Overcoming Anxiety: Helping Children and Young People Find Their Brave

Kia ora koutou,  anxiety, I mean who hasn't felt anxious at some point in their life. 

Tuesday, 25 September, I attended a fantastic workshop called "Overcoming Anxiety: Helping Children and Young People Find Their Brave". The presenter was Karen Young a psychologist from Brisbane. Karen knows her material, and is passionate about equipping those in the helping professions to work with children and young people who are struggling to manage anxiety.

Main ideas: 

• Anxiety is a result of our amazing brain doing it's job. Children and young people need to know how the brain works so they can make sense of what is happening to them when anxiety is present. They also need to know how the anxiety is working in their body, thoughts, and feelings resulting in particular behaviours that hold the young person and their family captive. Teach the child or young person then get them to teach it back to you.
• Make anxiety approachable - it's a fierce warrior and generous protector that's taken over. This helps the young person to take charge rather than try to fight the anxiety or push it away which only serves to increase the anxiety.
• Anxiety can look like other disorders and can be part of these disorders such as ADHD, Depression, Addiction, Self-Harm, and PANDAS (Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropyschiatric Disorder). Often children and young people who are angry have anxiety. 
• There are different types of anxiety but the treatment for them is the same process. 
• Strategies and tools are important BUT the most important tools are breathing and mindful responding which deactivates the amygdala. 
• Anxiety increases in adolescence because the first part of the brain to be re-wired is the amygdala. 
• The amygdala needs sleep, especially the REM part of sleep which lowers activity in the amygdala. 
• The child or young person needs to learn how to be present with the anxiety and still find their brave. 

Favourite quotes from the day: 

"Anxiety is an early warning system".

"You can't reason with anxiety".

"Anxiety is the working of a strong, healthy brain that's a little over-protective. It's not troubled. It's not broken. It's creative, strong, brave, intelligent, empathetic - and a little over-protective". 

"Brave is pushing up to the edge of scary and doing it anyway. Brave is different for everyone. The more brave you are, the braver you'll be". 

Karen Young has written two superb picture books for children Hey Warrior and Hey Awesome. 

Recommended texts: The Anxiety Toolkit by Melillo Robert; Helping Your Anxious Child by Ronald Rapee et al.; Rewire Your Anxious Brain by Catherine Pittman and Elizabeth Karle. 

Try out this fantastic website which caters for anyone but really useful for parents: https://www.heysigmund.com/

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Kia ora koutou, 

You want to be happy? What does that even mean anyway? Happiness is such a fleeting state and often dependent on other factors such as money, accumulated goods, relationships, achievement, and success. Yet it seems to elude so many people. Is happiness a natural human state? 

Russ Harris presents a vid clip about the 3 Happiness Myths. Click on the link to learn more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93LFNtcR1Ok

Russ Harris is the presenter of a great online study option for ACT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The aim of ACT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is to "maximise human potential for a rich, full and meaningful life; to cultivate health, vitality and well-being through mindful values-based living" it's a creative model "for both therapy and coaching, based on the innovative use of mindfulness and values"(Russ Harris). There is of course much more to the model than stated in this short definition. If you want to know more click here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS13jRcaufs

I have found this way of working very useful with rangatahi (young people). The STOP acronym is very helpful mindful practice when thoughts and feelings are hooking the rangatahi into non-values based behaviour.

STOP - Slow down (focus on the breath), Take notice (of thoughts and feelings and just notice they are present), Open up (get into the here-and-now by noticing what you can see around you, what you can hear, what you can smell, and what you can feel). So you can still have these hooking thoughts and feelings but you can also be present to the moment. Pursue values. 

I have found this little mindful practice really useful for myself as well 

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Counsellors and teachers need to continually develop as people and professionals. On of the ways we do this is to undertake professional development. Inevitably, the professional development that I undertake also helps me on a personal level. 

The first lot of PD that I undertook this year, other than reading, was attending a day workshop in Rotorua. This workshop was sponsored by COMPASS and presented by Dr. Kirsten Davis who is a psychologist working with at-risk rangatahi (young people). The workshop was entitled "Managing Young People at Risk: Effective Assessment and Therapeutic Strategies for Suicidal and Self-Harm Behaviour". I know, heavy topic, right. But Kirsten delivered the topic in an informative, interactive, and humorous way. 

Kirsten began with the very depressing stats for Aotearoa New Zealand's youth suicide. Then she launched into the rest of her presentation about how to assess suicidal and self-harming behaviours that are happening or about to happen and how to help rangatahi manage intense emotional pain. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand I think we're not very good at noticing, naming, and managing emotions usefully. 

The main framework was DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy). Kirsten gave us  a useful map to help clients analyse the chain of events that led to the emotions and subsequent behaviour and how to help clients problem solve what happened and what to do in the future. All very 'how to'. 

Kirsten gave some really useful tips for managing intense emotions e.g. using mindfulness for staying focused in the moment, STOP (Stop, Take a step back, observe, and proceed mindfully), 10 deep breaths or paced breathing and using temperature control by using bowls of ice cold water (not really useful in a school setting) or cold face masks (I keep counselling one in the fridge in the staffroom, labelled with hints of severe repercussions should anyone take it) to help with overwhelming emotional reactions in the moment. This last one I've used for myself and someone visiting my home and hey presto! it really works.

As a result of this workshop I purchased a book called DBT in Schools which is a programme designed with lesson plans, worksheets, and homework activities to  help learners notice, name, and manage emotions effectively.

If you don't know much about DBT click on the link What the heck is DBT?




   

Introduction

Kia ora koutou, 

I work part time as a counsellor with rangatahi (young people) who range in age from 11-19 years of age. 

Rangatahi come to counselling with a range of issues which mostly relate to their developmental stage as they seek to individuate and become more of their own person by developing their own ideas, their own way of doing life, their own values and beliefs,and their own expression of gender. And generally this is where they come into conflict with family and whanau, teachers, siblings, friends, and other systems. Essentially, young people are at the mercy of adults who hold most of the power.  

There is a lot of anxiety, especially as it relates to school expectations, family and whanau expectations, and relationship ideals and expectations. Then there's the bullying, depression, self-harm, eating disorders, suicide, alcohol and drugs. I could go on and on but you don't need that. 

BUT and it's a BIG BUT these rangatahi are amazing, in spite the overwhelming issues they encounter everyday they mostly get on with their lives in the best way they know how.