Mental Health Expert Offers Back to School Transition Tips

Going back to school is an important emotional transition that requires thought and planning for its psychological effects.

Mental health expert Noel McDermott offers insights on changes parents can make based on their child’s age and school experience. Transition issues are lifelong (change is constant), making back to school and holiday prep effective opportunities to equip kids with valuable lifelong skills.

Return to school is a psychological transition as it is a change to one of the three central life circumstances that produce transition responses in all of us. Those life circumstances are: 

• Home (safe place offering emotional safety and meeting survival needs for shelter, food etc)
• Work/school  (meaningful activity with obligation and linked to survival needs being met) 
• Love relationships (family, close friends, intimate partners etc)  

Changes in key life areas may lead to behavioral and emotional disturbances, resulting in A) regression to past coping mechanisms or B) adaptations with new ones. Coping mechanisms aim to manage distress, but some can be unhealthy or even destructive.

Noel remarks that regressions often go unnoticed when age-appropriate, but if they reemerge later, it can cause concern. Regression is normal during transitions, as are adaptations, but it’s crucial to assess if these behaviors are helpful. Maladaptive adaptations can include aggression, self-harm, substance misuse, or less obvious signs like sleep disturbances and mood changes.

Returning to school may not trigger noticeable regressions if it’s a positive experience for your child, yet practicing change management remains beneficial.

Key strategies for reducing the risk of disturbances during transitions include:

• Normalisation – knowing and accepting that transitions can be upsetting allows us to normalise and explain to ourselves and our kids what is happening. Often, it’s the magnification or catastrophising of the behaviours that is the problem. When we can say, ‘oh this is normal’ during times of change we can manage things better
• PPP – plan, prepare and practice. Plan: If you know the change is coming, discuss it before it happens, if it’s a big change start the discussions early, some months before. Prepare: Get folk on board with organising the practicalities which facilitates normalisation, discussion and empowerment. Practice: If say moving to a new school,, go visit the new area. Build an emotional ‘on ramp’ that allows the reality of the change to be grown into, as opposed to an emotional cliff edge where you all fall off and smash into the rocks of the new reality below
• Increase soothing and support for all before, during and after the change. More movie nights on the sofa, more self-care, more massages, more spa days, more friends and fun, more family meets and openness about feelings, tell the school, work and all support networks about the transition and ask for understanding  
• Refocus on the four corners of health and wellbeing – 1. nutrition (hydration)  – eat well and regularly (in between the movie night binges of course!), 2. sleep and rest regularly, 3. get moving and exercise, 4. manage stress with relaxation, massage, meditation

Often adopting these approaches can minimize negative transition issues. If there are histories of mental health issues or addictions, it’s crucial to focus on support and create relapse prevention plans. Practicing these strategies early on will help your family default to healthy behaviors during significant transitions.

Creating a structured daily schedule, including sleep and tasks, is important. For younger children, integrating schoolwork and having peers work together can be beneficial. Discussing school feelings and plans with your child helps reduce anxiety through graduated exposure to potential triggers.

Mental health expert Noel McDermott, with over 30 years of experience, runs Mental Health Works, offering unique mental health services and personalized team coordination. For more information, visit Mental Health Works.