Safe Place Counselling with Vanessa Phillips

17/11/2025

A highly recommended directory for those looking for a counsellor in Cornwall

08/11/2025

Working hard perfecting co-regulation skills 🐾

21/09/2025

06/09/2025

Exactly

31/08/2025

This!

Dear Bridget Phillipson,

As a Clinical Psychologist and parent, I'm deeply concerned by your recent comments about school attendance. You've fallen into a classic correlation-versus-causation error.

Children who miss the first week aren't absent because they "started badly" - they're likely facing underlying challenges that make school psychologically unsafe. When 1.6 million pupils are persistently absent, that's not a compliance problem - it's a design failure.

The real question isn't "How do we get children into classrooms?" but "Why are so many children unable to attend school?"

In my clinical practice, I regularly see:
• Children with neurodivergent profiles struggling with the school environment
• Pupils experiencing school-based anxiety so severe it manifests as physical symptoms
• Families forced into "elective" home education because schools can't meet their child's needs
• Children whose attendance difficulties stem from trauma responses

Fining struggling families adds pressure without addressing root causes.

Instead of focusing on compliance, let's ask:
- What makes school feel unsafe for so many children?
- How can we adapt environments to meet diverse needs?
- What support do families actually need?

Every child deserves education that supports both learning AND wellbeing. That sounds really hard for our education system, but it's exactly what our children deserve.

Dr. Natasha Holden
Clinical Psychologist & PDA Mum

21/08/2025

So damn proud of all my yr11 clients for proving that difficulties with school attendance does not make you a failure. The pressures of these messages however, mess with your mental health.

12/08/2025

02/08/2025

Psychologists Demand Urgent Education Reform to Protect Children's Mental Health