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Online therapy program shows promising signs for young children

Alice Matthews reported this story on Monday, July 14, 2014 18:55:00

CHILDREN: What happens if I'm late?

What if you don't pick me up?

What's gonna happen if I'm left alone at school?

ALICE MATTHEWS: These questions can seem quite normal to many parents.

But, in some cases, they're an indicator of something more serious.

Constant "what if" questions, fear of social situations, and clingy behaviour are some warning signs of childhood anxiety.

Sophie is 12-years-old.

SOPHIE: Hello, yeah.

ALICE MATTHEWS: Her mother, Veronica Ghee, says taking her to parties at a young age made her realise something wasn't right.

VERONICA GHEE: We noticed that she was very uncomfortable with parties, and joining in.

It took a long time to get her to join in.

ALICE MATTHEWS: While this worried Veronica, she says Sophie's day carers didn't say there were any issues, and others told her it was just a phase.

VERONICA GHEE: She was often really comfortable and relaxed. But I could see these behaviours when we went somewhere. But everybody said "ah, she's fine, she's just shy. Don't worry about it".

ALICE MATTHEWS: But it turned out to be more than just shyness.

Sophie has a form of social anxiety where sufferers are unable to speak in certain situations. It's called selective mutism.

Sophie and her parents tried face to face counselling.

VERONICA GHEE: We had great experiences, and we tried a few different approaches.

But it always seemed to be focussing either a lot on Sophie, and we were a little bit out of the picture, or they were focussing a lot on us, and we felt Sophie was out of the picture.

ALICE MATTHEWS: They found more balance in Brave, Australia's first free online therapy program for anxiety.

The program was funded by Beyondblue, and trialled for 13 years before becoming available to the public this year.

The ten self-directed sessions are designed to educate parents and children on anxiety, and teach management solutions.

VERONICA GHEE: One of the things about people who are really anxious is they won't talk about anxiety at all.

That was a real barrier.

So I think now, it has opened Sophie up to talking about it.

Before we went through that program, we just did not have a common language to talk about it.

ALICE MATTHEWS: Dr Sonja March, a clinical psychologist from the University of Southern Queensland, encourages both parents and children to participate.

SONJA MARCH: It's really important that the parents get involved.

And not only from the point of view of understanding what their child is doing.

But they're also able to change their own behaviours to help their children face fearful situations, and to support them through that.

ALICE MATTHEWS: Dr March is a Brave program developer. She says helping children deal with their worries can stop internal suffering becoming a concern.

SONJA MARCH: We know that childhood anxiety, if it's left untreated, can lead to long term consequences, and that might be long term and long standing anxiety.

It might be depression, substance abuse, it might be all sorts of things.

ALICE MATTHEWS: She says severe consequences can be prevented, if parents learn how to recognise warning signs.

SONJA MARCH: It becomes an issue when it starts to interfere in either the child's or the family's life or functioning.

So it's different again for each person.

But effectively, it's whenever it actually stops the child from doing something that they should or want to be doing.

ALICE MATTHEWS: When managing anxiety, Dr March says online therapy is still quite new, and the effectiveness of medium will keep being monitored.

But going online was a good fit for Veronica and Sophie, who've both taken away valuable techniques.

Now, understanding she needs to face fearful situations, Sophie's willing to do a radio interview - something she would have never done before the program.

VERONICA GHEE (speaking to Sophie): Come on, you can do it, you can have a go.

She's going to be brave.

SOPHIE: Hello.

ALICE MATTHEWS: Hi Sophie, thank you so much for being really brave. How are you?


ALICE MATTHEWS: Can you maybe share with me one thing you learned how to do in the program.

SOPHIE: Relax.

ALICE MATTHEWS: That's a big voice for someone who once couldn't speak to a stranger.

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