Supporting children and young people experiencing anxiety

How educators can help

As an educator it’s not your role to diagnose a mental health issue – what you can do is notice those children or young people who might be experiencing anxiety, and act appropriately.

For children and young people whose anxiety is less severe, social and emotional learning (SEL) programs that build resilience and coping strategies can be very helpful. These can be embedded as part of a whole-learning community approach. Read more about common signs and symptoms of anxiety in children and young people. 

On an individual level, there are also many helpful ways you can support children and young people experiencing anxiety, depending on their developmental stage. Here are some ideas:

• Give young children the language to label how they’re feeling, so they can learn to identify their emotions (for example, say, “It looks like you might be feeling a bit worried. Sometimes when I feel worried, my tummy feels wobbly”).
• Give notice prior to transitions like starting or stopping activities or moving rooms to help children and young people prepare for change.
• Support families to develop consistent ‘goodbye’ routines for younger children at drop-off, to create a sense of predictability. 
• Help children and young people understand that being anxious, particularly when confronting new situations, is normal, but also that there are strategies for managing anxious feelings.
• Help individuals recognise their own internal cues that they’re becoming anxious (for example, if they have a racing heart or are unable to think, identify and practise strategies that help them to manage their anxiety and calm down).
• Use a step-by-step approach. Break tasks down into small manageable chunks, moving up a step when an individual can cope without anxiety (for example, presenting a project to an educator, presenting a project to an educator and two friends, presenting a project to a small group, and so on).
• Help children and young people recall situations where they’ve succeeded despite being anxious, to strengthen their self-belief they can cope with and manage their anxiety.
• Help them understand that avoiding those things that make them anxious, while useful as a short-term fix, is likely to make things harder in the future.
• Encourage children and young people to have a go at things that are new and to understand that it takes time to learn new skills or behaviours.
• Help them to recognise their own self-talk when approaching new situations and to develop some positive coping statements to stop the self-defeating talk.
• Set realistic expectations for challenges and assist children and young people to manage stress associated with tasks.
• Talk about effective and helpful strategies that you use to manage anxiety or stress (for example, talking to friends, positive self-talk, exercise and other relaxation strategies).
• Enlist the support of important people in their lives such as family members, peers and other educators.