Clare clinical psychologist, Dr David Coleman, is aiming to help parents and those working with children to develop a toolbox for the growing problem of anxiety.
David will be in glór early next month to kick off a nationwide tour entitled ‘Helping Children and Teenagers Cope with Anxiety’ in which he aims to reframe anxiety as a normal part of the lives of young people that can be regulated rather than something to be eliminated.
He hopes that this new tour will help those living or working with children to understand anxiety better, as a feeling rather than an illness or mental health issue.
He says that we all need to be able to get anxious to stay safe, but sometimes teenagers and children can get so anxious that it prevents them from doing regular things in their everyday lives.
“I’ve long realised that anxiety in this age-group is a problem that only ever seems to be growing. In recent years, though, anxiety seems to have become pathologised by kids and parents, as some kind of mental illness,” he said. “Many teenagers who attend me in my private practice announce to me that they ‘have anxiety’ like they have Covid or the ‘flu, or some other disease.
“This is never a helpful way to conceptualise anxiety since anxiety is always going to be a transitory feeling like happiness, sadness, anger and so on. You never hear anyone saying they have ‘happiness’ as a defining feature of their lives.
“My goal in this tour, then, is to reframe anxiety as a normal, functional and important part of children’s and teenagers’ lives that needs to be regulated, not eliminated.
“There is plenty for kids to be anxious about with social media, school, bullying, perceptions of friends, self-consciousness and so on. But kids need to understand that being anxious about things is natural, not ‘a mental health issue’. The talk will help parents understand anxiety better and give them practical tools that they can use and share with their kids for coping with anxiety such that it doesn’t block their kids from doing what they might want or need to do.”
The inspiration for this tour comes from a sell-out show in Siamsa Tire Theatre in Kerry last year.
Starting with a show in Clare, David will also head to Donegal, Galway, Westmeath, Sligo, Limerick, Waterford, Cork, Louth, Kilkenny and Dublin before finishing up in Carlow in November.
David, who specialises in working with children, teenagers and their families in this area, will visit venues around the country to offer concrete and practical tips to adults on how to help children deal with the stresses and pressures in their lives.
David has spent many years working both in the HSE and now in private practice, in addition to his successful TV shows, three parenting books and being the most-followed Irish parenting expert with over 130,000 followers on Instagram.
He has combined his knowledge to offer parents and adults working with this age group a trustworthy, easy-to-digest session.
The audience at the show will also have the opportunity to ask David any questions in an open Q&A after the talk.
‘Helping Children and Teenagers Cope with Anxiety’ comes to glór in Ennis on October 2.
Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and blogger who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.