Mental health and wellbeing: 10 challenges post-lockdown

Abstract

As schools reopen further post-lockdown, the key question is what kind of wellbeing and mental health issues will students be presenting with and what signs should we be on alert for? Dr Pooky Knightsmith considers 10 challenges we are likely to see in September – and what we can do to help

Emotionally Based School Avoidance in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Neurodiversity, Agency and Belonging in School

“…Studies of the specific impact of COVID-19 on school attendance are still relatively few [38]. However, given the growing research literature documenting the impact of the pandemic on children and young people's mental health, it is reasonable to assume that a proportion of the increase in pupil absences reported since 2020 is explained by EBSA [5]. Navigating the transition back to school-as-normal following periods of lockdown has been highly challenging for some pupils because to them, school does not feel like a place of safety.…”

“…Data published by the Department for Education indicate that levels of "persistent absence" (i.e., >10% missed lessons) in the 2022-2023 academic year were more than double the pre-pandemic figures [3]. While the reasons for this rise are complex and multifactorial, there is increasing recognition that persistent absences are often underpinned by emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), in other words, significant and chronic anxiety associated with the school environment that triggers avoidant behaviour [4,5]. This terminology is preferred to "school refusal", which implies a level of wilfulness or choice on the part of the child.…”