Q & A About Medical Setting Anxiety Training: age recommendations

Q: The description for Brave and Balanced Children's medical setting anxiety training says this is best for parents/caregivers of younger children (up to about 5 years old) or even for parents-to-be. Can you tell me more about selecting this training for an older child or when for my child who already has medical setting anxiety?

A: To be clear, this training provides ALL parents with helpful information, approaches, and techniques. However, here are the situations where this training may not be the best fit:

For children who already have high anxiety in medical settings: these children may already have a diagnosable anxiety disorder (like a phobia of needles). While you may obtain helpful information in this training, your resources (e.g. time and money) will be best spent on much more individualized treatment for your child that meets them where they are at with their anxiety and equips you - the parent/caregiver - with the most detailed and specific plan to help your child find their inner superhero and courage to overcome their anxiety. Generally, once anxiety has taken root, your child needs a higher level of specificity and intervention than this training is geared toward. Go to our Service List and select Child Counseling for the most individualized direct treatment for your child with a medical setting anxiety, phobias, or other similar concerns.

For older children (older than about 5 years old): the answer is two-fold. First, if you have a child of about 5+ years old, they likely have encountered a variety of medical settings successfully without developing anxiety reactions. It is likely that a combination of genetics, personality traits, and support from you have been just the right combination that your child is already thriving. You may find the information and interventions in this training redundant or unnecessary for your older child who is already thriving in these settings.

Second, let's discuss if you have an older child (5+) who has a new medical diagnosis that will require a higher level of interaction with medical settings and interventions than encountered in the past. The answer to this is a little more nuanced, as this may be a situation in which your child does indeed benefit from your participation in this training. However, again, your child may have a strong combination of genetics, personality, and support already in place to no longer need such intervention. If, however, their contact with medical settings and interventions has been fairly limited and is expected to increase, the basic training, as-is, is geared toward parents supporting the developmental needs of children about 8 years old and under, though may be suitable to support children up to about age 10. This training can be more individualized - such as toward an older child or child with more specific medical needs - often with just an additional session to gather more information about your child's age, development, and medical needs before proceeding. Depending on the complexity of your child's needs, additional training sessions may be pertinent to ensure you are well-equipped to support them. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Contact Us if you believe you would benefit from this training to support your older child.

Do you still have questions? Please feel free to reach out and we will be happy to help you decide if our training is appropriate to help you support your child to thrive!