Every school morning, you put on your educator smile and think, “This is going to be a good day.”

But deep down, you know part of the day may depend on that student—the one who struggles to get out of bed, leave the house, enter the building, walk into the classroom, or remain at school for the entire day.

So, like clockwork, you check your phone, email, and attendance records to see whether the student has been called in absent…again.

Teachers, counselors, principals, social workers, school psychologists, nurses, attendance staff, and other school professionals know exactly what this means.

Will the student arrive on time? Will the parent call from the parking lot? Will the student refuse to get out of the car? Will the student enter the building but refuse to go to class? Will anxiety, physical complaints, emotional outbursts, shutdowns, or repeated requests to go home disrupt another school day?

If the student arrives and remains at school, you breathe a little easier. If the student does not attend, the familiar cycle begins again—answering questions about attendance, tracking down missed assignments, helping the student catch up, communicating with overwhelmed parents, and watching the academic and social gaps continue to grow.

Meanwhile, the school team is left with difficult questions.

Does this behavior require consequences? Should the student receive detention or suspension? Is a truancy referral appropriate? Should expectations be reduced? Should the student remain in the counselor’s office? Should the parent be called to pick the student up? Are accommodations helping the student succeed—or unintentionally making avoidance easier?

At the same time, desperate parents are looking to the school for answers:

“Should I force my child into the car?”

“What do I do when my child refuses to get out?”

“Should I take away electronics?”

“Will my child even graduate at this rate?”

When school refusal becomes an ongoing pattern, educators and school teams can feel stuck, frustrated, reactive, and unsure about what to do next. Different staff members may respond differently, families may receive mixed messages, and the student may learn that avoiding school is the easiest way to escape emotional discomfort.

Educators supporting students with school refusal need help—not just more stress.

That is why we created School Refusal Camp for Educators, an eight-week program designed specifically for school professionals supporting students with attendance challenges and school refusal behaviors.

School Refusal Camp for Educators helps school teams better understand what is driving a student’s school refusal and develop a practical, coordinated, step-by-step plan for helping the student arrive at school, enter the classroom, remain in the building, and successfully complete the entire school day.

During School Refusal Camp for Educators, participants will learn how to:

  • Understand the four primary reasons behind school refusal behaviors.

  • Identify what may be driving an individual student’s avoidance.

  • Recognize how anxiety, academic struggles, social concerns, family dynamics, emotional distress, and learned patterns of avoidance may contribute to attendance problems.

  • Develop a personalized, step-by-step school refusal plan.

  • Create clear arrival, transition, attendance, classroom, and reentry procedures.

  • Respond to school refusal with greater consistency, confidence, and emotional neutrality.

  • Reduce power struggles, repeated reassurance, lengthy negotiations, and unintentional reinforcement of avoidance.

  • Establish appropriate expectations, accommodations, accountability, and consequences.

  • Determine how staff should respond when a student refuses to enter the building, attend class, complete work, or remain at school.

  • Collaborate more effectively with parents, therapists, medical providers, and other members of the student’s support team.

  • Help students develop the emotional, behavioral, and coping skills needed to return to school and stay there all day, every day.

Our goal is to help school teams move from feeling uncertain and reactive to feeling calm, coordinated, prepared, and purposeful.

Go to School Refusal Camp for Educators and help make this school year the student’s best school year ever.

TARGET AUDIENCE

School Refusal Camp for Educators is designed for teachers, school counselors, principals, assistant principals, school social workers, school psychologists, nurses, attendance staff, special education professionals, behavior specialists, and other school personnel who support students ages 5–18 experiencing school attendance challenges.

This program is a great fit for educators working with students who demonstrate one or more of the following school refusal behaviors:

  • Morning negotiations or emotional outbursts related to school attendance, including crying, panic, anger, meltdowns, pleading, shutdowns, repeated reassurance seeking, or prolonged arguments before arriving at school.

  • Difficulty arriving at school, including repeated morning absences, late arrivals, extended drop-offs, refusal to leave the vehicle, or refusal to enter the school building.

  • Frequent tardiness or absenteeism, including missing the beginning of the school day, attending only certain classes, arriving after prolonged negotiations, leaving school early, or missing entire school days.

  • Recurring physical complaints, including headaches, stomachaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, or other symptoms that frequently occur before school or during the school day and result in missed instructional time.

  • Difficulty remaining in the classroom or school building, including repeated visits to the nurse, counselor, social worker, or front office; refusal to transition between classes; repeated requests to call home; or attempts to leave school early.

  • Refusal to participate in school, including remaining outside the classroom, avoiding specific teachers or classes, refusing academic assignments, or becoming increasingly dependent on one staff member to complete the school day.

  • Difficulty returning to school, including challenges following an illness, hospitalization, school break, family transition, extended absence, or prolonged period of school avoidance.

  • Complete refusal to attend school, including refusing to get out of bed, refusing to leave home, refusing to enter the car, refusing to enter the school building, or remaining home instead of attending school.

This program is especially helpful for educators and school teams who feel stuck, exhausted, frustrated, or unsure how to respond and want a clear, structured, and collaborative plan for helping students return to school consistently and successfully.

INSTRUCTOR

Randy Floyd, LSCSW, Founder, Clinical Level Therapist

Randy is the founder of Midwest Anxiety. He is a Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker who is an optimist and passionate about helping people focus on what they can do rather than what they can't do. Randy believes building a strong therapeutic relationship and tapping into a person's strengths are the most essential components of the therapeutic experience. Randy is passionate about changing the way we do mental health. He is focused on making mental health normal, a positive experience. He is also adamant about doing mental health differently. Randy believes the "old ways" suggest mental health is for the "broken" or "mentally ill." Randy believes that "Everyone Struggles." Sure. Some people struggle more than others, but everyone struggles with something. With this belief, Randy is focused on providing a wide range of programs and services to help people be mentally well ;) Go give Randy a fist bump on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

LOCATION

We will meet virtually on Fridays from 12:00-1:00pm.

SCHEDULE

Week 1: What is School Refusal Behavior?

Week 2: What is the School Refusal Assessment and It’s Purpose?

Week 3:: What and how do I get professional help for my School Refusal Behavior?

Week 4: How do I help my school refusal child who refuses school to avoid objets or situations that cause general distress?

Week 5: How do I help my school refusal child who refuses school to escape anxious social and/or evaluative situations?

Week 6: How do I help my school refusal child who refuses school for attention?

Week 7: How do I help my school refusal child who refuses school for tangible rewards outside of school?

Week 8:: How do I prevent slips and relapses?

FEE

$25.00 per week.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Midwest Anxiety is not a prequalified continuing education provider, and School Refusal Camp for Educators has not been preapproved for continuing education credit.

Participants will receive a certificate documenting the number of hours attended. Participants are responsible for confirming with their licensing board, employer, school district, or other governing organization whether the training hours may be accepted toward continuing education or professional development requirements.

CANCELLATION POLICY

We know life gets busy. If you are unable to participate in a session, please cancel at least 24 hours in advance and you will not be charged.

REGISTRATION

Spots are limited. To guarantee a place in the group, please register early.

Please complete the information below and we will contact you shortly to help get you registered for School Refusal Camp for Educators.