This advanced session exploring the relationship between mental health and school attendance in children and young people. The event will examine current evidence on how mental health difficulties are associated with school attendance, share findings from young people, parents/carers and school staff about experiences of struggling to attend school, and consider emerging evidence on approaches to improving attendance. The session will also include a parent lived experience contribution and a final panel discussion and audience Q&A.
Register for the event & pricing
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Delegates will have exclusive access to recordings for 90 days after the event, together with slides. Plus you will get a personalised CPD/CME certificate via email. Recordings from the session will be available to delegates from 5 working days after the event.
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- Non-members: this is a great time to join ACAMH, take a look at what we have to offer, and make the saving on these sessions.
| Ticket Type | Price |
|---|---|
| ACAMH paying Members (Online, Concession) | EARLY BIRD £49 (until 01/11/26 then £69)(Join now and save) |
| ACAMH Learn Account Holders | EARLY BIRD £69 (until 01/11/26 then £89) |
| Non Members | EARLY BIRD £69 (until 01/11/26 then £89) |
| ACAMH Undergraduate/ Postgraduate Members | £10 |
| LMIC Members | Free |
About the event
Join this ACAMH Advanced session exploring the relationship between mental health and school attendance in children and young people. This two-hour online advanced session bringing together research, emerging evidence and lived experience perspectives on the relationship between mental health and school attendance and will include presentations from expert speakers, a lived experience contribution from a parent, and a final panel discussion and audience Q&A.
Who should attend
This event is primarily aimed at professionals working with children and young people across education and mental health settings, including teachers and school leaders, educational psychologists, clinical psychologists, child and adolescent mental health professionals, and other practitioners supporting children who are struggling to attend school. It may also be relevant to researchers, commissioners and other professionals with an interest in the relationship between mental health, education and school attendance.
About the Talks
Dr Sophie Epstein – Overview of the links between mental health and attendance at school
More information coming soon.
Dr Joanna Reid – “The anxiety would not let me”: Mental health and Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance – insights from young people, parents and school staff.
Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA) is increasingly recognised as a significant challenge affecting the educational outcomes and wellbeing of young people and families. However, relatively little research has explored how young people, parents and school staff understand the relationship between mental health and school attendance, or how these perspectives align.
This presentation will share findings from the Attend Well study. Drawing on survey and qualitative interview data, the presentation will bring together the perspectives of young people, parents/carers and school staff to explore how emotional distress, school experiences and support systems interact to influence school attendance.
Survey findings from young people and parents will provide an overview of the characteristics of participants and patterns of school attendance, examining the relationships between mental health, school environment, reasons for non-attendance and key sociodemographic factors. These findings will be complemented by in-depth qualitative insights into how EBSNA develops, the impact of school relationships and environments on young people’s mental health, the wider consequences for families, and the factors perceived to support successful recovery and re-engagement with education.
Learning objectives
- Understand the relationship between EBSNA mental health, and school experiences from the perspectives of young people, parents/carers and school staff.
- Recognise the individual, relational and school-based factors associated with EBSNA, including how school environments can contribute to or protect against attendance difficulties.
- Understand the impact of EBSNA on young people’s mental health, learning, and family wellbeing, and the implications for educational practice.
Igraine Rhodes – Emerging evidence on approaches to improving school attendance
More information coming soon.
Hilary Newmarch – A parent and educator’s perspective of EBSNA
Explore the experiences of EBSNA from a parental viewpoint. What made school so impossible to engage with? What did school offer that was helpful, and what wasn’t? Sharing experiences of the interaction between school and the local authority in striving to obtain suitable education provision. How did a different provision finally meet my child’s needs and enable him to thrive?
From an educator’s perspective, what are some of the barriers to identifying and meeting the needs of young people who may be struggling in school? How can these experiences feed into the findings of the Attend Well Study?
Learning objectives
- To gain real world experience of EBSNA from both a parental and educator point of view.
- To recognise some of the parental and family challenges in working with school to support a young person struggling with EBSNA.
- To recognise some of the barriers to identifying and meeting the needs of young people who may be struggling, from a teacher’s point of view.
About the Speakers
Professor Tamsin Ford CBE, is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. She is an internationally renowned Child Psychiatric Epidemiologist who researches the organisation, delivery, and effectiveness of services and interventions for children and young people’s mental health. She completed her core training in psychiatry on the Royal London Hospital Training rotation and at the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals and she completed her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. She moved to Exeter in 2007, leading a group of researchers whose work focuses on the effectiveness of services and interventions to support mental health and well-being of children and young people. She is a current ACAMH Board Member, and was an Editor for ACAMH’s journal CAMH six years, stepping down as lead editor in June 2014. She recently moved to the University of Cambridge. Tamsin’s research covers the full range of psychopathology and agencies, practitioners and interventions that relate to the mental health of children and young people. Every interaction with a child presents an opportunity to intervene to improve their developmental trajectory. Her work has direct relevance to policy, commissioning and practice.
Dr. Sophie Epstein is a Consultant Senior Lecturer in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, based at the University of Bristol and Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust. Her research interests are in child and adolescent mental health epidemiology, school-based mental health, early intervention and prevention, with a particular focus on school absence and how this relates to mental health problems in young people. She was awarded a PhD from King’s College London entitled ‘Examining school absence as a predictor of mental health problems and self-harm in adolescents: A series of longitudinal studies using linked mental health and education data’.
Dr Jo Reid is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and an NIHR Advanced Fellow. Her background is in clinical psychology and child and adolescent neuropsychology, and her research focuses on child and adolescent mental health. Her work centres on developing, evaluating, and implementing complex interventions, particularly those that promote school-based mental health, early identification of mental health difficulties, and young people’s wellbeing. She currently leads a five-year NIHR-funded research programme on Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA), developing evidence-based approaches to prevention, early intervention, and successful school reintegration (attendwell.org.uk).
Hilary Newmarch As a parent of one child who found themselves unable to attend school, and another who has struggled but managed to continue attending, Hilary has a wealth of lived experience around EBSNA and it’s associated challenges. She has also taught in mainstream primary schools for almost 20 years and now teaches young people, on a 1:1 basis, who are currently unable to attend school.
Programme Schedule
Chair: Professor Tamsin Ford
| 15:00 | Prof. Tamsin Ford – Welcome and Introduction |
| 15:05 | Hilary Newmarch – A parent and educator’s perspective of EBSNA |
| 15:15 | Dr. Sophie Epstein – Overview of the links between mental health and attendance at school |
| 15:35 | Q&A with Dr. Sophie Epstein |
| 15:40 | Dr. Joanna Reid – “The anxiety would not let me”: Mental health and Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance – insights from young people, parents and school staff. |
| 16:00 | Q&A with Dr. Joanna Reid |
| 16:05 | Igraine Rhodes – Emerging evidence on approaches to improving school attendance |
| 16:25 | Q&A with Igraine Rhodes |
| 16:30 | Panel discussion and audience Q&A |
| 16:55 | Prof. Tamsin Ford – Closing remarks |
| 17:00 | Close |
Infographic
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