OVERVIEW
Anxiety is one of the most common difficulties that children and young people experience, yet it is also one of the most misunderstood. Some anxiety is a completely normal and even healthy part of growing up: it is the mind and body’s way of preparing us to deal with something challenging or unfamiliar. A toddler who cries when their parent leaves the room, a four-year-old who is wary of the dark, a seven-year-old who is nervous before a school performance, or a teenager who feels butterflies before an exam are all experiencing ordinary, age-typical worry. The aim of this course is not to treat every anxious feeling as a problem, but to help you tell the difference between the everyday worries of childhood and the kind of anxiety that has started to get in the way of a child’s life.
You will learn about normal developmental anxiety through childhood, when anxiety becomes a concern, why the early years and adolescence are critical windows, common types of anxiety in children (separation anxiety, social anxiety, generalised anxiety, specific phobias, selective mutism), how anxiety looks different in children compared with adults, how to validate feelings without dismissing them, gradual exposure rather than forcing, routines, calming techniques and the environment, working with parents and carers, and when to seek further professional help.
