Working With Schools
Working in Schools
We work in schools and know how valuable it is to build trusting relationships with staff, students, and families. Our occupational therapists support SEN schools across Kent with bespoke packages that make school life more enjoyable and accessible for everyone. By tailoring sessions to each student’s needs, we help them concentrate, engage, and feel confident in learning.
We also provide assessments and reports to support processes like EHCPs, making sure teachers and families have the evidence they require. Sometimes, schools bring students to Oak Therapies for extra support they can’t provide on-site. Whatever the situation, we aim to be a bridge that connects schools, families, and children with the tools they need to succeed.
We help with a variety of difficulties such as:
- School non-attenders
- Children who struggle in a classroom setting
- Dysregulated children
- Children who don’t like or can’t access education
- Bad experiences from previous schools
Lola’s story
I was recommended Oak Therapies by a friend as I was struggling to understand my eldest daughter’s behaviour and to know how to help her. I had been trying for many many years to get someone to listen to me and to understand that she appears to be a wonderfully calm, well behaved child at school but at home we were getting a completely different child.
We have been working with Caroline for a number of years now and I can honestly say I do not know where we would be now without her help and support. My daughter started working with Caroline doing therapy sessions with the animals.
Caroline worked with the whole family not just my daughter. As they spent more and more time together it was decided that we would try for an assessment for Autism and ADHD, my daughter has not been diagnoses with both. During her transition to secondary school life was incredibly tough, with increasing challenging behaviour and school avoidance.
Caroline was there supporting us the whole way, even joining meetings with my daughter’s school to help her attend. Caroline would also have sessions with me on my own to check how I was doing and allow me a safe space to vent.
My daughter is still working with Oak Therapies but is now working with Jo doing art therapy. My daughter now has a better understanding of herself, why she does the things she does and is beginning to learn how to self regulate and have the confidence to speak up at school when she is not ok.
My youngest daughter has now started working with Polly to help with her sensory difficulties, selective mutism and her separation anxiety. Her first session at Oak Therapies (she has been there many times prior to her own session) she was more than happy to go off with Polly and was happily chatting away, this is a true testament to how happy she is to be there.
Both girls feel incredibly comfortable at Oak Therapies and are able to be themselves and there is never any judgement. In the past we have tried so many different therapy options and I feel Oak Therapies have been the only ones to truly listen to us and to work with the whole family not just my daughter. I would 100% recommend Oak Therapies and already have done. We certainly have come a long way over the last few years and would not have been able to achieve it without Oak Therapies by our side.
| Lucy McDowall |
