About the Course
The main aim is that the person doing this course comes away with great confidence, a set of skills, techniques and ideas they can use to help children with anxiety, as well as addressing any personal adult anxiety. Audio & document downloads are provided to enable any adult supporting a child, to help them process and deal with their anxiety, so it doesn't stay a problem for them in the long term. The course is written to support children within the age range of 6 to 18 years old.
Who is it for?
Parents, carers, teachers, SNAs, youth workers, therapists etc.
Duration
2 month anytime access.
Course Modules
How can I tell if a child has problematic anxiety? This module introduces you to anxiety, what it looks like in children and teenagers, in terms of their feelings, their thinking, their actions, and their physical selves. It compares “normal” or typical worries that children have to the kinds of anxiety that can be problematic. It also introduces the concept of a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy model to help us structure the help we can offer.
How children’s emotional understanding impacts anxiety. We look at how children process their emotions, including anxiety, showing how children’s anxious feelings can get “bottled up”. We then look at how those bottled up anxious feelings will impact a child’s inner emotional world. We cover the concept of empathy and what it looks and sounds like when we use it with children to help them create congruent emotional experiences that fit with their experiences of the world.
Understanding how a child’s brain processes anxiety. We cover the concept of the “upstairs” or “thinking” brain and how it has evolved to be involved in rational thought, planning, judging risk, problem-solving and mediating our impulsivity. We also look at the concept of the “downstairs” or “feeling” brain and how it is involved in our instinctive responses to stimuli, our strong and intense feelings (love, hunger, fear, anger, etc.). We use this understanding to learn how children then perceive and deal with risk. (with thanks to Dr Dan Siegel for the "upstairs, downstairs" analogy!)
Addressing a child’s anxious behaviour. We cover the effect that role-modelling will have on children’s or teenager’s anxiety. We explore the four most likely behavioural responses a child will have to anxiety. We learn how to help children be more in touch with their bodies, and use physical activity to relieve anxiety. We cover the “zone of proximal development” such that it can guide us in creating the right kind of behavioural experiments for children to challenge their anxious thoughts or behaviours.
Helping children to respond to the physical symptoms of anxiety. We focus on understanding the physicality of anxiety, giving you the skills to teach a child about what is happening in their body and two techniques that they can use to reduce their levels of adrenaline, such that they physically feel less anxious.
Resolving adult anxiety so we can help children resolve theirs. We look at how adults can become more aware of their own anxieties (that might be making children’s anxieties worse). We learn a whole series of effective stress/anxiety reduction techniques that adults can use to deal with their own anxieties, freeing them up to be better able to support children’s worries.
How a child’s cognition affects anxiety. We look at the impact of thinking on a child’s subsequent behavior and feelings. We cover what kinds of thinking patterns a child might be stuck with that could increase anxiety and look at ways to help a child to challenge and overcome common anxious thoughts, including two specific techniques to help them be more in charge of their thinking.
We look at a range of common anxiety disorders that might indicate a child needs more help than we can offer. Specifically, we explore OCD, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Selective Mutism and a range of Phobias.
About Dr David Coleman
I’m a clinical psychologist, specialising in working with children, teenagers and their families with over 20 years experience. I’m also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, UCD.
The heart of my work is my clinical practice and I meet with children and teenagers with a whole host of psychological issues ranging from anxiety, to self-harm, bullying, social isolation, school related difficulties, family conflict, challenging behaviour, abuse related trauma, coping with chronic medical issues and sometimes work exclusively with parents on their parenting of their family.
I’ve written three books about parenting children and teenagers. Many of you might know me, however, from my media related work and I have made television programmes dealing with parenting, child development, teenagehood, bullying. I still give expert opinions on shows like Ireland AM, Today with Maura and Daithi, RTÉ Primetime and Growing Up Live. I write a feature column in the Irish Independent, every Wednesday, providing expert commentary on children, teenagers and family life. I am also the regular, expert, contributor on the "Today with Claire Byrne" show, on RTÉ Radio 1, on parenting and child and adolescent wellbeing and development.
I'm delighted to have written my first online course 'Scared Kids Helping Children to Cope with Anxiety'. It was an exciting project produced in collaboration with Anokha Learning. It's for parents, teachers and others working or living with children, about helping children and teenagers to cope with anxiety.
