Sample: Open Door Learning
A small, low-demand alternative provision setting for children who can't currently manage mainstream school. Flexible days, interest-led learning and no pressure to be anyone but themselves.
Updated June 2026
Showing 2 providers supporting anxiety & semh — updated July 2026.
Specialise in anxiety & semh
Grouped honestly: providers can name no more than three primary specialisms — so when a provider appears here, anxiety & semh is genuinely central to their work. Within each group, Pro subscribers are shown first. A provider's group is always decided by their own declared specialisms — never by payment.
Also support anxiety & semh
Sample: Bright Steps Tuition
One-to-one literacy and maths support for children who learn differently. Sessions are structured, multisensory and paced to your child — building skills step by step and confidence alongside them.
Updated July 2026
Online anxiety & semh support, wherever you are
Specialist help doesn't have to be local. These providers work with children nationwide over video call — often with shorter waiting times.
Sample: Bright Steps Tuition
One-to-one literacy and maths support for children who learn differently. Sessions are structured, multisensory and paced to your child — building skills step by step and confidence alongside them.
Updated July 2026
Understanding
Understanding Anxiety & SEMH
SEMH — Social, Emotional and Mental Health — is the term schools use for needs rooted in how a child is feeling and coping. It covers anxiety, low mood, difficulty regulating big emotions, and distress connected to school itself, including what professionals call EBSA: emotionally based school avoidance, where a child becomes genuinely unable, not unwilling, to attend.
The crucial reframe is that behaviour is communication. A child who explodes, shuts down or refuses isn't choosing to be difficult — they're signalling that something is too much. And learning simply doesn't happen while a child feels unsafe; the brain's capacity for taking in new information shrinks under stress. Pushing harder academically at that point tends to deepen the problem.
What helps: relationship before curriculum. Providers who work well with SEMH build trust first, keep pressure deliberately low, create predictability, and stack up small wins that rebuild a child's belief in themselves. Progress often starts slowly and then compounds. For children out of school, one-to-one tutoring at home or online, and alternative provision settings, offer routes back to learning at a pace the child can manage.
This is general information to help you search, not medical or diagnostic advice. If you're concerned about your child, their GP or school SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) is the right starting point.
Common questions
Anxiety & SEMH support — your questions answered
My child is refusing school — what support actually exists?
First, know that this is common and has a name — emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA) — and that forcing attendance rarely resolves it, because the refusal is anxiety, not defiance. Practical routes include working with school on a reduced or phased timetable, one-to-one tutoring at home or online to keep learning alive, and alternative provision (smaller, more flexible settings). Your school's SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) and, where needs are significant, an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) are the formal levers.
What's the difference between a tutor and a mentor for SEMH?
A tutor's focus is learning, delivered gently; a mentor's focus is the child themselves — confidence, coping strategies, trusted-adult time — with academics secondary or absent. Many SEMH-experienced providers blend the two, and for a child who has lost trust in education, mentoring often needs to come first. Be honest with providers about which your child needs right now; the good ones will tell you if it's not them.
Should schoolwork wait until my child feels better?
Usually neither extreme works. Dropping learning entirely can deepen the sense that school is lost territory, while pushing a full timetable onto an anxious child backfires. The middle path: very small amounts of low-pressure, success-heavy learning inside a warm relationship — often starting with the child's interests rather than the curriculum. As safety grows, capacity grows, and academic content expands with it.
Is online or in-person support better for an anxious child?
It genuinely depends on the child. Online removes travel, unfamiliar places and some social pressure — many anxious children open up more from their own room, sometimes starting with the camera off. Others need warm in-person presence to build connection. Many providers offer both and will suggest starting with whichever feels safer, then reviewing. Ask for a short, no-pressure first session either way.
Do you support children with anxiety & semh?
List your service free, keep your profile up to date yourself, and be found by the families already searching for exactly what you do.