When and How to Make Targeted and Specialist Referrals: A Guide for School Staff and Parents

You've tried everything school can offer, the child is still struggling, and the referral you sent has come back marked "doesn't meet threshold". So you start again.

This course helps you get it right first time more often. You'll learn the difference between a psychiatrist, a psychologist and a therapist, so you ask for the help the child actually needs. You'll build a referral that shows their journey of need: what you assessed with a screening tool like the SDQ, what you tried and what changed. And you'll learn to ask local services for their thresholds, and what they really offer, before anything is sent.

It's taught by a psychotherapist who has worked in schools, children's services and addiction services, and who knows how stretched the system is. That makes the advice practical, including how to push back when a referral is turned down.