Teen depression & school refusal

[Sally5]

I feel so exhausted from the effort needed to encourage my 16yo son to go to school and often with no result. He ends up back in bed with a pillow over his head. He's diagnosed with mild depression and waiting for a second psychology appt. They are so busy it's a 4 week wait even though the psyc says come back in two.
The school is sympathetic but has no capacity to help.
The teen won't do the actions being recommended - time off tech, tech off 1 hour before sleep, take sleep herbal remedies.
I am at a loss.
His Dad, my x, is very engaged but we disagree about how to respond and we don't have strategies for consistent responses to scenarios that evolve.
I'm hoping others who have made it through may have some new ideas for us to use.
Any assistance welcome 💕

[Sophie_M]

Hi Sally5,

A warm welcome to our forums and I'm glad that you've decided to talk to us today. It definitely sounds like that you're dealing with a lot on your plate, and I can really understand why you would be feeling so tired and exhausted.

I'm hearing that your son is in the process of getting some support and it's great that you've been able to get that done. Something else that I'm not sure if you know about, but might be helpful, could be around seeking help from youth/parent counselling services?

For example, Parentline is a counselling service for parents. It might even be helpful to think about getting some support for yourself during this hard time, because it sounds like you definitely deserve it. 

I will open this up for our community to chime in, but in the meantime I also just want to let you know that I have moved your post from 'Welcome and orientation' to 'Relationship and family issues' to help connect it more to other members who might be going through a similar situation.

[KLM_]

Hi Sally5,

I came across your post as I am struggling with similar issues with my 14yr old daughter. I'm sorry that I don't have any suggestions for you at this time but know that you are not alone. There are other kids who struggle the way your son does, and other parents desperately doing the best they know how. We've also been waiting a couple of months now for a psychology appointment (another 3 weeks to go) so I'm hopeful they may be able to provide extra support to my daughter.

Have you had any successes since your first post?