This week I attended a presentation by Reading University’s Professor Laurie Butler, Head of School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences and some of his team regarding anxiety and depression in children and young people.
The evening was well attended by teachers and people who work with children and young people. We were told about local clinical research that is currently taking place regarding anxiety and depression in young people. Schools and young people were advised to look at the Andy Research Clinic for useful information and how to get involved with the clinical research projects and who to contact.
They also talked about MindEd which provides E-Learning support for parents and professionals to support healthy young minds.
Professor Shirley Reynolds then spoke about ‘The Brave Program‘ which is a CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) treatment program which can be used for anxious or depressed teenagers. Clinical research shows that this is an effective method of treating anxiety and depression in young people. During the Q&A session the clinical panel were asked about other therapies such as Hypnotherapy and if it was an effective alternative, they had no clinical evidence and CBT was their only recommended form of treatment.
I found this rather interesting as in my experience of coaching all my students, I feel that a one size fits all approach is not always successful. I find looking at an individual’s needs and creating a specific strategy to enable them to cope and move forward is what gets them the best results. I may use some CBT as well as integrating NLP (neuro linguistic programming), Yoga and Mindfulness techniques. Combine that with some life and soft skills and so the transformation begins.
The Q&A panel also spoke about a ‘Whole School Approach’ which piqued everyone’s interest although there was very little information about it as it is still under construction. Having a whole school approach where all relevant people from parents, schools, CAMHs, childrens services, would mean that fewer children fall through the gap and there would be consistency in their treatment across the board.
I found the Q&A session at the end very useful and the variety of questions was very informative. It certainly gave me food for thought on how to continue to grow and improve my practice so that I can make an even bigger difference to my students.
If you are interested in the service I provide to schools and my clients then please contact me.
