Board of the International OCD Foundation. She developed the Worry Hill® approach to making CBT accessible to children and adolescents. Dr. Wagner is an international speaker whose workshops consistently receive outstanding reviews. She is also the author of several books and resources for professionals, including, Worried No More: Help and Hope for Anxious Children, Up and Down the Worry Hill, What to Do When Your Child Has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Treatment of OCD in Children and Adolescents: Professional’s Kit (see www.anxietywellness.com). Aureen Wagner 
Up and Down the Worry Hill: User-Friendly CBT for OCD and Anxiety in Youngsters
August 13-17, 2012
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in children and adolescents, affecting about 13% of youngsters. CBT can help as many as 80% of these children and is regarded by experts as the gold standard of treatment for anxious youngsters. Unfortunately, the majority of anxious children do not receive CBT, due in part to the shortage of clinicians with expertise in CBT with youngsters. Clinicians often find it difficult to access in-depth clinical training in CBT. Further, some forms of anxiety and OCD can be difficult to treat, and comorbid conditions can make treatment challenging.
In this practical workshop, Dr. Wagner combines highly effective CBT strategies with clinical pearls that can quickly be put to use in clinical, school and group settings. You will learn the innovative and child-friendly Worry Hill® CBT approach that is designed to optimize motivation and compliance in youngsters with separation, social and performance/test anxiety, worry, perfectionism, school refusal, phobias, panic, obsessions, compulsions, sleep problems and tics.
Dr. Wagner will present the seven steps of child-friendly CBT that empower youngsters with the tools they need to conquer anxiety. She will discuss the nuts and bolts of cultivating treatment-readiness, collaborating with parents, managing anxiety at school, complex presentations, treatment reluctance and relapse prevention. You will learn to develop and implement creative and specific treatment plans.
The richness and depth of real-life case examples and video clips will illustrate nuances and provide new insights that enhance and fine-tune your skills in working with anxious youngsters and their parents. Detailed handouts will be provided and Teaching Tools and forms for assessment and treatment will be reviewed. You are encouraged to bring cases for discussion..
Monday
- The clinical picture of OCD and anxiety in children and adolescents
- Co-morbidity and differential diagnosis
- Risk factors for anxiety
- The Fuel for Anxiety: Anxiety Triad, Vicious Cycle of Avoidance, Parenting Traps
- CBT: Evidence-based treatment for OCD and anxiety
Tuesday
- Cognitive strategies and the Socratic technique
- Exposure, habituation and anticipatory anxiety
- Challenges in working with elementary, middle and high school aged children
- Up and Down the Worry Hill: Seven Steps in Child-friendly CBT
- Effective parenting strategies
Wednesday
- CBT for OCD: The Four-Phase Worry Hill Protocol-Phase I: Biopsychosocial Assessment and Treatment
- Phase II: Cultivating Treatment Readiness
- Phase III: The RIDE: Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD
- Phase IV: After the RIDE: Long-term recovery and proactive relapse prevention
- Hard-to-treat OCD: CBT for bad thoughts, scrupulosity, mental rituals, and “just right” OCD
Thursday
- Child-friendly CBT in action: Separation anxiety, school refusal, generalized anxiety, sleep difficulties, posttraumatic stress, social anxiety, panic, and specific phobias
- Collaborating with parents and families
- What to expect during CBT
- What not to do: Behaviors that delay recovery
- How to stop enabling
- Managing meltdowns and explosive behavior
Friday
- Helping anxious children in school
- Medications for anxiety and OCD
- Managing comorbidity: Depression, Tourette Syndrome, Asperger’s and ADHD
- Dismantling treatment-reluctance in the child or family
- When treatment is not working
- Lessons learned from the trenches
- Tools of the trade, clinical style, and the art of CBT
