Preferred registration deadline: January 15th

3 CEs

Anxiety in children and teens doesn’t always look like worry or fear. Sometimes it looks like irritability, arguing, shutting down, emotional outbursts, or explosive anger. When anxiety is expressed through challenging behavior, it can be easy to focus on the anger while missing what may be driving it.

This workshop will help participants recognize when anger and behavioral concerns may be connected to underlying anxiety and differentiate anxiety-driven responses from patterns associated with oppositional behavior. Participants will explore how anxiety can influence emotional regulation and behavior and learn strategies for helping both young people and their caregivers better understand what is happening beneath the anger.

Drawing from evidence-based approaches, participants will learn a structured three-step process for helping children and teens recognize, regulate, and respond to overwhelming emotions. We will also explore practical, developmentally appropriate interventions for helping young clients externalize and process anxiety, build emotional regulation skills, and develop healthier responses to anxiety-driven anger.

This is an interactive synchronous distance learning course via Zoom.

General Admission: $65**
**Eligible discounts can be applied during checkout.

Class size is limited to 45.

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Course Outline

Content Level: Beginner

Target Audiences: Clinical Therapists, Social Workers, Counselors, Psychologists, and other mental health providers.

Agenda:

• Welcome and Introductions - 5 mins
• Anxiety Assessment, Fight-Flight-Freeze, and DSM-5 criteria - 45 mins
• Relaxation Skills Practice and Emotions Elevator - 35 mins
• Affective Expression Interventions - 35 mins
• Cognitive Coping - 30 mins
• 3-Step Approach and Problem Solving - 30 mins

Learner Outcomes

• Differentiate anxiety-driven anger from oppositional behavior in children and adolescents using relevant diagnostic criteria and clinical presentation.
• Apply a structured three-step approach—Identify & Empathize, Calm Down, and Game Plan—to help children and adolescents recognize, regulate, and problem-solve around anxiety-driven anger.
• Identify evidence-based, developmentally appropriate interventions to help children and adolescents externalize and process anxiety, strengthen emotional regulation, and develop more adaptive responses to anxiety-driven anger.

Course Completion Requirements:

• The Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Professional Development, provider #2130, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 9/24/2025 – 9/24/2028. Social workers completing this course receive 3 clinical continuing education credits.
• The Brown School is also an approved provider of Social Work CEs in Missouri and Illinois.
• To earn ACE credit, attendees must arrive at the scheduled time, attend the entire course, and complete an online course evaluation. ACE credit is not provided for partial attendance.  However, you may still qualify for partial Social Work Missouri and Illinois CEs provided by the Brown School.
• Brown School CE Certificates will be available online within 10 business days of course completion by visiting your learner profile at https://ce.wustl.edu/portal/logon.do?method=load&parentSite=brown.  You will receive an email notification with specific instructions for accessing the online certificate when it is available. ACE CE Certificates, if requested in your evaluation survey, will be emailed within 10 business days of course completion.
• For more information about CEs, accessibility, refund/cancellation policy, our grievance policy, or other inquiries, please visit our About Us page or email brownprofdev@wustl.edu.