Taming Your Worry Dragons

Does your child struggle with worries? We have a solution! We are getting together to learn how to tame those worry dragons so they can be a friend instead of the enemy! Using the proven Taming Your Worry Dragons program, the same one offered by BC Children’s Hospital, we will teach you how to tame those dragons so that you don’t have to worry all the time and can enjoy life!

We have modified the program slightly to support parents and introduce yoga skills to the kids to help manage their anxiety, stress, and worries! Yoga is a wonderful adjunct that gets us in touch with our bodies and emotions and provides tools for helping our body calm and relaxes using breathing and stretching techniques taught by our Registered Yoga Teacher. We have also added teaching of brain science to help understand anxiety.

In general, any child struggling with worries and/or anxiety should find this program very beneficial. There are a few things to consider, however. For your child to benefit from this program please keep these in mind and discuss any concerns with us prior to signing up:

• The child needs to be able to tolerate being in a group with other kids. If they’re shy that’s ok, we’ll work on that, but they need to be able to be there on their own.
• The goal is for the kids to participate on their own, independent from their parents. We do understand kids may be anxious on the first day and there is flexibility at the start to help kids get accustomed to while working toward being on their own.
• The role of this program is to help kids build skills toward managing their worries. It is a space for kids to talk about, and process their worries, build skills, and for parents to receive some help toward supporting their anxious kids effectively. This program is not designed to replace primary treatment with significant mental health concerns.

If your child has significant mental health concerns please discuss this with us prior to registration and we can work with you to decide the most appropriate course of action that keeps your child’s best interests at heart. It may be that your child would benefit from some 1:1 counselling or other support prior to engaging with the Taming Your Worry Dragons program.

The Nature of the Group

Worry Dragons is a psychoeducational group – meaning, it is not group therapy. The instructor will teach new skills and children in the group will apply it to their life. Although the instructor will encourage the child to consider how the skills apply to their individual worries, these will not be discussed at length in the group. Participants will have “detective work” (or homework) to do each week which will be discussed in session. Parents will be informed of this via a handout, and a document they receive upon registration in the program. Parents are expected to support their child in completing the weekly tasks.

If parents would like to know how to better support their child with anxiety, or would like more information about what is covered in the Worry Dragons program week to week, they are welcome to book an individual appointment with the instructor at any time.

Expectations of Children Participating

We want the best for your child, and the other children involved in the Taming Your Worry Dragons program at Alongside You. Children who wish to participate in the program should be able to contribute in a respectful and productive manner within a group setting. The hour together will be spent learning about anxiety, practicing new skills, talking together as a group, and doing art projects. Worry Dragons participants will need to be aware that other children in attendance have worries of their own. We work hard to ensure that we are not oversharing in a group setting, thus contributing to, or increasing the concerns of others in the group. If you think your child may do better in an individual therapeutic setting, this option is also available at Alongside You.

Program Details

Our Worry Dragons Program is currently on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are interested in our program, please subscribe to our newsletter and that way you will be the first to know when we re-launch the program!

Further Parent Support

Some parents find that further supports for them are very beneficial while their child is in this program. Our instructors, Alongside You Masters Student Interns, are available to meet 1:1 with parents to support them as their child completes the program. This is service is available at the current fee for interns, available on our fees page. Please contact the office if you’re interested so we can arrange this for you!