Walking Alongside Youth

AN ONLINE ANXIETY COURSE

Supporting you to walk alongside youth with anxiety.

A Warm Welcome

We are so glad you have found your way to Walking Alongside Youth: An Online Anxiety Course. This resource has been created specifically to meet the unique needs and lived experiences of Foster Caregivers (FC) and Out-Of-Care Care Providers (OOCCP) caring for youth who throughout British Columbia who are experiencing anxiety.

Development of this resource has given careful consideration to the needs of Indigenous youth and families that come from a rich diversity of traditional knowledges and practices that can guide culturally informed and safe responses to anxiety. This is a trauma and evidence informed resource, intended to empower you with practical, culturally safe ways of responding to youth with anxiety.

Course Description and Objectives

Walking Alongside Youth is an online course and collection of anxiety literacy resources organized into seven sessions. Each 20-minute session is intended to build on the preceding session and to support you in caring for youth who are experiencing anxiety. You will find a combination of online text and audio resources that guide you in strengthening relationships, in responding to youth in culturally safe and practical ways, and in understanding that walking alongside the youth in your care is the most effective way to address their symptoms of anxiety.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Walking Alongside Youth was developed with the following course objectives:

To blend holistic, traditional Indigenous perspectives with established, contemporary scientific knowledges to support practical, culturally safe ways of caring for youth with anxiety who are living in foster care and out-of-care arrangements.
To support caregivers and care providers of youth experiencing anxiety to respond more effectively by focussing on relationship and culturally affirming ways.

To equip caregivers, care providers, and kin with insight into the signs and symptoms of anxiety so that they can respond relationally and confidently to the youth in their care, in ways that support well-being.
To provide an inside out understanding of anxiety that youth living in foster and out-of-care arrangements—who have likely experienced relational wounding and had their safety compromised—often experience, and the benefit of indirect approaches to easing anxiety that focus on strengthened relationships.

Course Outline and Session Descriptions

Walking Alongside Youth is organized into seven sessions, as outlined below. Each session combines written components, including PowerPoint slides that can be downloaded and printed; a short video featuring parents, care providers, youth, elders, knowledge carriers, and others sharing stories and teachings relevant to the session; online, interactive, reflective exercises; and supplementary resources such as infographics and links to other material (for example, articles).

Upon fulfilment of the course requirements, participants will receive a certificate of completion for proof of learning.

SESSION 1

Gaining Insight into Youth with Anxiety

SESSION 2

Four Relational and Culturally Safe Approaches

SESSION 3

HONOUR

The Youth’s Identity, Experiences and Family Traditions

SESSION 4

NOURISH

The Relational Needs of Youth With Anxiety

SESSION 5

REDUCE

Experiences That Fuel Anxiety

SESSION 6

RESTORE

Conditions That Lead to Wellness, Resilience and Growth

SESSION 7

Course Summary and Putting it into Practice

Get the Most Out of the Course

Foster caregivers and out-of-care care providers are invited to keep the relationship with youth in their care at the forefront of both their minds and hearts while using this resource. Taking time between sessions to sit with, reflect, absorb, and understand the teachings within each session of the course is highly recommended. Time for reflection will help you gain insight and increase your sense of confidence in applying what has been learned in meaningful and mindful ways.

Each session of the course is intended to build upon the last and provide practical insight that develops the capacity for walking alongside youth with anxiety.

QUICK TIPS

Keep the youth in care at the forefront of both your mind and your heart
Set an intention for your youth and lead with this intention as you navigate each session
Go slowly, don't rush, and take breaks between sessions. Reflect on what you have read, heard, felt, and thought about
Be patient with yourself, resist the temptation to go into problem solving mode and trust that the insights will emerge from within as you go
Remember that anxiety is not a problem to be solved, rather it is something that needs relational support
Envision yourself walking alongside your youth and alongside anxiety

REFLECTIVE ACTIVITY

SETTING AN INTENTION

Intentions are powerful and when we set them, they tend to guide your actions and responses. During times of stress, intentions can bring us back to what is most important. Intentions help chart a course, and without them we can easily lose our way.

Take a moment to reflect on your deepest longing for the youth in your care. If there is one thing you can provide to them in your relationship, what would that be—good health, peace of mind, love, care, trust, safety?