Parents in the thick of it
Your child is refusing school or missing days because of anxiety and emotional distress — and mornings have become the hardest part of your day.
A lifeline for parents
Overcoming School Avoidance
Navigating a silent crisis — a transformative guide to one of today’s fastest-growing parenting challenges.
Is your child refusing — or struggling — to go to school? You’re not alone. School avoidance is a misunderstood behavior rooted in anxiety, emotional distress and mental health, not defiance. This book brings you real stories, expert insight and strategies you can use tomorrow morning.
- 11
- expert contributors
- 2009
- when this journey began
- 1
- parent who lived it
With contributions from clinicians at
Yale Child Study CenterUNLVInStride HealthAnxiety InstituteThe Spire School
About the book
Who is it for?
Families feeling judged
You've been told to be firmer, or that they'll grow out of it. You need answers from people who actually understand what's happening.
Caregivers who want more than discipline
Consequence charts didn't work. You're looking for compassionate strategies grounded in real clinical practice.
Educators & clinicians
School teams and providers who want to genuinely understand school-avoidant students and respond in a way that helps.
Inside the pages
What you’ll discover
A return-to-school plan without power struggles
Proven, step-by-step strategies for rebuilding attendance at a pace your child can actually sustain.
How to advocate with your school
How to collaborate with staff, ask for the right supports and keep the plan moving between meetings.
Truancy law and the education system
What to expect from attendance policy, 504s and IEPs when the system doesn't yet understand avoidance.
Insight from clinicians and parents
Perspectives from leading mental health professionals alongside the lived experience of a thriving parent community.
Structure with emotional support
Clear, compassionate guidance on holding boundaries without breaking connection.
Real family stories
Honest accounts from families who lived it — including what they'd do differently.
Contributing experts
Eleven voices, one plan
Clinicians, researchers, educators, an attorney and a young adult who lived it — each contributing the piece of the picture families are usually missing.
Dr. Rebecca Etkin
Yale Child Study Center
Licensed clinical psychologist and postdoctoral associate in Yale's Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program. A leading SPACE clinician, trainer and supervisor who has worked with over a hundred families.
Dr. Christopher Kearney
UNLV · Creator of the SRAS
Clinical child psychologist and distinguished professor at UNLV, director of the Child School Refusal and Anxiety Disorders Clinic and creator of the School Refusal Assessment Scale.
Dr. Daniel P. Villiers
Mountain Valley & Anxiety Institute
Counseling psychologist and co-founder of Mountain Valley Treatment Center and the Anxiety Institute. Two decades building programs for youth with anxiety, OCD and school avoidance.
Dr. Rebecca Sachs
CBT Spectrum
Board-certified clinical psychologist, founder of CBT Spectrum and co-director of Successful School Transitions, a program built specifically around school refusal.
Dr. Mona Potter
InStride Health
Child and adolescent psychiatrist, co-founder and CMO of InStride Health, formerly medical director at McLean Hospital where she co-developed the Anxiety Mastery Program.
Penny Williams
Parenting coach & author
Award-winning author of four books and host of the Beautifully Complex podcast, supporting families raising neurodivergent children using neuroscience-based approaches.
Willow Williams
Advocate · lived experience
A 21-year-old advocate with autism and lived experience of school avoidance, exploring careers from music and voice acting to nursing and elder care.
Dr. Erica Miller
Connected Minds NYC
Licensed clinical psychologist, founder of Connected Minds NYC and co-founder of Successful School Transitions. Adjunct associate professor at Teachers College, Columbia.
Dr. Tammy Moscrip
The Spire School
Licensed clinical social worker and executive director of The Spire School, a therapeutic day school in Connecticut for struggling students in Grades 8–12.
DN
Dr. Dina Nunziato
Anxiety Institute
Chief clinical officer at the Anxiety Institute in Greenwich, Connecticut. Two decades in cognitive-behavioral therapy with published research on mindfulness and academic success.
SE
A special education attorney
Anonymous contributor
A seasoned special education attorney who represents school districts, unnamed for professional reasons, offering a rare view of advocacy, legal responsibility and access.
About the author
Jayne Demsky
Founder & CEO, School Avoidance Alliance
When her son began struggling with school avoidance in 2009, there was little information available and even less understanding from schools. Like many families, Jayne faced stigma, confusion and a steep learning curve while supporting a child through severe anxiety and depression.
After years of research, advocacy and work with experienced mental health providers, her son returned to a stable and fulfilling life — but she never forgot how isolating the journey had been. That grassroots effort became the School Avoidance Alliance, a national movement bridging families, schools and mental health professionals.
Jayne is a founding member of Attendance USA and works with educators, clinicians and policymakers to raise awareness, deliver training and support families facing this crisis.
No family should have to go through what we did — uninformed, unsupported and misunderstood. That’s why I built the School Avoidance Alliance: to bring hope, solutions and connection to others.
Buy now
Ready to take the first step?
Get Overcoming School Avoidance today and help your child return to a healthy, fulfilling school life — with you as their strongest ally.