2-Day Certification Training: Essentials for Treating Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents

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Program Information

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

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Speaker

Steven O'Brien, PsyD Related seminars and products

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Steve O’Brien, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience working with children, adolescents, young adults, and families in his Clearwater, Florida practice. He is a respected national consultant for mental health professionals seeking guidance on the treatment of anxiety and mood disorders, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and adjustment challenges in divorced and blended families.

 

Since 2017, Dr. O’Brien has provided continuing education and professional training for mental health clinicians, focusing on evidence-based interventions for anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders in youth. He is the author of The Essential Guide to Treating Childhood and Adolescent Anxiety, a clinical manual designed to enhance treatment outcomes.

 

His integrative-systems approach combines CBT, interpersonal techniques, and exposure/desensitization strategies, all tailored to the developmental needs of young clients and their families. Intensive parent consultation—emphasizing psychoeducation, communication skills, and behavior modification—is a cornerstone of his therapeutic work.

 

Dr. O’Brien has worked in numerous healthcare environments, including community mental health, psychiatric, inpatient/residential, substance abuse, and medical facilities. He also served as associate professor of child-adolescent studies at the Florida School of Professional Psychology. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. O’Brien is an app developer (Life@Home by Psychtouch.com) and a frequent guest on local news outlets for his expertise on childhood anxiety. Visit obrienpsychology.com for more information.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Steven O'Brien maintains a private practice. He receives a speaking honorarium, recording and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Steven O’Brien is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Florida Psychological Association.

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Program Information

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Objectives

1. Integrate developmentally appropriate rapport-building strategies to improve engagement of anxious children and parents in treatment.
2. Utilize semi-structured clinical interviewing strategies to assist in diagnosis and treatment planning.
3. Adopt a developmental-systems model for evaluating multiple factors which contribute to the development of anxiety in children and families.
4. Assess the role social technologies play in the development and maintenance of adolescent anxiety disorders.
5. Learn effective approaches for providing anxiety psychoeducation to youth and families.
6. Obtain a protocol for teaching anxiety management skills through mindfulness, self-monitoring, relaxation, and redirection techniques.
7. Develop family-based treatment plans for treating separation anxiety.
8. Integrate developmentally tailored desensitization procedures into treatment of children and adolescents experiencing panic and phobias.
9. Learn how to use developmentally modified CBT for treating generalized anxiety and social anxiety in youth.
10. Consider the dynamics, contributions and treatment implications of disorders such as ADHD and autism which can co-occur with child anxiety.
11. Obtain guidelines for managing school-based anxiety and for effective consultation with school staff.
12. Utilize exposure therapy in a developmentally appropriate manner for treating OCD and related disorders.

Outline

DAY ONE

Sources of Anxiety and Beginning Treatment

• DSM-5™ disorders and child anxiety research findings
• Welcome to Gen Z and Gen Alpha
• Anxiety development in children: Risk and resilience
• The role of temperament and “goodness-of-fit”
• Differential diagnoses and co-occurrence
• Initial interviews with anxious kids and their parents
• Developing a parent-management system
• Rapport-building with anxious-avoidant and anxious-resistant kids
• Child-focused family therapy

First Line Intervention Every Therapist Must Know

• Tailor anxiety information to distressed and frustrated parents
• Child-friendly anxiety education
• Give children a “brain tour”
• Reframe the meaning of anxiety
• Individualized relaxation strategies

Integrative Interventions for Enhancing Anxiety Management

• Healthy habits to strengthen the body and calm the mind
• Strategies for lowering the household “temperature”
• Re-setting the pace of family life
• Effective transition techniques for anxious kids
• Mindfulness in an overstimulating world
• The 3 R’s of anxiety management

Neutralize Panic & Phobias through Empowered Exposure

• Identify physical, cognitive, & behavioral symptoms
• Do’s and don’ts of panic management
• Develop Individualized soothing strategies
• Implement daily relaxation rituals
• Reduce avoidant behavior to promote memory reconsolidation
• Challenge ladders: desensitization for phobic kids
• Treat “conceptual phobias”

Parent-Child Interventions for Separation Anxiety Disorder

• Address avoidance, reassurance, and parental accommodation distinguishing between “distress” and “trauma”
• Self-regulation strategies for parents
• Ease into treatment for separation distress
• Form a “separation management team”
• Manage the separation process in real time

DAY TWO

Child-friendly CBT for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Re-define the meaning and purpose of worry
• Developmentally-informed cognitive skill-building
• Cognitive restructuring to combat catastrophizing, rumination, and negativity
• Equip parents to respond to worry productively
• Tips for empowering worried kids to obtain support

Interventions for Obsessive-Compulsive Anxiety and Related Disorders

• OCD education for kids and parents
• Common and unique OCD themes
• Guidelines for using exposure and response prevention (ERP)
• ERP alternatives: Brain challenges and response modification
• Cognitive restructuring for the “thought-action fusion” process
• Potential therapeutic pitfalls of OCD treatment
• Considerations for hair-pulling, skin-picking, and non-suicidal self-injury

Treating Selective Mutism and Social Anxiety Disorder

• Factors contributing to selective mutism
• Promote nonverbal communication as the initial goal
• Whole-family treatment for changing reinforcing dynamics
• Modern influences on social anxiety development
• Treatment considerations with socially anxious youth
• Dialogue development strategies

Anxiety-Management in the Classroom

• Relationship building with anxiety-ridden students
• Create a calm and responsive classroom
• Respond to anxiety-fueled misbehavior
• Reduce procrastination, test anxiety and homework stress

Help Children with Stressor-Related Disorders

• Determine different stressor types and their impact
• Interventions for children facing separation and divorce
• Strategies for anxiety related to blended families
• Considerations for loss-related anxiety
• Beyond stressors: Trauma-informed treatment guidelines

Outcome Measures and Prevention Tactics

• Consider research limitations and treatment risks
• Measure treatment progress: Strategies for both parents, caregivers and clinicians
• When to consider additional evaluations and collateral treatments
• Anxiety prevention: Rethink expectations and goals

Target Audience

• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Counselors
• Teachers
• School Administrators
• Nurses
• Occupational Therapists
• Occupational Therapy Assistants
• Speech-Language Pathologists
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Physicians
• Other Helping Professionals who Work with Children