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What Happens to Your Education?: Navigating Mental Health Treatment While in School

Jemma Strain
Published: 03/30/2025 | Updated: 11/06/2025
Authored by: Jemma Strain, B.S. Psychology
Edited by: Emma Loker, BSc, PgDip
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Education and mental health are two inseparable aspects of a teen’s well-being. But when one of these elements suffers, it has a knock-on effect on the other  – especially if a teenager needs mental health treatment.

While it would be ideal to schedule mental health treatment around a child’s school life, this often isn’t practical. It might feel tempting to reduce the amount of disruption by pushing mental health appointments back, but mental health can worsen without timely intervention. So what are the options? 

The good news is that, while mental health conditions can affect a child’s academic performance, treatment can improve it in the long run. The process just requires finding a healthy balance. 

Falling behind in school is often a big worry for teens and their parents. Ultimately, it can feel like a never-ending merry-go-round of having to choose between education and mental health. If you’re concerned about how a teen can balance their education and treatment, professional mental health advice can help. This article may also work as a guide, as it discusses: 

  • The impact of mental health care on school performance
  • How to balance school and mental health treatment
  • School accommodations for teens in mental health treatment
  • School programs for children in mental health treatment
  • How to manage schoolwork while in therapy
What Happens to Your Education?: Navigating Mental Health Treatment While in School

Key Takeaways

  • Mental health treatment while in school can affect concentration, motivation, and academic performance.
  • Developing a flexible school schedule helps balance treatment needs with academic responsibilities.
  • Consistent communication among students, parents, teachers, and providers supports both treatment and learning goals.
  • Academic accommodations—like extra time or reduced workloads—can help students manage school while in treatment.

Table of Contents

The Impact of Mental Health Care on School Performance

Unfortunately, there’s a wide range of evidence that shows how mental health issues in adolescence can negatively affect school performance.1

Mental health can affect all areas of life: emotional and physical health, relationships, ability to function – and academic success. Therefore, if parents and teens don’t put taking care of mental health first, education will likely suffer regardless. What’s more, mental health difficulties have also been linked to an increased rate of dropout from school.2

Teenagers with mental health conditions are no less intelligent or creative than their peers. Yet, emotional issues can create issues with learning, such as:3

  • Concentration problems: Distraction, trouble retaining information, restlessness, and difficulties following instructions
  • Fatigue: Tiredness can lead to issues with maintaining stamina for learning
  • Stress: Difficulties managing the pressures of assignments, exams, prioritizing, and group work
  • Interacting with others: Behavioral problems, withdrawal, issues with authority, and feeling like they don’t fit in
  • Test anxiety: Physical and emotional blockages to performing well in exams
  • Receiving negative feedback: High sensitivity to criticism and seeing themselves as “failures”
  • Medication side-effects: Tiredness, drowsiness, slow response time, tremors, and so on

 

Having said all this, there’s also good news. Mental health conditions are treatable, and once a teenager receives the support they need, their academic success can also improve. Therapy can bolster teens’ emotional, behavioral, and social skills – priming them to cope with academic stress, learn, and thrive.4

Yet, if your child has just started receiving therapy for their needs, you may be wondering how they can balance school with their treatment. The upcoming sections discuss strategies for achieving this balance.

How to Balance School and Mental Health Treatment

Even though a teenager’s academic performance is important for their future success, their mental and emotional health takes priority. 

Although, as a teen or parent, it may feel impossible to balance the demands of school and mental health treatment, you don’t have to do this by yourself. The American Disabilities Act (ADA) protects the rights of students with mental health conditions within education, meaning that teens are entitled to reasonable academic accommodations. In other words, even though your child might be in treatment, their school will take steps to improve their access to courses and school-based activities.5

It’s good to know that mental health rights can vary from state to state. Familiarizing yourself with these can ensure you know how to advocate for your child’s rights in education. This isn’t to suggest that teachers won’t do their best for your child. It just means that you can understand how to take steps to meet their needs every step of the way.

School Accommodations for Teens in Mental Health Treatment

Mental health conditions can create barriers to learning, so school staff will try to limit these as much as possible to improve a teen’s access and participation. While they may not be able to improve a child’s academic outcomes, they’ll nonetheless do what they can to empower them to succeed. 

The accommodations schools can make to help balance a teen’s mental health and education include:6

  • Extra time on exams or coursework
  • Withdrawing from certain classes
  • Mental health leaves of absence
  • Support within the school environment, such as pastoral care from teachers and peer support
  • Creating safe spaces 
  • Providing on-site counseling

As a parent, the first thing you need to do if your child requires mental health accommodations is contact the school. Different schools will have varying policies on how to protect a child’s learning during treatment. For instance, they may have a disability coordinator who can explain what you need to provide – such as proof of a mental health diagnosis.

Anyone in charge of making mental health accommodations in a school will respect your child’s confidentiality. Information about their mental health will only be shared with the necessary professionals involved in their education plan. 

School Programs for Children in Mental Health Treatment

Schools often communicate internally and externally with community-based mental health professionals to devise individual programs based on a child’s needs. These programs take into account the child’s symptoms, treatment, and difficulties accessing learning and include the following options. 

  • Individualized Education Plans (IEPs): As the name suggests, IEPs are truly individual to a student. It provides the opportunity for students, parents, teachers, and mental health professionals to work together and improve access. If you’ve seen a doctor or mental health professional about getting a diagnosis for your child, the IEP process might already have begun. However, an evaluation of whether a child needs an IEP can also be conducted internally within the school. If you or your child are unhappy with the outcomes of this internal evaluation, you have the right to challenge it. Mental health professionals can help you in this process.7
  • Section 504 Plans: A 504 plan helps facilitate learning at school when a student has mental health issues. This means that steps will be put in place to improve their access to resources and reduce discrimination. However, if your child’s treatment involves extensive time off from school, or severely interferes with their learning in other ways, they may require a more comprehensive IEP.8

 

IEPs are more intensive than Section 504 plans and usually involve yearly evaluations to determine goals and progress. Therefore, this may be the best option for you and your child to help balance education and mental health. A mental health professional can talk you through these options in more detail.

If your child’s mental health symptoms have not evolved into needing extensive educational accommodations, you may be wondering how to prevent them from falling behind with school work. We cover tips for this next.

How to Manage Schoolwork While in Therapy

Unfortunately, booking therapy appointment times that suit everyone involved can be difficult. The most popular scheduling blocks tend to be the hours after the school or work day, so these can be booked up fast. This can be especially true for free mental health services that are often overprescribed and have long wait lists. 

If your child is in therapy, they may feel like their time is a precious commodity – something might have to go by the wayside, but what? Their mental health is a priority, so time for looking after it should always take the lead. Yet, this doesn’t mean that their schoolwork has to suffer. The following tips can help you and your child manage schoolwork while in therapy.

Set Reasonable Goals:

Grades are not always the benchmark of success. If therapy is taking up a lot of your time, it might be unreasonable for your child to expect to get straight As. Therefore, help them make their academic goals specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-specific (SMART). This way, they can feel a sense of mastery and success when they achieve instead of perceiving themselves to have failed. 

Reduce Stress:

When teens are stressed about balancing their workload, they’re prone to using procrastination as an unhealthy coping tool. However, procrastination can worsen mental health issues and further impact school work. Creating a hierarchy of tasks can reduce procrastination and stress. 

There are two ways of working this hierarchy: The first is to tackle harder tasks first. This way, a teen can feel like they’ve gotten the difficult parts of the day out of the way. The second is to start by ticking off easier tasks, giving them the chance to build up confidence for confronting the harder ones. Either way, they’ll likely gain a sense of accomplishment and feel less stressed. Other useful ways of reducing stress include mindfulness techniques and meditation.9

Focus on Progress, Not Outcomes:

Results might be out of your child’s control; their treatment might interfere with their ability to focus and time might not be on their side. However, progress can be measured, so focusing on it can reduce frustration and improve a sense of balance and well-being. 

To encourage progress instead of outcomes, you could help them create internal measures of their success. For example, by assisting them in breaking larger goals into smaller components and being flexible about what they can achieve. Small rewards for making progress can also be highly motivating. As another point, encourage your child not to compare themselves to other students as this can create an unfair comparison effect.10

Consider Private Mental Health Services:

As the case currently stands, public mental health services have long wait lists and limited appointment times. Due to demand, the appointment times that are less likely to interfere with school work tend to be booked up fast. If therapy is interfering with your child’s academic performance, it may be worth considering private mental health services. Cost is a factor for many families, but a mental health professional can discuss payment options that may fit your means. Additionally, private mental health services can offer flexible therapy options that can fit your child’s schedule and needs, including: 

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT is both popular and effective in the treatment of a range of mental health conditions as it works by targeting teens’ thoughts and actions. 

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): A teen may have mental health symptoms due to the effects of previous experiences, such as trauma. EMDR can be used to treat trauma, how it’s stored in the brain, and to help teens form more positive beliefs.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation: TMS is a non-invasive therapy that uses magnetic fields to activate nerve cells in targeted areas of the brain – improving outlook and mood. 

Interpersonal therapy: This therapy works through teens’ issues in relationships and helps them figure out better ways of coping and acting to improve their mental health.

What Happens to Your Education?: Navigating Mental Health Treatment While in School

When to Seek Advice for Education and Mental Health Treatment for Teens

If your child needs time off school to look after their mental health, you both might be concerned about how this will impact their academic performance and future success. This worry can create additional stress for a teen, becoming a distraction from their recovery. To prevent this from happening, it’s important to know how to balance education and therapy – but this can be a tricky footing to find. While educators such as teachers can talk to you about making accommodations to improve learning, professional mental health advice can also help you successfully navigate this process. 

Mission Prep can help. Our licensed team of professionals offers outpatient and residential treatment options for a variety of teen mental health conditions in various locations. This means that we are well-placed to understand teens’ concerns about the impacts of mental health care on their education. We always aim to tailor treatments to a child’s specific needs, reducing disruptions to their life as much as possible. Feel free to contact us to learn more about our flexible treatment options.

References

  1. Agnafors, S., Barmark, M., & Sydsjö, G. (2020). Mental health and academic performance: A study on selection and causation effects from childhood to early adulthood. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 56(5), 857. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01934-5
  2. Grøtan, K., Sund, E. R., & Bjerkeset, O. (2019). Mental Health, Academic Self-Efficacy and Study Progress Among College Students – The SHoT Study, Norway. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 408316. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00045
  3. Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. (1997). How does mental illness affect the way I function at school? Boston University. www.bu.edu/cpr/jobschool/functed.htm.
  4. Lee, X., Griffin, A., Ragavan, M. I., & Patel, M. (2024). Adolescent mental health and academic performance: Determining evidence-based associations and informing approaches to support in educational settings. Pediatric Research, 95(6), 1395-1397. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03098-3
  5. University of Washington. (n.d.). Academic accommodations for students with psychiatric disabilities. https://www.washington.edu/doit/academic-accommodations-students-psychiatric-disabilities#:~:text=Students%20with%20psychiatric%20disabilities%20are,to%20academic%20courses%20and%20activities.
  6. Mental Health America. (n.d.). Taking a leave of absence: What you need to know. Mental Health America. https://mhanational.org/resources/taking-a-leave-of-absence-what-you-need-to-know/
  7. U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). A guide to the individualized education program. https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/iepguide.pdf#:~:text=Each%20public%20school%20child%20who%20receives%20special,improve%20educational%20results%20for%20children%20with%20disabilities.
  8. U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions about Section 504 and the education of children with disabilities. https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/civil-rights-laws/disability-discrimination/frequently-asked-questions-section-504-fape
  9. Sirois, F. M. (2023). Procrastination and Stress: A Conceptual Review of Why Context Matters. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(6), 5031. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20065031
  10. Paulise, L. (2023, January 24). How to focus on progress not results to prevent stress and burnout. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lucianapaulise/2023/01/24/how-to-focus-on-progress-not-results-to-prevent-stress-and-burnout/

FAQs About Mental Health Treatment While in School

Treatment often requires time, energy and emotional adjustment — which can reduce focus and study time.

Create a realistic schedule, keep open communication with teachers, use treatment‑approved coping routines, and request accommodations if needed.

Coordinate with the treatment team and school, stay informed of the student’s needs, monitor progress, and advocate for accommodation or extension options.

The school can provide support via 504/IEP plans, communicate with caregivers, allow modified workloads, and offer flexible deadlines.

If stress from treatment is overwhelming, affecting mental‑health recovery, or consistently interfering with performance — it may be time to adjust the academic plan until the student is better balanced.

Jemma Strain
Published: 03/30/2025 | Updated: 11/06/2025
Authored by: Jemma Strain, B.S. Psychology
Edited by: Emma Loker, BSc, PgDip