Case study 2 — "The call that almost didn't happen" (parent, hard-to-reach)

Priya missed two calls from her son's school before one finally connected — not from disinterest, but from working two jobs and dreading what a call from school usually means.

The teacher tried a different approach: a text instead of another voicemail, reducing the perceived stakes — "Nothing urgent, just a quick 5-minute chat when you have a moment." That landed. The conversation that followed used the four-step structure: share, invite, reflect, propose. Priya described things she'd seen at home that she hadn't thought were "school business." Together they agreed on one small next step.

Two months later, a referral to a GP led to a Mental Health Treatment Plan — something Priya later said she wouldn't have known existed without that conversation.

The takeaway: persistence and the right channel mattered more than urgency. The framework gave the teacher language for de-stigmatising that first point of contact.