Too many young people are being stifled by anxiety, and this number is on the rise. Fortunately, we are more equipped now than ever before to support them to live bravely and discover their full reach into the world, but the expanding impact of anxiety demands a new approach. This dynamic workshop will offer a fresh, innovative approach that pulls in many pieces missing from the way we’ve been responding to anxiety in children and adolescents. Far from being ‘another anxiety workshop’, this comprehensive approach will draw on neuroscience, evidence-based strategies, and highly respected therapeutic models to support practitioners in developing a fresh, impactful approach to working with anxiety in young people. We will explore anxiety from the ground up, developing a ‘roadmap’ for a therapeutic response to anxiety that will include key information, powerful strategies, and new responses to anxiety to effect immediate and long-term change.

We will explore:

• The neuroscience of anxiety and how to use this therapeutically as a scaffold to support young people towards enduring courage and resilience;
• How to change the relationship with anxiety, and why this is critical for children and their important adults;
• How to recognise when anxiety is fuelling behaviour, and how to respond;
• The popular behaviour management techniques that can make anxiety worse, and what to do instead;
• Co-existing concerns and look-alike conditions;The different ways anxiety can manifest in young children and adolescents, and how to respond;
• How anxiety can interfere with learning and performance, and how to shift anxiety out of the way;
• Making sense of separation anxiety, school anxiety, and school ‘refusal’ and how to respond effectively;
• How to engage parents to be changemakers;How loving parents might inadvertently feed anxiety and what to do instead - an actionable step-by-step response;
• What to do when parents feel ‘stuck’ - moving past the impasse;
• How to respond to anxiety in the moment to make way for calm and courage;
• Building the toolbox - practical strategies to diminish anxiety and build brave behaviour;
• The four key responses to anxiety, and how to use this to inform a more effective response;
• Bringing it all together - a therapeutic roadmap for working with anxiety.

Karen Young has worked as a Psychologist in private practice, and organisational and educational settings. She is now a sought-after speaker, educator and consultant both at home in Australia and internationally. Karen is the founder of ‘Hey Sigmund’, an internationally acclaimed online resource that provides contemporary, research-driven information on Anxiety and the neurodevelopment of children. She has written three books, including the best-selling ‘Hey Warrior’ and ‘Hey Awesome’. Karen is one of Compass Seminars most acclaimed and requested presenters.