If you haven’t listened to episode #70, you might want to go back now and listen before returning here.

Perhaps you’ve been there; sitting on the edge of your 15-year-old daughter’s bed while she cries and pleads with you not to make her go to school because she “just can’t.” Or maybe you’ve stood outside the bathroom door while your 13-year-old son intermittently throws up and yells that he’s “never going back to that school!” Statistically speaking, you may have had an experience like this or you may just be in the position before it’s all said and done. School refusal or school avoidance – different terms for the same thing – simply means your kid will not go to school or will not stay at school all day long. It’s a horrible position for a parent to be in and the schools generally don’t make it any easier.

Enter Jane Demsky and her School Avoidance Alliance. Jayne has certainly been there with her son – around four years was spent with her trying to figure out how to get her son back in school.

Access TRANSCRIPT here.

Thank you so much for listening to the show! If you found it helpful in some way, please share it with someone who could also benefit from it. And if you prefer listening on a podcast app, please be sure and follow the show so new episodes will automatically pop up in your que.

I make this show for you, and I really appreciate and value your feedback. I’d love your suggestions for how I make the show better. And if you’d like me to cover a specific topic or you have a parenting question that I could discuss in a future episode, please reach out, I’d love to hear from you!

You may be interested in one or more of my FREE Parenting Guides.

Sources, Resources and Mentions:

The following resources are from Jayne:

• School Avoidance Master Class for Parents (includes Parent Peer to Peer Support Group)
• Educator Professional Development course, Everything You Need to know to Get Your Kids Back to School
• Our private FB group for families
• For School Avoidance Families; The Ultimate Guide to Working with Your School (Provides guidance on how to work with your school and includes simple explanations of special education and disability laws, 504 plans, Education Plans- IEPs and School Intervention teams)
• Our website: www.schoolavoidance.org

Helpful places to find therapists who are experienced in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, some will be trained in exposure therapy:

www.Abct.org

www.iocdf.org (even though this is the OCD foundation, mental health providers that treat OCD are usually trained in CBT w Exposure. These listings may be mostly partial and inpatient programs)

Beck Institute Cares-clinician directory

We have a partnership with leading school avoidance clinicians at www.lumatehealth.com They are experienced therapists that do CBT w Exposure via telehealth. Say referred from Jayne from School Avoidance Alliance. Right now, only for the states of NY, CA, FL, and NJ, and coming soon to NC , CT, MD, NC, and PA

Other good places to find anxiety clinics who may be experienced in CBT are hospitals and universities in your area.