1. Understanding and Managing Children’s Anxiety Elmwood 2017
Catherine Gallagher
Clinical Psychologist
Clinical Psychology services

2. Anxiety is….

3. NORMAL & HEALTHY

4. Fight…Flight…Freeze Response
Aka. The body’s alarm system.

5. The Brain…

6. What does this look like in real life?

7. An important design fault…..

8. Why some and not others?

9. 1) Genetics

10. The ‘apple might not fall far from the tree’
Because genes run in families  …anxiety can sometimes be a trait that a parent might share with their child.
This can make it hard for parents to stand firm in the face of anxiety, because they know how challenging these feelings can be. They might even agree with what the child is anxious about!!
This means that support for parents and caregivers is an important (if not the most vital) part of any intervention around anxiety.

11. 2) Experience
(NEURONS THAT FIRE TOGETHER WIRE TOGETHER)

12. The things that happen to us…

13. And the sense we make of them…
It’s not experiences that make us feel in certain ways…it’s the thoughts we have about these experiences.

14. 3)The response of others

15. child’s anxiety reduces
Anxious behaviour
Parent’s response
child’s anxiety reduces
Parent’s
anxiety reduces

17. Why might change start with the grown ups….
Because we see the bigger picture
We are motivated for change
Children are too scared/stuck to try anything different
We hold the power to influence behaviour change….

18. Current thinking …..
Behaviour change can lead to more rapid changes in feelings and thoughts…rather than having to wait for the thoughts and feelings to change the behaviour

19. Emotional needs of the child and the relationship
Skills the child needs to learn
Managing behaviour
Important to let the child know that they are loved….and liked!
Important to spend time on things unrelated to anxiety.
Acceptance and being known is key to good self esteem.
Be aware of time when extra support is needed
How anxiety affects them.
Practice at being brave and experiencing anxiety. (aka avoid avoiding).
Skills to cope with anxious feelings:
Mindfulness, slow breathing, imagery, self talk.
The importance of exercise.
Helpful Vs unhelpful
(aka BRAVE Vs ANXIOUS)
When your child is really upset…
Connect emotionally and validate their experience (right brain)…then
Redirect and manage (left brain).
Name it to tame it… Helping your child put words around experience/feeling helps bring a sense of greater control.
(The Whole Brain Child – Siegal & Payne Bryson)

20. Tennis vs Squash

21. Ps. Trauma is a slightly different ‘kettle of fish’….
Fear- There really is a legitimate danger. This is an important emotion that we want children to feel to signal the need to stay away from what is dangerous.
Anxiety: Person is reacting but there isn’t a real danger. So we need to encourage life as normal.
Trauma: Event is so scary the person’s ability to cope is overwhelmed. The danger may not be currently present, but exposure needs to be gentle and paced appropriately.

22. More support……? Extreme distress
Not being to go about daily life eg school, sleep, other activities
How long has this been going on for?
How stretched are your own resources?

23. Sources of Support
GP/Public Health Nurse as first port of call for referrals to:
CDHB CAFMHS
Brief Intervention Coordinators (work as part of GP practices) – 6 session limit
BRAVE online therapist assisted treatment.
NGOs – Methodist Child and Family Service, Presbyterian Support, Waipuna Trust, CYMs.
Private Practitioners

24. Online Resources Bounce.org.nz
SPARX – the self- help therapy programme is good for depression and self- image.
sheets/ - useful information for parents
- youth oriented site

25. To help others…we need to look after ourselves

26. Anxiety is nothing to be frightened of….
To sum it all up….
Anxiety is nothing to be frightened of….
If you can model this belief (even if it requires you to ‘fake it till you make it!), children will be able to learn to accept their temperament and approach situations that make them feel anxious rather than avoid.