School
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School Attendance and Mental Health: Evidence, Barriers and Effective Support for Young People
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.
- Event type
- Advanced session
- Location
- LIVE STREAM
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Reimagining SEND: Policy, Inclusive Education, and System Change
The SEND landscape in England is entering one of its most significant periods of reform since the Children and Families Act 2014. This evidence-informed practice-focused event will provide delegates with a clear understanding of the emerging policy direction, while critically examining what the reforms may mean for practice, service delivery and outcomes for children and young people.
- Event type
- Introductory and Update Session
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Meet the expert on mentalising – Dr. Emma Morris
Discover how mentalising therapy supports children and families facing complex trauma. Join Emma Morris at the ACAMH workshop on 14 October 2026.
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EBSA in young people: complexity, pressure, and the value of slowing down
When a child stops going to school, the wish to help them back quickly is easy to understand. Emotionally based school avoidance rarely has a single cause, though, and the pace of a response can matter as much as its content. One thought runs through what follows: that slowing down can sometimes do more for a child than any effort to hurry a return.
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Mental Health and School Achievement: Why Gender and Age at Onset Matter
Discover how mental health conditions impact school performance in children and adolescents. Explore research on over 837,000 young people, highlighting the effects of anxiety, depression, gender differences, and age of onset on academic achievement—and why early support matters.
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How to Support Distressed Pupils: School-Based Resilience Training
This training introduces school staff to an evidence-informed approach for supporting children and young people experiencing distress. Led by Dr. Arnon Bentovim, this session is run collaboration with Child and Family Training.
- Event type
- Introductory and Update Session
- Location
- Online
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Debate – Regulating Social Media Use in Children and Young People – Are bans justified?
This 1.5-hour online debate brings together leading experts to examine whether age-based social media bans are an appropriate policy response to concerns about children and young people’s mental health.
- Event type
- Debate
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20
Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) in Practice: Evidence, Complexity, and Recovery-Oriented Approaches
Explore emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA) in practice with this ACAMH evidence‑led update. Learn about the latest research, complex cases, and recovery‑oriented approaches for supporting children and families affected by school avoidance.
- Event type
- Update session
- Location
- LIVE STREAM
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School mental health, with Professor Mark D Weist
We caught up with the presenter – Professor Mark D Weist, Professor in the School of Community Health Sciences at the University of South Carolina and Director of the South Carolina School Behavioral Health Academy – to talk about the topic itself, his career, and his hopes for the event.
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Special Educational Needs and Young People Involved in Violence
Children and young people with special educational needs (SENs) are more likely to commit violent offences compared to those without SENs. Our research team used existing data from school and police records from over 1.5 million children and young people to unpack this relationship. The aim of our project was to identify what works to reduce violent offending and re-offending in children and young people with SENs.
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