The stomach aches that weren’t about school
Composite and anonymised, drawn from patterns across many families.
A young person stops wanting to go to school. Everyone assumes it's about school. Often, it isn't.
A young person starts feeling sick every weekday morning. By Saturday it's gone. The GP finds nothing. School suggests anxiety. Everyone starts looking at the child.
What often gets missed is everything around them. A parent's recent job change. A family member who became unwell. An older sibling who left home. A change of school. None of these may be the single cause but a young person absorbs all of it, and the body will sometimes say what they, or their family, hasn't yet found words for.
A problem rarely belongs to one person. It sits between people, in the patterns and pressures of the systems we live in.
Often the presenting problem turns out to be the most visible part of something wider. Sometimes the relief comes not from solving it directly, but from everyone seeing it differently.
"The symptom usually isn't the whole story, it's often the most visible part of something the whole family is carrying."
If any of this feels familiar, you're welcome to get in touch. Every family's version of this looks different, but the pattern of everyone trying their best while still feeling stuck is a common one.