshments throughout the day
About the facilitator
This session is delivered by Angela McMillan, an Autistic counsellor, supervisor, and trainer with 18 years of clinical experience.
Angela believes that therapy needs to change if it is going to meet the needs of anxious and neurodivergent young people, and has spent four years developing and co-producing an approach with young people and their families that does exactly that. Elements of that work will be shared throughout the session.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 120.00
