Recent reports suggest that anxiety in school students is higher than previously thought, prompting some to suggest training teachers as 'lay therapists'. But simply adding more therapists in schools is not the answer to this anxiety epidemic. Instead, we should focus on primary prevention—reducing the onset of anxiety in the first place.
Research at Flinders University has demonstrated that teaching psychological skills to young people can reduce the onset of symptoms of anxiety and depression while also reducing risk for eating disorders. Think of it as a kind of psychological immunisation through skills building. The Healthy Minds program, a world-leading initiative based on this research, is designed to equip students with the skills they need to effectively manage their wellbeing and build resilience.
The Healthy Minds program can help schools reverse the trend in anxiety disorders. Published in the prestigious international peer-reviewed journal Behaviour Research and Therapy, the Healthy Minds program teaches the skills of effective emotion regulation, helpful decision making, and balanced thinking. It arms students with the ability to be critical consumers of the media, challenge unhelpful thinking habits, and become effective self-managers of their personal wellbeing. By challenging perfectionism and building self-compassion, Healthy Minds targets two of the most prominent and powerful risk and protective factors in adolescent mental health.
Increasingly, prevention work must also focus on parent education. There has been a generational shift in parenting practices towards 'overparenting', where parents do too much to help their child. This is born out of love and good intentions, but ultimately can cause harm. The Healthy Minds program includes parent events to help strengthen parent confidence in supporting their child’s healthy development.
Teachers often find themselves stuck between wanting to reduce distress in their students but not always knowing the best response.
The causes of anxiety are not a mystery: anxiety is caused by anxious thinking (over-estimating risk), avoidance, and low distress tolerance, all of which can be directly addressed in every child.
The usual short-term solution of facilitating avoidance to help the child feel calm is a mistake. In the long term, the child does not experience tolerating and adapting to difficult things, and they don't get to test their anxious predictions by facing the challenges at hand.
By focusing on prevention and empowering teachers, parents, and students with the skills they need to thrive, we can tackle the anxiety epidemic head-on and create a brighter future for our young people.
To learn more about the Healthy Minds program and how it can benefit your school community, please call Dr. Tom Nehmy on +61 411 591 276 or book a Zoom meeting at www.healthymindsprogram.com.
0411 591 276
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