Teenagers who are struggling with anxiety or depression because of school stress may find some relief through a program being run by Curtin University.
Curtin School of Pathology and Speech Pathology professor Peter McEvoy is supervising the free group program for children aged 14 to 17-years-old who are struggling with negative thoughts.
The program is aimed at reducing emotional distress, improve wellbeing and may help participants with concentration ahead of stressful study periods.
Mr McEvoy said pressure to perform in exams could seriously affect a person’s everyday life.
“There’s no doubt that a range of factors can contribute to increasing stress around exams for kids,” he said.
“High expectations of performance will be critical, and the way students think about the probability of them achieving their goals and the cost of not meeting them will have a large impact on how much they worry about exams.
“One of the main pressures that young people feel is if they don’t achieve extremely well in their exams then their pathways to achieve their ultimate aim are shut down when in fact there are multiple pathways to any career.”
Mr McEvoy said he dropped out of school in year 11 to become a musician before becoming a university professor.
“Exams are not the be all and end all, so the degree to which kids are aware of those alternative pathways, the better off they will be in terms of the amount of pressure they put on themselves.”
The trial will consist of six, two hour group sessions with six to eight people in each group.
The groups will target factors responsible for people worrying and discuss the benefits and positives commonly associated with worrying as a force for, or opponent of, motivation.
“We’ve run it with adults over a number of years now and have published the outcomes,” Mr McEvoy said.
“They’ve shown very large effects, very large reductions in worry and rumination in the program – but it hasn’t been trailed in adolescents before.
“This is our attempt to help adolescents in the same way we’re helping adults.”
Mr McEvoy said he was hoping the group would start in three to four weeks depending on interest.
As it is a research trial participants will need parental consent.
For more information call 9266 1717 and mention the Worry Group.
