Solving School Avoidance: Strategies for Schools Artwork

Conversations About Student Mental Health

In this podcast, we talk with school administrators, educators, clinicians, and parents to open a dialogue that will help the growing number of students struggling with mental illness.

All Episodes

Conversations About Student Mental Health

Solving School Avoidance: Strategies for Schools

September 23, 2019 • Christopher J. Leonard, MSW, LCSW, M.ED • Season 1 • Episode 4

In this episode, Chris Leonard talks with Linda McGovern, a mental health clinician embedded full time in the Randolph, New Jersey public school district. Linda has worked effectively with many students struggling with school avoidance, and offers advice and specific strategies that schools can use to transition these students back to school.

Highlights include:

How to build a support team (and who should be on it).
Why a disciplinary approach doesn’t work (and what works better).
The role and responsibilities of an embedded clinician vs. a school counselor.
The key to success with family involvement.
Tips for implementing accommodations for school avoidant students.