Supporting Students Experiencing Anxiety

Supporting students experiencing anxiety

As educators, we are keenly aware of the increasing number of anxious students presenting in our schools and understand how difficult it can be to support a struggling student in a class of 30 others. Schools have limited access to psychology services and teachers do not have time to implement lengthy individual interventions or programs. The aim of the workshop is to equip teachers and SNAs’ with the psychological knowledge, tools and strategies to help support students' experiences throughout the teaching day.

Course Content

• What is anxiety? How to recognise it and the different ways it can present.
• How to respond effectively to a child experiencing anxiety (including panic attacks).
• Reflection, empathy and co-regulation are your most powerful tools! Learn more about how to develop and effectively use these skills.
• Exploring a variety of practical and time-effective anxiety-reducing activities to incorporate into your day.
• Creating a safe and secure classroom to decrease anxiety in general.
• The importance and practice of self-care, self-regulation and compassion.
• A pack of useful printable worksheets for classroom and personal use.

Learning Outcomes

• Participants will develop a greater understanding of psychological theories in relation to the causes and various presentations of anxiety. This knowledge will enable them to identify and effectively respond to students experiencing anxiety.

• Participants will become familiar with a range of psychological tools and strategies to enable them to respond effectively and support anxious students.

• Participants will become familiar with a range of practical¸ time effective classroom activities and practices to create a calm, open and safe classroom environment, reduce overall anxiety levels and prevent situations of overwhelm from occurring. (Resource Pack included)

Facilitator: Susan Quain

I have degrees in both Education and Psychology and will be submitting a Master's by Research thesis in Psychology at UL before Christmas. I have over ten years’ of experience teaching in a large urban special school. I have worked as an Assistant Psychologist in Child and Family Psychology Services for the last two years.