Sherianna Boyle – Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: Effective Strategies to Calm the Anxiety Storm and Overcome Excessive Worry

Outline

Identify Anxious Kids and Adolescents

• The value of worry?
• Behavioral patterns and physical symptoms
• Recognize the “silent sufferer”
• Identify causes and contributing factors

When Anxiety Overlaps Other Mental Health Conditions and Issues

• Anxiety as a “gateway problem”
• ADHD
• Trauma
• Depression
• Adjustment disorders
• Shyness and introversion
• Being over-extended
• Undiagnosed learning disabilities
• Paralysis of perfection

Practical Steps for Alleviating Anxiety:
Techniques to Calm Reactivity and Build Resiliency

• Trigger identification – emotional memory and reactivity
• Harness the natural mindfulness of children
• Exercises to calm reactivity
  • Simple yoga for kids
  • Breathing strategies to bring physical calm
  • Ground with the senses
• Exercises that use the body to ease anxiety
  • Self-observation
  • ”Make Way for Movement”
  • ”Boosting Boundaries”
  • Muscle relaxation
• Coping and self-soothing skills
  • ”Letting Go Rituals”
  • ”Heart Opening Visualization”
  • How to handle conflict
  • Nourish relationships and gratitude
• Research limitation and risks

Simple but Effective Complementary Approaches

• Exercise and physical activity
• The role of nutrition in anxiety
• Sleep routine and ritual
• Gratitude exercises

Empower Kids to Overcome School-Based Anxiety

• How to counter negative rehearsal
• Tips and tactics to address:
  • Social anxiety
  • Peer pressure
  • Bullies and gossip
  • Separation anxiety
  • Meltdowns
  • Test anxiety
• The environment of anxiety
  • How you might be contributing to anxiety
  • Build a supportive environment
  • Transitions: planning for the “unplanned”
• It’s a family affair – working with parents
• Discipline without increasing anxiety
  • De-escalate interactions with anxious children
  • How to use logical and natural consequences