PSP 390: Helping Kids Who Give Up Easily

PSP 390: Helping Kids Who Give Up Easily

Anxiety and OCD can take a TON of resilience. So when we have kids who generally give up easily, this can impact how they handle their mental health struggles.

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PSP 383: The Power of Celebrating Small Wins with Anxiety or OCD

PSP 383: The Power of Celebrating Small Wins with Anxiety or OCD

Anxiety and OCD can create hopelessness. It can feel like such an overwhelming task to overcome these struggles. Often we focus on the end goal.

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PSP 378: Helping Kids with Anxiety and Panic Attacks

PSP 378: Helping Kids with Anxiety and Panic Attacks

She was visibly shaking. Her hands were trembling and she was asking me to help. Her face was so pale that my own panic started to set in. This was the start of an anxiety attack.

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Is Your Child Trying to Get Rid of Anxiety? That Might be the Problem.

Is Your Child Trying to Get Rid of Anxiety? That Might be the Problem.

Often when we have anxiety or OCD we hyperfocus on getting rid of the anxiety. We can view anxious feelings as the enemy. We might think that success is not being anxious 100% of the time. Success is not being uncomfortable. Success is being calm and content.

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PSP 374: Loving the Child You Have vs The Child You Wanted

PSP 374: Loving the Child You Have vs The Child You Wanted

Raising a child with anxiety or OCD can bring with it so many struggles, including our own grief and overwhelm. It is easy, and tempting, to bury our own raw emotions around our child’s anxiety or OCD struggles. But honoring and processing our feelings is equally important.

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Is your Child Scared if They Go to Sleep They Won’t Wake Up?

Is your Child Scared if They Go to Sleep They Won’t Wake Up?

Anxiety and OCD love certainty. It doesn’t like doubt. It wants to know 100% for sure. But that’s a problem. There are so many things we can’t know for certain. There is so much in life that we do not have control over.

In this week’s YouTube video I talk to kids, teens and young adults about the fear of going to sleep and not waking up and how to reframe their thinking around this fear.

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PSP 362: The Use of Storytelling in Anxiety and OCD

PSP 362: The Use of Storytelling in Anxiety and OCD

It can be hard to help kids navigate anxiety and OCD. Sometimes adding some creative ways to help validate, normalize and build skills to handle anxiety or OCD can be gold! One of my favorite ways to do that is through storytelling.

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PSP 360: Managing Our Anxiety When Our Child is Panicking

PSP 360: Managing Our Anxiety When Our Child is Panicking

Your child is paralyzed with fear. They are nauseous. They are faint. They are immobilized. It is hard to watch as a parent. For many of us it can trigger our own panicky response.

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PSP 350: Is it Game Over if Your Child Doesn’t Want to Work on Anxiety or OCD?

PSP 350: Is it Game Over if Your Child Doesn’t Want to Work on Anxiety or OCD?

It can feel like there is nothing you can do if your child refuses to work on anxiety or OCD. But in reality, that is far from true. We are one piece of the puzzle when it comes to our child’s anxiety or OCD, but it is still an important piece.

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PSP 348: Does Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD Trigger Your Childhood Wounds?

PSP 348: Does Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD Trigger Your Childhood Wounds?

Dealing with our child’s anxiety or OCD is taxing enough, but sometimes there is another layer of stress. Often our child’s struggles can trigger something deep within us. A childhood wound, a flashback, a remnant of something that has remained dormant within us.

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PSP 347: Do You and Your Partner Fight Over Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD?

PSP 347: Do You and Your Partner Fight Over Your Child’s Anxiety or OCD?

Raising a child with Anxiety and OCD is hard enough, but when you and your partner are not on the same page, it can be even harder.

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How Your Child Sees the World Can Impact Their Ability to Get Relief from Anxiety or OCD

How Your Child Sees the World Can Impact Their Ability to Get Relief from Anxiety or OCD

Is the cup half empty or half full for your child? How they view their world and their situation can make a huge difference in how they handle anxiety or OCD.

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Does Your Child Get Anxious Anticipating Things? How to Get Relief from Anticipatory Anxiety.

Does Your Child Get Anxious Anticipating Things? How to Get Relief from Anticipatory Anxiety.

Anticipatory anxiety can be just as paralyzing as other anxiety themes. When we live in the world of what-ifs we can build up so much anxiety that we are immobilized by the time the situation or event arrives. It can help to teach our kids to build up skills on how to manage their anxiety prior to the situation. When they proactively quell the monumental avalanche of anxious thoughts they show up for the event/situation with less anxiety. In this week’s YouTube video for kids and teens I talk about some approaches to handle and reduce anticipatory anxiety.

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Does Your Child Worry About What Other People Think?

Does Your Child Worry About What Other People Think?

We all worry about what other people think, that is a human condition. But when you have social anxiety those thoughts consume you, devour you. With social anxiety we are on the hamster wheel of acceptance. We look for it, we analyze it, we tell ourselves we don’t have it – and the cycle repeats. But what if our kids could get off that hamster wheel of caring what other people think, or at least to the level that they do? What if they flipped it around and asked themselves, What do I think? How do I view myself? This is where the real work begins when trying to get rid of social anxiety. It begins with ourselves. In this week’s YouTube video I talk to kids and teens about how to shift their concern about what other people think to reduce their social anxiety.

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PSP 336: Teaching Kids with Anxiety or OCD to Advocate for Themselves

PSP 336: Teaching Kids with Anxiety or OCD to Advocate for Themselves

It is important for all kids to learn how to advocate for themselves. It is an especially important skill for kids with anxiety or OCD. Many of us feel like we have to go to bat for our kids with anxiety and OCD over and over again. But often we forget the important aspect of pulling back over time to teach our kids how to advocate for themselves. Self-advocacy builds self-esteem and empowerment. It helps kids learn that they have a voice. We can teach our kids to advocate for themselves in simple steps. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk about the ingredients to self-advocacy and how to build those skills one step at a time.

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