How to Cope With Your Kids’ Anxiety, Your Colleagues’, and Your Own

Sep 18, 2023

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Confronting anxiety is easier said than done. It’s hard enough with adults, but with children it’s even more tough. Anxiety keeps us safe, but often we over-predict that something bad will happen and under-predict our ability to cope. The key is to learn how to manage anxiety before it becomes a problem.

This week’s guest is educational psychologist Nicky Odgers. She specialises in working with kids who are feeling anxious about attending school. A lot of what she helps kids with applies to adults – things like mapping thoughts and emotions to physical sensations, replacing negative thoughts with more realistic ones, and practicing techniques to help us relax.

Anxiety can interfere with our lives and become a problem if it goes unaddressed. Naturally we want to avoid things that cause us anxiety, but this stops us from learning that we can cope and that the terrible thing we fear may never happen.

Listen to this episode to

Learn about anxiety in children and teenagers, and how it can manifest as school avoidance
Gain insight into how anxiety affects adults, including healthcare professionals, and how to manage it effectively
Understand the thought patterns, physical sensations, and behaviours associated with anxiety, and how to address them to prevent avoidance and build coping skills

Episode highlights

[00:03:46] Epidemic of anxiety
[00:09:21] Anxiety as pathology
[00:14:00] Thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and behaviours
[00:20:54] Safety behaviours
[00:23:26] When is it right to step in and offer help
[00:29:18] Anxiety in healthcare
[00:31:47] How to persuade someone their fears are unfounded
[00:34:35] Mind-reading
[00:41:03] Teaching people to solve problems
[00:45:14] Worry time and worry monsters
[00:47:14] Distracting yourself from worry
[00:48:24] Helpful safety behaviour
[00:49:52] Helping anxious people
[00:52:48] Neurodiversity and autism
[00:55:58] Nicky's tips for managing anxiety

About the guest

Nicky Odgers is an educational psychologist with a particular interest in school anxiety. She helps parents and schools to support children and young people to feel less anxious about attending school, to better manage their emotions, to develop their confidence, to initiate and sustain positive relationships and be more successful in their learning.

LinkedIn | Website

Resources

THRIVE Weekly Planner
Episode 22: The Perils of Perfectionism
Episode 181: Get Some Air Cover to Help You Set Boundaries
School Anxiety Support for Parents – Facebook group
Nicky’s information and resource for parents and schools about school anxiety and EBSA
Download Nicky's free handout for children, young people, and parents
Starving the Anxiety Gremlin for Children Aged 5-9, by Kate Collins-Donnelly
My Anxiety Handbook: Getting Back on Track, by Sue Knowles, Bridie Gallagher, and Phoebe McEwen
Books by Poppy O’Neill
What to Do When You Worry Too Much, by Dawn Huebner PhD
Helping Your Child with Fears and Worries, by Cathy Creswell and Lucy Willetts
Get Your Sh*t Together, by Sarah Knight
The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k, by Sarah Knight
Download the episode’s workbook and CPD form. You can use them for reflection and to submit for your appraisal.

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