What Does School Refusal Look Like? A Story of Mental Health

Becca is from all accounts a very normal elementary school student who loves school. She is not what comes to mind when you think of mental health. In fact, she comes from a stable, middle-class family that has avoided many of the risk factors that are often associated with mental health. But last year they were rocked with a mental health issue they didn’t see coming: anxiety and school refusal. Anxiety-based school refusal affects 2 to 5 percent of school-age children. Last year, what started for Becca as a simple digestion issue turned into full-fledged battle every morning.

August 2, 2019