For Parents & Carers
Most parents who find their way here are somewhere in the middle of something. A new diagnosis, a school that's not coping, a child who seems to be struggling in ways that are hard to name. (Some of you have been in the middle of it for a while.) We've put these sheets together to give you something useful to read when the questions start stacking up. Not everything will land, but something might.
VCE — Without Losing Your Mind
VCE is intense for the student doing it, and intense for the parents alongside them. The two years of VCE can take over family life if you let them, and they can affect mental health, relationships, sleep, and self-worth in ways that linger long after the ATAR arrives. This guide is for the parents holding the line: supporting hard work and protecting the human inside it.
Supporting School Refusal
School refusal is when a child experiences significant distress about going to school and struggles to attend or stay there regularly. School refusal is not about defiance or laziness. Most children who reject school actually do want to attend but often feel overwhelmed or unable to cope. School refusal is usually linked to anxiety or emotional distress, rather than behavioural problems.