Cool Kids - An Intervention Group For Anxiety

Do you have a child who struggles with worries and anxiety? Sometimes these worries become large enough that they stop kids from enjoying social experiences or from participating in sporting events, parties or even family gatherings.

Here at St Philip's Christian College Cessnock, we recognise this battle for kids and aim to help them normalise their worries as well as give them strategies to manage anxiety. Many children can have real or imagined fears that cause them to be anxious. Our goal is to assist the students to bring their anxiety to manageable levels, as well as give them some skills to deal with their worries and uncertainties.

To do this we use Macquarie University's 'Cool Kids' program which teaches children skills that are designed to combat anxiety. The program helps children to recognise emotions such as fear, stress and anxiety and encourages them to gradually engage with fearful activities in more positive ways.

During a 'Cool Kids' session, we meet and chat about worries that may have created problems for our students during the week. The students work together to support their peers by listening to their worries and helping them find solutions. We learn about what anxiety is and how to manage it through the use of story books, worksheets and role plays. Students get the opportunity to create a stepladder plan that helps them move towards mastery of a worry that has been causing them stress.

There is great delight in guiding our students through this program and seeing them connect with peers older and younger as they realise that are not the only ones dealing with anxiety. They come away knowing that everyone has worries and we want to deal with them so that they do not 'boss us around, because we are the boss of our worries'.

For more information about 'Cool Kids' please email Belinda Shields:

belinda.shields@spcc.nsw.edu.au

Wellbeing Team