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The implications of Australia’s long Covid lockdowns during the pandemic now threaten to “end the lives” of students too anxious and scared to attend school.
Melbourne has experienced the longest pandemic lockdown in the world and the city has become the epicenter of so-called “school refusal” and its treatment.
Mental health social worker John Chellew’s clinic, which treats children who are afraid of going to school and their families, has never been busier.
“I deal with kids who have shut down and gone on strike and are locked in their rooms and there’s massive conflict at home,” he said. 60 minutes Sunday night.
The situation can sometimes lead to horrifying and hopeless thoughts. “The children have lost the will to live and are in real danger of ending their lives,” Mr Chellew said.
It’s not that children have lost the desire to be educated, but the anxiety they feel has caused them to refuse to go to school.
Year 10 student Sarah Turner, 16, is among those deeply affected by Melbourne’s Covid lockdowns.
“I used to love school,” she says. “I was very sociable and did a lot of things before the lockdowns.
“It was only after the lockdowns, where we were at home a lot, that I started not wanting to go out and finding, getting really anxious about going out.”
The implications of Australia’s long Covid lockdowns during the pandemic have left some students too anxious and scared to attend school. Sarah Turner, 16, is pictured
Sarah has missed more than 50 percent of school over the past two years.
“It felt like it was almost impossible to go to school. It wasn’t some sort of choice. It was like I just felt like I physically couldn’t face this fear,” she said.
“I feel weak and sick and weak and my heart is racing and shaking and stuff like that.
“Some of my hardest days, I was just having panic attacks all morning and I couldn’t move or I could, even if I was driving to school, I couldn’t get out or I was going out and I felt like I was freezing.
Mr Chellew said no type of child was affected. “It’s an issue that affects children ages five to 17 of school age, from all backgrounds and from neurodiverse and neurotypical backgrounds.”