Anxiety
We assist with anxiety in a number of ways
Facing anxiety begins with honestly recognizing the areas of worry and approaching anxiety-provoking experiences in a stepwise, supportive way. This can be done directly with the child or with a more active intervention on the part of parents. In either approach, utilizing specific skills to manage emotional experiences.
What does anxiety look like?
Avoiding activities
Behavior problems
Difficulty concentrating
Tense, restless body
Repetitive worries
Reassurance seeking
“We just want to thank you so much for all of the progress our son has made since he met you. He was chosen as student of the month for January for the attribute of courage. He went to the ceremony tonight and accepted the award on stage by himself. My husband and I cried watching this unfold.”
— Parent of child with Selective Mutism and ADHD
How We Can Help
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based, goal-oriented treatment approach that focuses on how cognitions, emotions, and behaviors impact each other. It is an effective treatment for emotional disorders in elementary-age children, adolescents, and young adults. CBT is a skill-based and collaborative intervention focused on altering maladaptive thinking patterns and behaviors to help make changes in everyday life.
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Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE)
SPACE gives parents strategies to help anxious children face their fears with outside support. Treatment focuses on changes that parents can make to their own behavior to help children overcome anxiety without requiring the child to make any changes independently. Parent training helps parents to recognize how they contribute to their child’s anxiety while taking steps to empathetically and supportively change their approach. This is done by reducing the accommodations made to account for the child’s symptoms. The SPACE program is an evidence-based treatment for children and adolescents with anxiety and/or OCD.
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Parent-Child Interaction Therapy/Parent Training
In parenting sessions, we focus on setting a foundation of building strong relationships, coupled with clear boundaries. This structure can help anxious children feel safe and secure, which is essential to bravely face anxious triggers. With consistent attendance following these structured programs, parents can address both behavior problems and underlying anxieties effectively in as little as 12-20 weeks. Typically, parent training sessions are conducted virtually, while PCIT has been proven effective in both the virtual and office format.
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Anxiety Groups
Group intervention helps your child to practice interacting with adults and peers in situations that mirror both a school setting and a social setting. We have two groups available: one for conversation practice for those struggling with fluent social interactions and another to teach the basic principles of cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxious children. Current group offerings are for ages 7-10. Group sizes vary depending on needs of participants. Based on clinical presentation, prior individual treatment may be required before enrolling in group, though treatment does not need to be through Growing Minds. Email us at info@growingmindsnyc.com for more information about available group offerings.
School Consultation
Navigating the school system can be confusing and frustrating, especially when your child is anxious in the learning environment. We can help you understand what services your child needs to access their education and how to make sure your child receives these services. We work directly with school staff to support each student. As trained school psychologists, we understand the bridge between the clinical and academic needs of children with anxiety and can be by your side through the process. If you are a school looking for training for your staff, we offer a variety of interactive trainings to help educators stay current on evidence-based practices, effective strategies, and important research developments to better equip teachers to support anxious children in the classroom. Our goal is to educate and empower so that we can all do our best in supporting the growing minds around us.
Frequently Asked Questions about Anxiety
+ What types of anxiety disorders do you treat?
Anxiety can present itself in different ways. We treat separation anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, selective mutism, and specific phobias.
+ How do you treat anxiety?
Anxiety is managed through facing anxieties and tolerating the discomfort, which is called exposure therapy. While the automatic response will be to avoid a feared object or experience, exposure therapy challenges people to directly address those fears. This is done through a combination of live and virtual exposures and is facilitated both during and between sessions. Depending on the presenting problem and the age of the child, exposures may be done directly with the child or done indirectly through parents. Either way, our goal is to live an exposure lifestyle, where families look for opportunities to challenge themselves through the anxiety each and every day. Anxiety can also be treated through reducing parent accommodations. In this treatment, parents are taught how to change their own behaviors while conveying acceptance and confidence in the child, thereby helping the child to manage anxious responses.
+ What if my child doesn’t have a disorder, but needs help with anxiety anyway?
If your child needs coping strategies and other supports, we can definitely help. Providing a child with resiliency skills can be beneficial as a preventative approach.