Workshops for Parents

For over 25 years, Dr. Wagner has received consistently outstanding reviews at her workshops for parents across the United States and Canada.

Dr. Wagner presents workshops on-site or by videoconference via Webex. 

ABOUT DR. WAGNER’S WORKSHOPS FOR PARENTS

Anxiety is a normal and healthy emotion that all of us experience everyday. But sometimes, it becomes more harmful than helpful.  Did you know that anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in children and adolescents, and far more common than attention-deficit disorder or substance abuse? Serious anxiety, which affects 13% or 6.5 million school-aged children, can sidetrack youngsters from the business of growing up, learning and just being kids. The parents of anxious children struggle to find the right parenting strategies, and families experience the disruption that anxiety can bring into the home. With early recognition and timely treatment, 80% of these children and adolescents can successfully overcome anxiety. 

Dr. Aureen Wagner will describe how to tell the difference between normal and problem anxiety and how to recognize early warning signs in children and teenagers.  She will offer practical guidance and specific how-to steps for parents to help children overcome worry, perfectionism, test anxiety, school refusal, separation anxiety, social anxiety, excessive shyness, panic, disasters and tragedies, obsessions and compulsions. In addition, she will discuss how anxiety manifests in school, effective treatments, what parents can do to help, what school personnel can do to help, valuable strategies at home and school, and the do’s and don’ts of parenting.

Dr. Wagner’s workshops are packed with useful information, combining scientifically-proven cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with highly practical, creative and user-friendly strategies.  Topics may cover anxiety disorders as a group or specific disorders such as OCD. 

 Topics covered include:

• Normal childhood fears 
• Normal vs. problem anxiety
• Different forms of anxiety
• What’s anxiety, what’s not?
• How anxiety manifests in school
• What causes anxiety?
• The fuel for anxiety: The Anxiety Triad
• The Vicious Cycle of Avoidance
• Parent “traps”
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Child-friendly coping strategies
• Medications for anxiety
• The 3 P’s of effective parenting
• Managing meltdowns and explosiveness
• What not to do: Strategies that don’t help
• Working with your child’s school
• Building self-reliance in your child

Reviews by Attendees at Dr. Wagner’s Workshops for Parents

• This was outstanding and superb. Gave me words and explanations for what my child is experiencing.
• It was great to learn how to teach children to think calmly.
• It was great. I liked your style and I love the idea of the Worry Hill and the Feeling Thermometer.
• The practical steps were great, as was the affirmation of parenting techniques.
• So many light bulbs went off for me, so many things I had missed or misunderstood.
• Excellent!!! Information provided was so very practical especially for work with children.
• Wonderful, great, well presented!
• I wish I had attended this workshop years ago! I have learned so much that I can apply now.
• Superb, creative and helpful. Thank God for Dr. Wagner!
• Wagner has a warm and friendly manner and seems to relate to children especially well.
• It was fabulous! I learned a lot. I just wish we had more time. Maybe another in-depth talk.
• Excellent presenter, not too technical, good examples, great humor.
• Loved her style, comforting, funny, good pace
• Wonderful presentation, very interesting topic
• Very thorough and knowledgeable. Spoke as a parent, not just a clinician
• She is great! So much information with problem-solving techniques