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Take Charge of Anxiety! – Week 1 (Tweens)
January 6 @ 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Take Charge of Anxiety!: Does your child struggle with constant worrying or anxious ruminations? Are their fears getting in the way of their ability to enjoy life? This group will present the origins of anxiety in a way that children can understand and resonate with. Understanding their anxious response is the first step to overcoming their fears. This group draws partially from the Coping Cat curriculum, teaching cognitive behavioral therapy skills that children can use with the help of a caregiver or on their own in order to manage their anxiety. Accepting new clients aged 5-13, kindergarten through middle school. All groups are divided by age brackets of 1-2 years (e.g. ages 5-7, ages 8-10, tweens/middle school).
Week 1: Understanding Our Anxious Response: Our Amygdala
At-Home Practice: Being “detectives” and identifying false vs. real alarms
Week 2: Exploring Our Triggers, The F in FEAR
At-Home Practice: Track my triggers – add to fear ladder if needed
Week 3: Introducing Mindfulness & The Vagus Nerve
At-Home Practice: Breathing skills (“bee breathing, box breathing, star/finger breathing,
lazy 8 breathing, “magnet arms”, mandalas)
Week 4: Mindfulness Part II (bubbles, mindful eating, 5 senses mindfulness), The E in FEAR
At-Home Practice: Daily Mindfulness, Identifying anxious thoughts
Week 5: Challenging Our Anxious Thoughts
At-Home Practice: Swat the NAT and put on your HAT & Inner Coach vs Inner Critic
Week 6: Somatic Interventions
At-Home Practice: Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Garden Yoga
Week 7: Visualization
At-Home Practice: Safe Space Visualization, Mindfulness Jars
Week 8: ACT – Defusion
At-Home Practice: Worry Balloons, Leaves on a Stream, Worry Time
Week 9: Sensory Toolbox
At-Home Practice: Choose a few sensory supports to use at home, use DIY eye mask
Week 10: Anchoring – Worry Dolls, The A in FEAR
At-Home Practice: Reinforce your anchor
Week 11: The R in FEAR
At-Home Practice: Coping Cat worksheets
Week 12: JEOPARDY REVIEW & PIZZA PARTY!