Innovative counselling with anxious children

Abstract

It is estimated that anxiety disorders can affect up to 18% of 6-17 year-olds (Costello & Angold, 1995). In addition, there are many children who are excessively anxious although they do not meet criteria for an anxiety disorder. Cognitive behaviour counselling techniques have been the therapy of choice for most anxious children in the last few years. This is usually because they have been the most researched and thus have an evidence-base. Kendall’s Coping Cat program and variations such as the FRIENDS program, have found a 65% success rate in treating anxious children. However, for preschool and primary aged children other therapeutic counselling techniques using a wider range of child-friendly intervention can also be successful. Bibliotherapy, puppets, drawing, sandplay and games are also useful for counselling anxious children (Jalong, 1993; Quakley, Reynolds, & Coker, 2004) as is the method of cross–age peer tutoring (Campbell, 2003).