Aim: This presentation aims to deepen understanding of emotion-based school avoidance (EBSA) and provide educators and clinicians with clear, evidence-based intervention ideas that are practical to implement. It also explores what schools can do to meaningfully reengage learners who are struggling to attend based on recent research.
Background/context: EBSA is a complex and increasingly prevalent challenge with significant consequences for students' academic engagement, social development, and long-term wellbeing. School avoidance rarely reflects a single cause, instead emerging from an interplay of individual, relational, school, and family factors — many of which are rooted in experiences of stress, anxiety, and trauma.
Relevance: The presentation applies a trauma-informed lens to school avoidance, moving beyond punitive or attendance-focused responses. The Reconnect to School Kit supports educators and clinicians to identify the drivers of a student's avoidance and choose targeted, evidence-based interventions to address them.
Contribution: This work offers a cross-sector framework for collaborative, evidence-based responses to EBSA, and introduces a completely free digital case formulation tool that translates trauma-informed principles into everyday school and clinical practice.
Description: Practitioners work through a structured set of questions about the student's presenting situation, drawing on information gathered from the student, family, and school. The tool analyses these responses to generate tailored intervention recommendations that can guide planning across home, school, and clinical settings.
Engagement: Attendees will be invited to explore the digital tool and reflect on case-based examples, leaving with practical strategies for identifying and managing drivers of school avoidance.

This presentation highlights the importance of explicitly supporting relationships and restoration for students experiencing school exclusion and disconnection through Relational Mapping.

South Australian Behaviour and Learning Centres work with students excluded or disconnected from school due to behaviour and complex learning needs. These students often have experiences of complex trauma, exacerbated through school and family relational ruptures. By focusing on relationships with the Relational Mapping tool (contextualised by Learning and Behaviour units), students are encouraged to narrate their lived experiences, bringing to light both strengths and gaps within their relational networks.

Relational Mapping is a student-centred practice that makes psychological safety foundational, enabling students to candidly map their connections with adults and peers. The stories that emerge reveal where support and repair are needed and possibilities for developing new, positive connections. Insights gained do more than paint a picture; they inform the co-design of tailored intervention plans, directing attention to repairing ruptured/stressed/uncertain relationships while strengthening and leveraging existing bonds. This process provides a roadmap for healing, growth, and genuine transformation.

This presentation will explain the underlying importance of relationships to trauma-informed education and how this has been actioned through the Relational Mapping tool. Participants will develop an understanding of this strategy that brings relational practice to life. Schools adopting this approach create environments where every student’s voice matters and opportunities for connection and wellbeing are actively pursued. Participants will see actual mapping undertaken with students and practise using the relational mapping exercise at their own sites.