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Starving the Anxiety Gremlin
Starving the Anxiety Gremlin
A COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY WORKBOOK ON ANGER MANAGEMENT
A COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY WORKBOOK ON ANGER MANAGEMENT
Age – 5 - 9
What is starving the anxiety gremlin?
It is an intervention programme containing stories, puzzles and activities to help children learn about what anxiety is, why we get anxious, how we think, feel and act when we get anxious and the effects that anxiety can have. It also provides a step-by-step guide to managing their anxiety by starving their Anxiety Gremlin!
Pupils to target
Pupils who often feel worried or afraid, including having many worried or fearful thoughts. This may result in these pupils avoiding, escaping or hiding from people, places or situations because of their worries and fears. Some children may have separation anxiety from tehir parents as a result of their fears, or may be scared to come to school or even leave the house because of their fears. This may lead to obsessive behaviours in some cases, such as doing things or saying something to avoid bad things happening. These worried and fears will have a physical impact as well as ensure that they miss out on doing fun or important things.
Programme format
Starving the Anxiety Gremlin for Children Aged 5–9 provides a cognitive behavioural approach to anxiety management for children aged 5 to 9 years. The cognitive behavioural approach of this workbook is combined with the approach of a traditional colouring and puzzle book to create an educational yet fun resource. And as children progress through this workbook they can gain fun rewards in the form of Starving the Anxiety Gremlin Stars and Just for Fun Puzzles as a celebration of their learning and progress.
By working through the book, they will learn about their own worries and fears. They will also meet a creature called the Anxiety Gremlin. The Anxiety Gremlin’s favourite foods are the children's worries and fears. He wants them to feed him lots and lots of worries and fears so he can get bigger and bigger. But this workbook will teach them how to starve him of his favourite foods so that they will get worried and afraid less often.
The self-help materials included in this workbook are based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) but do not constitute a session-by-session therapeutic programme. However, the materials contained in this workbook can be used as a resource for professionals working with children. An evaluation checklist and a questionnaire are included in the final chapter of the workbook to enable the child to identify just how much they have learnt and how they have progressed.
Throughout the programme, visual supports are used to establish consistency and predictability.
Here are a list of the chapters covered:
Let’s Learn about Feelings!
What is Anxiety?
Things We Get Anxious About
Why We Get Anxious
Our Anxious Bodies
Our Anxious Behaviours
The Effects Anxiety Can Have
Starving the Anxiety Gremlin Strategies
Your Anxiety Dos and Don’ts!
Completing Your Mission to Starve the Anxiety Gremlin!
Session format: key points
Ideally, the sessions should run 1:1 or in a small group of up to 5 pupils, all working through the activities together.
30 minute sessions weekly and reviewed on a half-termly basis for effectiveness
Best conducted in a circle that involves adults and pupils in all activities
When grouping, consider pupils that would work well together have similar challenges
Overview of session visible on a whiteboard to reduce pupil anxiety
Foster a group identity - developing a sense of belonging in this social group is crucial. You could use a group name, and have a poster, logo and even a password.
Who can deliver the sessions?
Starving the Anxiety Gremlin for Children Aged 5–9 is designed for children to work through with the support of a parent or professional, such as a mental health practitioner, teacher, mentor, teaching assistant, social worker or youth worker.
Where to access this resource
The PDF is saved in the Intervention Drive:
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