It’s only now, looking back, that I can see my body was in constant fight or flight mode. For YEARS. At times suffering three panic attacks/meltdowns a day, anxiety, OCD obsessions and compulsions, school trauma, running away from school, constant distress. I was only able to start to heal after leaving school. Even though at the time I didn’t want to leave, that daily pressure from an environment and expectations my neurodivergent teen self couldn’t handle was damaging. Our Education Secretary @bphillipsonMP said today that ‘I make no apologies for saying the best place for children is in school.’ This might be true for the majority of children. But why can’t there ever be a simple acknowledgement of the children who are broken by school, bullied horrendously and traumatised day after day? She also said ‘This week must be back-to-school week, not just for some children, but for all children.’ Which is ironic considering the number of children with SEND/additional needs who desperately want to go to school but don’t have a school place because there aren’t enough specialist provisions or schools able to meet their needs. The article in The Times today said ‘A new analysis compiled by the Department for Education (DfE) has found that every day missed from the classroom will cost absent children “hundreds of pounds” in wages over their lifetime.’ Correlation doesn’t equal causation. There could be a range of reasons why poorer absence at school could correlate to lower earnings in the future, regardless of missed education. For example health difficulties, poverty etc. My school attendance at one stage was 22%. I was in hospital, unwell, or else too anxious or depressed to go in. As a result of my experiences I chose to go into nursing, which tends to be lower paid than other careers I had considered. So there’s one example. Today’s Sunday looked very different from years of other Sunday’s. I am grateful for that. #MentalHealth #Autistic #MentalHealthAwareness #SchoolAnxiety #Autism #AutismAwareness #SEND #ADHD