School anxiety is rising sharply across Ireland with more children than ever unable to walk through the school gate. For some children it’s anxiety that’s become so overwhelming, school itself feels dangerous. For others, especially neurodivergent children, it’s a rigid system that just doesn’t meet their needs.

On Life Unfiltered, Maria McHale talked to Bronagh Starrs, mental health educator and author of I Can’t Go In, on the four-stage strategy she’s developed for parents watching their child freeze at the door. And Nessa Hill, chief executive of Neurodiversity Ireland who is herself late-diagnosed AuDHD with PDA, and mother to two daughters with the same profile – on why she believes this isn’t a parenting problem, it’s a systems one, and what needs to change. You can listen back here.