Issido House Clinic

17/02/2026

27/01/2026

I have been listening to coversations this week about the reasons that children in Ireland are not attending school. Often these discussions do not recognise that for so many of these children it is a case of Can't not Won't.

So many of our children and teens who have attendance issues are struggling with school anxiety and distress. Unfortunately due to our systems for recording this data, we have no idea of accurate numbers. But based on my conversations with parents, they are higher than we think.

Anna Maxwell Martin really understands this issue, as she has personal experience of it. I think for so many of us who feel passionate about school distress, we have seen first hand the devastating impact that this has had on our children, often leading to burnout. We need to stop focusing on parents as the problem, and start to look at the wider context, and consider how we can make school feel safer for these children.



[Photo Credit: Netmums]

02/02/2024

We are now into the last 27 days which you are able to grab a spot on this programme before it goes up!

If you were wanting to come along you have until the end of feb to make it happen! Plans are also available if you want to spread the LOVE!

See you there!

thenurtureprogramme.co.uk/radical

14/11/2023

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzlyuX6s76S/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

13/10/2023

14/07/2023

It’s a toolbox ,,,,

20/06/2023

The rhetoric on school attendance gets ever stronger. Banners are posted around schools, telling young people that every minute missed will damage their chances in life – for ever. Parents are fined and threatened with court and told they are denying their children a good start if they don’t drag them in – literally, in some cases. In their pyjamas. The children’s commissioner says the best place for every child is in school.

And yet children do not all thrive at school. School is only one way to learn, and it doesn’t work for everyone. As schooling gets more rigid, with less play and less flexibility, more children suffer. They are the casualties of the system – but they’re treated like the criminals. The outcasts.

They’re told that not only are they not thriving now, they won’t thrive ever, because attending school is the only way they’ll ever learn. They’re told there’s no hope for their future if they don’t get good GCSEs, even though we know that 30% of them will fail. Their parents are told they need to use ‘tough love’ or else it will all be their fault.

It all adds up to pressure on young people and their families. Pressure to go in, no matter what. Pressure to pretend it’s okay, when it’s not. Pressure when they can’t go to school, because they feel terrible. Things aren’t just bad now, they think. They’ll be bad for ever.

We need to stop telling our young people that’s their fault when school doesn’t work for them. We need to stop telling them that the only options are school or failure. We need to tell them that there’s hope for their future, and we’ll help them see it. We need to meet them where they are, and help them see a way forward. Even if that doesn’t include school.

Our young people are listening, and they believe us. Let’s tell them something worth hearing.

Dr Naomi Fisher
Missing The Mark

06/06/2023

From OT site….

06/06/2023

This is so true….

When do problems in school start?

03/04/2023

[Image of text reading:

“INCLUSIVE EDUCATION is about all students learning together in the same classroom with appropriate individual supports. Students learning separated from their class - in the corner with an assistant, on the bench outside, in a separate class or unit or in a separate school are all forms of SEGREGATION and NOT inclusive education”]