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Depression/anxiety

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Girlfriday123

Depression/anxiety

Having trouble with my child's school attendance due to depression & anxiety. I'm in California,
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Portia_RO

Re: Depression/anxiety

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Hi @Girlfriday123 and thanks for reaching out for some support. I'm sorry to hear that your child has been struggling to go to school due to their anxiety and depression. It can be incredibly hard for young people to manage these kinds of mental health challenges while also fronting up to school everyday, and you are certainly not alone in struggling with your teen's school refusal and attendance issues. Has your teen given you any sort of indication as to why specifically they don't want to go to school? Is it primarily because they are struggling to manage their anxiety or depression while they are there, or are they having a hard time at school socially or academically as well?

I'm also curious about what kind of support your teen has for their anxiety and depression. Are they currently seeing a psychologist or or counsellor?

If you think it might be useful for you, we have a community discussion page on school refusal which has some great information and links to our school refusal resources. One of our psychologists has also written an Ask a Professional thread answering another parent's questions on managing school attendance, which might be a helpful read too. Feel free to check these pages out if you like - there are a lot of parents who have been finding it difficult to encourage their teens to attend school consistently, so hopefully you are able to find some comfort and guidance from the other members of our community too.  

Please feel free to keep us updated on how your teen is doing and know that we are here to support you along the way Heart