Upcoming Live Webinars
Raising Brave: Strengthening Kids and Teens Through Anxiety
Anxiety has excellent intentions – to keep us safe. Its timing, however, can be terrible.
Then there’s the issue of how it shows up. Because it doesn’t always arrive with gentle ‘here if you need!‘. Sometimes it can show up as tears, tummy aches, perfectionism, avoidance, anger, defiance, withdrawal, trouble walking through the school gate, or a door slam with enough force to change the weather.
Anxiety will always try to keep our children safe. They’d be in trouble without it. There would be nothing to steer them away from tricky decisions, tricky people, and things that are genuinely dangerous.
The problem is that sometimes it can misread a situation as ‘dangerous’, when really that situation is, ‘brave, growthful, important – but so hard right now.’
Sometimes, it keeps them safe by convincing them to stay small:
Don’t try.
Don’t go.
Don’t risk it.
Make sure.
Get someone else to do it.
You don’t have what it takes.
And because we love them, it’s normal to want to make the discomfort disappear. But brave doesn’t grow from never feeling anxious. It grows when children discover: I can feel anxious, and as long as I’m safe, I can still take the next step.
The key for them is knowing when to step forward and when to step back.
The key for us is knowing when to believe their anxiety, and when to believe in them. This can be so tough!
In Raising Brave: Strengthening Young People Through Anxiety, we’ll use the neuroscience of anxiety to understand what young people need during those everyday moments that feel hard, but are safe – when anxiety gets shouty and so convincing.
Together, we’ll explore how to embraven all young people without pushing too hard, or letting anxiety make the decisions including:
- where anxiety comes from, what happens in the brain and body when it takes over, and how to use this to build their brave;
- how to respond to anxiety in the moment without shaming, forcing, or letting anxiety squeeze out their capacity for brave,
- the many faces of anxiety, including sick tummies, sore tummies, anger, avoidance, defiance, and shutdown, and reassurance-seeking (‘but what if …’ on loop) – and what to do.
- the things all loving parents do that can inadvertently make anxiety bigger – and what to do instead;
- the toughest moments – when school feels tough, when boundaries get pushed – and how to move through this;
- practical strategies children can use to move through anxiety, uncertainty, and big feelings.
- how to hold warm, loving boundaries without getting pulled into power struggles;
- practical strategies children can use to move through anxiety, uncertainty, and big feelings.
Because the goal isn’t to raise children who never feel anxious. We couldn’t even if we wanted to.
Anxiety will always tell them who they can’t be, and what they can’t do.
Our job is to make sure it’s never the only voice they believe.
Previous Live Webinars
Separation Anxiety: How to Build Their Brave
Separation anxiety can come with loads of heartache for children and their important adults, but there's something else it comes with - the opportunity to strengthen all children against anxiety and build their brave - and we know they can be brave.
Saying 'goodbye' can be tough! Not only for our children, but for us too - even the strongest and bravest of parenting hearts can feel the wrenching that can come at separation. Separation anxiety exists for a good reason. We want our children to feel loved and supported, and we also want to build their brave so anxiety doesn't stand in the way of the important, growthful things they need to do.
Of course we'd rather our young ones never feel the tailwhip of separation anxiety, but so many young people (and the adults who love them) are going to experience anxiety at separation from a loved one. It's part of being human, but it doesn't have to hurt. As their important adult, you have a profound capacity to support them through separation anxiety and help them feel braver, stronger, and closer to you, even when you're not beside them - at school, at bedtime - any time they are away from you. In this one-and-a-half-hour webinar, we will explore practical, powerful ways to do this.
This is information I wish every parent could have. I'll be speaking to you from my professional experience, but more importantly, I'll be speaking to you from my parenting heart. Something you might not know about me is that my own experience with my daughter's separation anxiety when she was a little person is what led me to this work. (She's now one of the bravest women I know!
I know we can get kids through separation anxiety. I know the heartache. I know the feelings of helplessness. And I know we can get them through.
If you can't make the 'live' online event, that's no problem at all. A recording of the webinar will be made available to all registered participants for 30 days.
We will explore:
- why separation anxiety happens, and the important job it's there to do;
- the thing all loving adults will do (we'll all do them!) that can inadvertently make their anxiety worse, and what to do instead;
- why their anxiety will fuel yours;
- what adults can do to soften the impact of separation;
- how to respond in the midst of anxiety - strategies for children, parents and carers (including teachers and other important adults);
- practical ways to support your child through separation anxiety;
- specific strategies for bedtime anxiety;
- the toolbox for young people - how to help all children feel bigger at separation;
- the connection between anxiety and aggression, and how to respond to big behaviour in the moment;
- the connection between anxiety, behaviour and learning, and how to work with this;
- a road map for supporting your child through anxiety - before, during, and after;
- why relationships matter, and how to facilitate relationships between children and their important adults (teachers, other important adults) in ways that will build brave behaviour.