Your therapist told you to “push through.” The research says that’s only part of the answer. School refusal isn’t laziness. It isn’t manipulation. It’s a body in genuine distress - and right now, more kids than ever are in it. Up to 5% of Australian kids experience school refusal, and cases have more than doubled since COVID. More than 1 in 4 US students are chronically absent. In the UK, persistent absenteeism sits at 18%. In NZ, only 69% of students are attending regularly. In Canada, 1 in 5 students are persistently absent - a 60% jump since pre-pandemic. Among kids already seeing a clinician, school refusal can affect as many as 16% - and anxiety-driven absences may account for up to 35% of all chronic absenteeism. This isn’t a handful of “difficult” kids. It’s a pattern. Here’s what the research also tells us: CBT works. BUT it only works once the alarm bell in your child’s nervous system is turned off first. Skip that step and you’re asking a dysregulated body ...