Why won’t I just stay in my lane, stop talking about our school system and get on with treating mental health problems? Because every day I hear about practices in schools which cause distress - and I’m being asked to resolve the distress as if it, not the practice, is the problem. I’m being asked to be complicit in practices which are damaging to young people’s well-being. I’m being asked to tell young people that the problem is them, that they’re wrong to feel the way they do and with a bit of therapy they can go back to the unchanged system. I’m being asked to tell them that the system is right and they are wrong. What practices, you ask? Putting young people into isolation for haircuts, or nose piercings. Instant detentions for minor uniform transgressions. Young people who have struggled into school being greeted with a behaviour point because they were three minutes late, and then another behaviour point for not taking their coat off immediately. Children who have had a very difficult term ending it off with being excluded from the school trip due to poor attendance. I hear these stories from multiple families, all over the UK. There’s nothing wrong with people who feel distressed and anxious when they are in a system which creates distress and anxiety. Our children aren’t the problem, they are pointing out the problem.
