The School Can't Experience

You can contact us to volunteer to share your School Can’t story or some feedback via email on [email protected] Tammy is a single mum in Sydney and a trauma therapist, and her son is almost 12. He started school during COVID, and for the first few years things were mostly okay: some opting out here and there, a few rough patches with teachers that were repaired, and a lot of good friendships. In Year 3 that changed. He started calling school “jail”, asking why he was s...

“An empty seat is a signal. It’s not a diagnosis.” That was the opening message at this year’s International Network for School Attendance (INSA) conference in Spain, and School Can’t Australia’s Tiffany Westphal came home encouraged. Content warning: This episode includes brief mentions of suicidal ideation and self-harm in young people. If that isn’t something you can hear right now, please skip this one or come back to it later. Tiffany shares what has shifted internationally, with more re...

Nina’s son was a bright, quirky young person who loved rocket science, coding and books. By high school he was having panic attacks every morning, and a ten minute walk to school could take an hour. Then, in Year 11, he was told that if he stayed in his ATAR subjects, his low marks would ruin his friends’ chances of success. When Nina investigated, she found the school was describing how the system is actually designed. Content warning: This episode includes discussion of suicide, including t...

At 20, Angelina is studying paramedicine at university and scoring 96% in her exams. A few years ago, she couldn’t get through a school day. Angelina was a conscientious, high-achieving student until Year 10, when she suddenly found she couldn’t do her schoolwork, even in subjects she loved. She describes it like trying to touch a hot plate: you want to, but your brain physically stops you. Anxiety and low mood followed, and with them a cycle many families will recognise: the work brought her...

This episode is a collaboration between School Can't Australia and Yellow Ladybugs made possible through funding from the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building Grant. This is the second of two special episodes with Yellow Ladybugs, who are dedicated to the happiness, success, and celebration of autistic girls, women, and gender diverse folk. Leisa is joined again by founder Katie Koullas and Natasha Staheli. In the first episode of this series, they talked about distress that is channel...