Anxiety disorders in children and young people are common and can have a significant impact on mental health and well-being. Anxiety disorders can affect family, school and social life, leisure activities and educational achievement and they often occur alongside other mental health problems.
Anxiety disorders
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Using a case formulation to identify what maintains anxiety
Case conceptualisation helps clinicians move from a description of a young person’s symptoms to an account of what may be keeping them going. In the session on science-informed case conceptualisation, Professor Bryce McLeod illustrated his five-step model with a single case of social anxiety in a young adolescent girl. The case shows how a formulation can bring maintaining factors into view, including the coping strategies of the girl and her mother, and then shape treatment and the conversation with the family.
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Self-Guided Intervention for Intergenerational Anxiety
Could supporting anxious parents help reduce anxiety in children? Explore research on a self-guided online parenting intervention and its effects on child anxiety.
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Helping Anxious Parents Raise Confident Children: Preventing the Intergenerational Transmission of Anxiety
Internationally renowned expert Professor Sam Cartwright-Hatton will lead the programme sharing extensive clinical and research expertise. Through in-depth presentation and interactive Q&A session, participants will learn how to support parents in reducing accommodating behaviours, fostering resilience, and promoting long-term emotional wellbeing in anxious children.
- Event type
- Intermediate level
- Location
- LIVE STREAM
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Meet the Experts: Professor Caroline Bond and Jerricah Holder on Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA)
On 20 May 2026, ACAMH will host Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) in Practice: Evidence, Complexity, and Recovery-Oriented Approaches. We caught up with two of the presenters – Professor Caroline Bond (pic) and Jerricah Holder – to discuss the topic, their careers, and their hopes for the event.
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Meet the expert: a nervous system approach to selective mutism, with Anna Biavati
We caught up with the presenter – Anna Biavati, a Speech and Language Therapist and founder of Steps to Brave Talking Therapy and Support – about the topic itself, her career, and her hopes for the event.
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Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) in Practice: Evidence, Complexity, and Recovery-Oriented Approaches
Explore emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA) in practice with this ACAMH evidence‑led update. Learn about the latest research, complex cases, and recovery‑oriented approaches for supporting children and families affected by school avoidance.
- Event type
- Update session
- Location
- LIVE STREAM
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Meet the expert: Practical techniques for managing social anxiety in everyday clinical work, with Dr. Eleanor Leigh
We caught up with Dr. Eleanor Leigh, Associate Professor and MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow at the University of Oxford, to talk about practical techniques for managing social anxiety in everyday clinical work.
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Creating Safety Before Speech: A Nervous System Approach to Selective Mutism
The session explores the connections between early development, emotional regulation, movement, retained primitive reflexes, and the nervous system, illustrating how these systems interact to shape a child’s capacity to engage, relate, and communicate. It places particular emphasis on how safety, predictability, and reduced pressure can support regulation and communication across both home and school environments.
- Event type
- Talk with Q&A
- Location
- LIVE STREAM
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26
Practical techniques for managing social anxiety in everyday clinical work
Associate Professor Eleanor Leigh will focus on social anxiety in adolescents, with a strong emphasis on developing practical clinical skills. This advanced session will be ideal for professionals in child and family mental health who have therapeutic experience with children and families.
- Event type
- Introductory to Advanced
- Location
- LIVE STREAM
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Social Fears in Children: The Roles of Parental Communication and Child Temperament
A recent longitudinal study by Zeytinoglu and colleagues (2025) provides insights into how parental verbal communication and child characteristics contribute to the transmission of social fears. The study shows the impact of both positive and negative maternal statements about ambiguous social situations, finding that positive comments were linked to reductions in children’s social fear beliefs, while negative comments predicted increases, especially among children who were behaviourally inhibited or had high anxiety.
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