AD24 Workshop 04 - Beyond “Coping Skills” with Anxious Families: Creating Active Plans with a Process-Based Approach - Lynn Lyons, LICSW

After decades of working with anxious families, schools, and mental health providers, Lynn is clear about two things: parents are a critical part of therapy with anxious kids and offering long lists of “coping skills” is not enough to interrupt anxiety’s powerful generational patterns. In this workshop, Lynn will describe 1) why plans often fail, 2) how to create process-based plans for families and schools that go after the demands of the anxiety disorder, and 3) how to shift away from the practice of creating certainty and comfort. Short-term elimination strategies and long- term accommodation plans that address the “content” of the worry are all too common, so let’s instead give parents and educators the information and “big picture” instruction they need!

Educational Objectives:

1. Describe four traps that increase the likelihood of impairment in functioning, including school avoidance.

2. Explain to families how the goals of elimination and avoidance increase anxiety.

3. Use front loading with families as a key part of a process-based plan.

4. Create resources and homework assignments that promote a processbased approach to anxiety.