Strengthening children and teens from anxious to brave

Anxious to Brave: On Online Course for Parents of Children and Teens With Anxiety

Children with anxiety have everything they need inside them to light up the world, but too often anxiety will tell them a different story. We know they are capable, brave, strong, and that anxiety doesn’t change that a bit. The challenge is to help them realise it too.

Research has shown that with the right support, information, and strategies, parents and carers have a profound capacity to move children and teens towards brave behaviour and strengthen them towards long-term courage, calm, and resilience. The move through anxiety isn’t an easy one, for children or the adults who love them, but it is absolutely possible. As part of this program, we will explore how.

This in-depth program will provide parents with research-backed information and strategies to strengthen children and teens against anxiety in the moment and for the long term. We will discuss the what and why of anxiety and how to open up a world for your child or teen where anxiety stops getting in their way, and brave behaviour becomes possible.

‘Anxious to Brave’ will also provide parents and carers with ways to support children and teens through big feelings (including anxiety, anger, meltdowns) and the range of behaviour that can be fuelled by those big feelings (including at school, bedtime, when faced with a challenge, or more generally). We will also discuss ways to empower children and teens with an understanding of their brain and body that helps make sense of feelings and behaviour, and opens up new ways to respond.

The ‘Anxious to Brave’ program consists of six online modules plus ‘mini videos’, totalling over 7 hours of content. Participants will receive workbooks which are included as part of the course. Access to the course will be available for 6 months from purchase. As part of the course, we will explore:

  • Module 1:
    • Turning anxiety into an ally. How, and why it’s so important.
    • Using neuroscience to take the anxiety out of the anxiety.
    • The single worst thing for anxiety (that every loving parent has likely done at least one or hundreds of times!).
    • When anxiety fuels behaviour. How to respond, and why we need to rethink the old responses.
    • Why parents are key to strengthening young people against anxiety.
  • Module 2:
    • How behaviours are built in the brain.
    • Why old responses die hard and why new ones take time.
    • Parents don’t cause anxiety, but here’s why you’re a powerful part of the solution.
    • The responses (that all loving parents will do) that will inadvertently increase anxiety – why, and what to do instead.
    • A proven way for parents to increase brave behaviour in children – making a step-by-step plan.
    • When their anxiety becomes yours.
  • Module 3:
    • How the brain registers threat or safety – and what they need from you.
    • The house model of regulation – how our nervous systems influence each other, and how you can use yours to bring calm to theirs.
    • Practical strategies to build their capacity for calm, courage, and resilience.
    • How to respond in the moment when anxiety hits in a way that helps build calm, connection, and maximises your influence and their capacity for brave behaviour.
    • Co-regulation or co-dysregulation?
    • Dealing with anxiety fuelled behaviour – during the storm, after the storm.
    • Separation anxiety – practical examples and strategies to build brave.
    • School anxiety and how to build their attachment village.
  • Module 4:
    • Anxiety – 4 Responses. Which one when.
    • Building their Toolbox. The practical strategies for young people that will build calm, courage, and resilience.
    • Making the move towards brave behaviour – the practical plan that won’t depend on their response or their willingness to engage;
  • Module 5:
    • The different ways your child might respond when their anxiety is big, and how to respond.
    • Managing their reaction – the key strategies.
    • When their reaction is especially big.
    • The most important rule.
  • Module 6:
    • Proven strategies to strengthen against anxiety in the long-term.
    • Practical strategies to reduce anxiety at bedtime and ensure a restful sleep – for everyone.
  • ‘Stronger Than Anxiety’
    • This is a video for children and teens to watch on their own or with you. It will introduce the language and concepts we’ve been discussing to make sure they feel as ready as possible to make the move towards brave. This module includes 20-page workbook, ‘Calming Your Amygdala’. In this module, we will explore:
      • Why anxiety feels the way it does.
      • Why anxiety always comes with courage.
      • A way to think about anxiety that will help soften its impact.
      • How to feel braver, stronger, and more powerful when you need to.
      • How to calm anxiety.
      • The connection between anxiety and your ‘thinking brain’ – and how to switch your thinking brain on.
      • The things that will help anxiety in the moment and in the long term.

NOTE: This course includes ‘Stronger Than Anxiety’, a module specifically for young people to help them discover their own brave way through anxiety. A workbook is included. 

This course is intended to offer meaningful and impactful support to parents of children with anxiety. It is not therapy, nor is it intended to replace any therapy you or your child might currently be involved in. If your child is currently working with a therapist, please feel free to discuss anything you learn here with the therapist to ensure consistency of pacing, approach, and goals and timing.

Price: AUD $187.80
Developed and presented by: Karen Young
Location: On-Demand Course
Includes: Videos (7+ hours) + Workbooks

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We know there are too many kids struggling right now, including those from loving, responsive families and in loving, responsive schools. 

One of the places these struggles will show themselves is at school, even in the most loving responsive ones. Sometimes these struggles show themselves with a roar, sometimes with nothing at all.

Too many kids are feeling no sense at all that they matter. They don’t feel they are doing something that matters, and they don’t feel that they matter to others.

Too many of them will go weeks at school without hearing their name in a way that makes them feel seen, cared for, and valued.

Too many of them are showing up at school but are noticed more when they don’t, even if only by the unticked box beside their name.

For too many kids, we are asking them to show up when they don’t feel like they have anything to offer, or anything at all to show up for. Why wouldn’t they struggle?

This week I had the greatest privilege of speaking to a room of 300 school well-being staff about how to support all children, how to catch the ones who are struggling, and what we can do to buffer, protect and heal all young people at school.

If you are a parent of a young person who is struggling, I want you to know that schools are working hard to hold them, lovingly and safely.

I know there are also many parents who haven’t had this experience, and your children haven’t got what they need. I know that. I want you to know that change is happening. I want you to know what I see when I work with the wellbeing staff at these schools. They care. They really do. They are so invested in supporting your children, seeing the child behind the student and showing up big for all of them. The work is happening. There’s a lot to do, but it’s happening.

Yes we need more resources, and yes more people, and yes we’re asking more of our schools and teachers than ever, and yes the world is asking more of our kids than ever, but the work is happening.

Thank you to the Department of Education Queensland for working with me, and thank you to the wellbeing staff, teachers, and leadership who are giving everything they can to be there for our children. You matter.♥️
Over the past the past 24 hours, I’ve been in Devonport, Tasmania to deliver two sessions to parents and carers - ‘Big Feelings, Connection, and Confidence’, then later an open Q and A where parents brought their real life questions - and we talked.

Thank you for welcoming me so warmly, and for trusting me with your questions, your stories, and your vulnerability. 

This was an openness where real change begins. Parenting is hard - beautiful and messy and hard. In the last 24 hours, I’ve been moved by the openness and honesty of parents I’ve shared space with. This is where generational patterns start to shift.

So many of the parents I met are already doing this deep, brave work. The questions asked were honest, raw, and profoundly human — the kind of questions that can feel heavy and isolating until you hear someone else ask them too.

Our children will grow in the most incredible ways if we allow them the space, and if we hold that space with love and leadership and a curious mind. And, if we open ourselves to them, and are willing to shift and stretch and grow, they will grow us too.

Thank you to @devonportevents for everything you’ve done to make these events happen.♥️
Can’t wait for this! I’ll be in Devonport, Tasmania next week to present two talks for parents and carers. 

The first is on Monday evening 19 May for a talk about how to support big feelings, behaviour and regulation in young people. This is not just another anxiety talk. You’ll walk away feeling hopeful, empowered, and with strategies you can start using straight away. 

Then, on Tuesday morning 20 May, I’ll be giving another talk for parents and carers but this will be a Q&A. Bring your questions to me! Even if you don’t have questions, the ones I answer will be loaded with practical information that will support you in your parenting journey. 

So grateful to @devonportevents for organising the events. They are public talks, open to everyone. 

Tickets available at Humanitix - search Devonport events and scroll down until you find me! 

Would love to see you there.♥️

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