EBSA Horizons | Parent & Carer Course and Resources

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Who We Are:

EdPsychEd are a team of passionate Child and Educational Psychologists that want to empower parents/carers and professionals by having the most useful knowledge and resources that can help make a difference in the lives of children and young people through online courses and resources. To date, over 7,000 people have accessed EdPsychEd courses, with over 95% rating them as 'Great' or 'Excellent'. All courses and resources are online and on-demand.

What's Included:

Short engaging videos which parents and carers can dip in and out of;
All content subdivided into clear chapters with clear plans and resources in each to support development of a personalised plan for your child;
Parent/carer and child interviews embedded throughout, including those with experiences of home education, specialist provision and returning to mainstream school.

Chapter 1: Making Sense of Barriers to School Attendance and Wellbeing

What is Emotionally Based School Avoidance / Emotionally Based Barriers to School Attendance (EBSA)
Moving away from a School Refusal narrative & understanding the multi-faceted nature of school avoidance and inextricable link to the wider environmental context
Rachel’s Story: A young person’s perspective of EBSA
Understanding the barriers to your child’s wellbeing and attendance

Approx Length (45 mins - 1 hour)

Chapter 2: Self-care and understanding the impact of EBSA on the whole family

Family experiences of EBSA
Parent video talking about impact on the family
Creating a family self-care plan

Approx Length (30 minutes)

Chapter 3: An in-depth look at anxiety and EBSA

What is anxiety and how does it interact with school avoidance
Empowering your child to have their voice heard
Supporting your child with anxiety
Understanding your child’s experience of anxiety and what helps

Approx Length (45 mins - 1 hour)

Chapters 4 and 5 help guide parents and carers depending on their current context (i.e. whether the CYP are within a place where they could consider a return to school or not)

Chapter 4: Working with School to support your child to return to school/stabilise attendance

Establishing a compassionate team around your child at school
Getting the most from meetings with school (preparation framework)
Ladder of Strength of Courage: Planning a gradual return to school
Parent interview: supporting a child to return to mainstream school
Reflective activity: Creating a small steps plan with your CYP

Approx Length (45 mins - 1 hour)

Chapter 5: Moving from Recovery to Rediscovery

Introduction to Recovery to Rediscovery Model
Interview with Red Balloon – specialist provision/what to expect
Parent Interview: Building Outwards from Home & returning to mainstream school
Guide to low demand parenting

Approx Length (45 mins - 1 hour)

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Course Leader

Dr Jerricah Holder (Child & Educational Psychologist) has worked with Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) for over 10 years, and been passionately involved with the development of guidelines and training used by Educational Psychologists across the UK.

Comments from Parents about EBSA Horizons:

"My daughter, while still attending school, showed emotional distress every morning before attending school. This resulted in a number of psychosomatic symptoms and it was stressful for the whole family. We really wanted to support her and didn’t know whether keeping her off school would help.

The EBSA course helped me to understand where she was on the spectrum of needs. The anxiety cycle was clearly explained and it validated that we were doing the right thing in helping her to address her fears. The course encouraged us to reflect what possible situations could have triggered EBSA and how we could help our daughter to develop coping strategies, working with school to make personalisedaccommodations.

I found it useful, informative and more than anything, it understood what our experience as a family was. I would highly recommend to other families experiencing EBSA, wherever their child is on the spectrum of EBSA needs. Thank you!"

"As a parent, I found the course incredibly valuable and informative. The update in terminology from "School refusal" to "emotionally based school avoidance" was particularly insightful and reflective of a more nuanced understanding of our child's difficulties.

The quadrant of needs tool provided in the course was truly helpful in comprehensively assessing different aspects impacting on our child and helped the responsibility feel shared between all parties.

I greatly appreciated the emphasis on individualised and personalised care throughout the training. It's evident that this approach is essential for supporting children effectively. The acknowledgment of the inflexibility within school systems comes through strongly. Both of these considerations feel like a breath of fresh air.

One of the highlights for me was hearing from other parents themselves during the training. Their experiences were both informative and moving, and it was comforting to know that other parents share similar struggles and concerns."

Educational Psychologists and School Staff Course Comments:

"Proactive, person centred and research based approach to supporting increasing the mental health, wellbeing and attendance of pupils who are experiencing emotionally based school avoidance."

"It is the most helpful, informative, resourceful and interesting course I have taken in my career in working in schools - this course was fantastic. It has really given me a much better picture and understanding of EBSA."

"A clear, structured approach to a greater understanding of EBSA , its impact and the role all adults have to play when supporting C&YP."

"A course that takes you though every stage - in depth, in your journey to supporting a CYP with EBSA."

"It is a really useful tool to use in the understanding and identification of students facing EBSA and how we can raise awareness and hopefully help at as early a stage as possible."

"A course providing a clear understanding that anxiety about school is a real thing which effects a child's well being."

"This course is such a great tool in helping to understand the functions and background to EBSA so that we can support CYP, their families and schools in developing their own understanding."

"This is a fantastic course that is presented in bite size chunks, so that you can do as much or as little as you feel able to at any one time. There is a really good balance between theory and research, practical tools and strategies, and some tips and personal experience from Jerricah - definitely worth investing the time!"

"Provides a really good background to the difficulties experienced by children with EBSA and the tools to help schools and parents/carers devise strategies to support the child return to school. "

You can take a look at more feedback and comments for both EBSA Horizons courses here: