Rethinking School – The Issues With Mental Health Support

Week 13 - of our Rethinking School Series

Last week, we explored the challenges ADHD students face when formal support ends, and how some families turn to homeschooling to provide stability. This week, our focus moves to mental health—a factor increasingly influencing the educational choices families make. Rising anxiety, depression, and stress among students are leading more parents to seek alternatives to mainstream schooling. For some, homeschooling offers a safer, more flexible environment; for others, it’s a last resort when schools can’t meet their child’s emotional needs. Understanding the link between mental health and education is vital if we’re to create learning spaces where every student can thrive. This blog may seem repetitive compared to the previous ones because the same issues persist - the ability to address these needs is still lacking.

Across the country, more families are making difficult decisions about their children’s education. One of the most pressing factors behind this shift is the rise in depression and anxiety among young people. For some, mainstream schooling feels overwhelming or even impossible when mental health needs go unmet. For others, homeschooling emerges as a lifeline—providing a gentler, more flexible environment where recovery and learning can happen side by side.

When a child is living with depression or anxiety, it isn’t a matter of disliking school. These conditions can strip away energy, concentration, and confidence, making even the simplest academic tasks feel insurmountable. Without timely intervention, attendance drops, academic progress stalls, and self-esteem plummets. Yet families often find themselves trapped in long waiting lists for assessments and treatment, watching months or even years pass with little support in sight.

Before the pandemic, waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) averaged close to a year in many regions. Now, some families report waits stretching beyond three years just to reach an initial appointment. In the meantime, children are left without therapy, without consistent support, and, too often, without hope. For parents relying on the NHS, the reality is one of endless phone calls, repeated assessments, and a system that simply cannot keep pace with demand. Those able to pursue private care may access help sooner, but for many, the costs make this option out of reach.

Medication can also be a major obstacle. Even once a child is finally assessed and prescribed treatment, shortages and delays in supply mean that stabilising symptoms is far from straightforward. Periods without access to antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication can undo weeks of progress, plunging children back into crisis. Schools, meanwhile, are left to manage the fallout, often without adequate resources or training to meet complex mental health needs.

Compulsory attendance policies only intensify the strain. Expecting a young person in the midst of severe depression to attend school every day overlooks the reality of their condition. Fatigue, panic attacks, or emotional shutdowns are not acts of defiance—they are symptoms of illness. Forcing attendance under these circumstances can make recovery harder, not easier. Similarly, expecting students in crisis to sit high-stakes exams at a fixed moment in time rarely produces a fair reflection of their ability. Instead, it often reduces years of education to grades shaped more by illness than by talent.

This is where homeschooling can offer an alternative. By stepping away from the rigid structure of mainstream schooling, families can create an environment that better accommodates recovery. Flexibility becomes the key: learning in shorter sessions, building in rest, incorporating physical activity, and allowing children to re-engage gradually as their health improves. Without the constant pressures of crowded classrooms and fixed timetables, many young people rediscover both a capacity for learning and a sense of control over their lives.

When supporting learners with depression and anxiety, the starting point is always wellbeing. If concentration is poor or motivation is low, we pause formal lessons and focus instead on routines that nurture recovery—rest, healthy eating, gentle exercise, and connection with supportive adults.

When learning resumes, we tailor it carefully. A short exercise and one-to-one conversation might be all that is possible on a difficult day. On stronger days, sessions can be extended or expanded into group activities. Importantly, participation is always offered, never forced, so that learners remain in control of their own pace.

Young people struggling with depression and anxiety are often acutely aware of their challenges and can feel isolated or left behind. By keeping education flexible and centred on wellbeing, we aim to protect their mental health while maintaining connection and progress. If that means working in 15-minute bursts or shifting focus entirely for a day, then that is the right approach. Education should never come at the cost of a child’s recovery.

This week, we’ve examined how mental health challenges are driving more families to choose homeschooling, whether as a proactive step toward wellbeing or a necessary response to unmet needs in mainstream education.

The conversation doesn’t end here—next week, we’ll be turning our attention to young carers, exploring the unique pressures they face and how their responsibilities impact both education and mental health.