How can EBSNA impact families?

Supporting your child with emotionally based school non-attendance (EBSNA) can impact on families in different ways, we've listed some of these below, along with potential sources of support.

Parent Carer mental health and wellbeing

Caring for a child with EBSNA might impact on your mental health and wellbeing. You may feel lonely or isolated, but please know that you are not to blame, and you are not on your own. Family Voice Surrey have created a School Anxiety group for parents and carers.

It is important to look after yourself. If you find that your mental health and emotional wellbeing is poor, there are services that can offer advice or emotional support:

  • The Child Mind Institute offer information on why Self-Care is essential to parenting on their website
  • Mindworks Surrey information for Parents/Carers - Every child or young person is different and may require different services. Mindworks Surrey will guide you through each step you need to take as a parent or carer, from your initial concerns to being introduced to the Mindworks service
  • Healthy Surrey Wheel of Well-being is a handy way to think about things you can do to help improve your mood, reduce the risk of depression, strengthen your relationships, and even add up to seven years to your life
  • Relate services include relationship counselling, family counselling, mediation and children's and young people's counselling
  • Parent and Carers Group at The Hope Service, which is a multi-agency service for young people aged 11 to 18 who are experiencing complex mental health, emotional, social and behavioural needs.
  • Barnardo's Parent Wellbeing Service offers support to parents or carers whose children are experiencing poor mental health and wellbeing such as anxiety, depression, stress, self-harm and eating disorders. The service will enable parents and carers to be a protective factor for their child/young person in their wellbeing recovery. Increasing their confidence to support their child/young person

This shortlist of Helplines and online support services for parents has the details of further services who may be helpful to refer to.

Parenting support and advice

For more general parenting support and advice, the following may be helpful.

  • Family Lives provides targeted early intervention and crisis support to families who are struggling. The issues they support families with include family breakdown, challenging relationships and behaviour, debt, and emotional and mental wellbeing
  • Surrey Family Information Service's parenting courses and advice web page
  • Surrey Family Learning offer a wide range of free courses which are offered online, from parenting and wellbeing to Maths and English for parents who speak English as an additional language
  • Free online parenting guides which are available to all Surrey residents that include top tips from childcare, education and NHS health experts.

Finances

Supporting a child experiencing EBSNA can also have a financial impact on families if for instance, parents have given up work or reduced their working hours to support their child or have paid privately for education provision, counselling, therapy and assessments. There is a range of financial assistance that may be available to you.

Siblings

EBSNA may also have an impact on siblings, if for instance they are often late for school or mirror their sibling's behaviour. The Support for sibling and young carers web page, provides details of activities that siblings can do together, help for young carers and financial assistance.

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