My child’s education due to depression and anxiety of trauma

[VJ160978]

Hello, I am having a hard time trying to communicate with my teen. She has gone through some trauma 2 years ago and it has been affecting her badly. We have resolved this issue by simply removing the person involved from our lives and are now looking to move forward. She is not sleeping well, has a hard time waking up during the day and has not gone to school for 3 weeks. I am worried that she will not be able to graduate and that complications with that will make her feel worse. I am not sure how to get her to engage in learning as well as her physical well being. (Such as sleep, eating habits, positive thinking patterns, school) There is quite a language barrier too due to me not being able to speak fluent English. I have never experienced this before and do not have the knowledge of what I can do to help her. If you have experienced something similar please reply and share your story.

[Astra-RO]

Hey @VJ160978 ,

Firstly I just wanted to welcome you to the Parents and Carers community and to thank you for sharing what's been happening with your teen. I can hear how much you care for and are concerned for your her and it's really great you're reaching out for support. It sounds like, even though you might not have knowledge of how to support her, you have noticed signs that she's been struggling and do want to support her, which are what matters.

I can hear you're concerned about your teen's physical and mental wellbeing, as well as how not going to school could have a further negative impact on her. I'm wondering if your teen has been able to connect with anyone about what's been happening, such as a doctor or school counsellor?

I do want to check in around how you're going as well? Do you have any supports at this time?

We have some information which might be helpful around supporting your teen after a traumatic event here and here. We also have an article about supporting your teen through depression and anxiety here. Your teen might also find this app from Black Dog helpful with her sleep.

If you're looking to speak to someone one on one, you might also like to check out our one on one coaching service here and there is also Parent Line.

I just wanted to let you know that we'll be sending you an email shortly as well to check in so please keep an eye out for that.