school refusal and anxiety

My second item of interest, is taken from a presentation from the IASSW conference.  The presentation was sponsored by AMITA Health and it first provides framework for understanding a trauma informed focused. As the presentation goes on, it gives interventions to use for students that are high anxiety and that are refusing school.  One of the highlights of the presentation is a slide that contains a chart that students can use to rate their anxiety and then list coping skills that they can use to bring that anxiety to a lower level.  The anxiety rating scale is out of 10 and I thought it was neat that this chart also contained physical symptoms.  I feel like whenever I have worked with students that have anxiety I do not think I’ve focused on the physical symptoms of the anxiety.  I think that helping students identify any potential triggers. I think that explaining students how anxiety can impact their physical bodies is also a good psychoeducational tool to have.  The presentation also explains the impacts of the downstairs and upstairs brain and how each part can impact an individual’s behavior. Trauma impacts the downstairs brain by overdeveloping the areas that are primarily responsible for keeping us safe and alive.  The whole presentation also provides interventions that we can use in the school setting to accommodate students with anxiety or that are refusing schools.  It breaks down interventions from the macro levels to the micro levels as well.