Professor Paula Barrett

Internationally recognised researcher and scholar in the field of educational psychology – Professor Paula Barrett provides education and resources for parents and educators regarding self esteem, resilience and positive behaviours in children.

Pathways Health and Research Centre is the home of the World Health Organisation recognised programs for developing resilience in children. These programs are held across Australia and Internationally.  For more on the Friends, Fun Friends and Friends for Life Programs visit:

www.pathwayshrc.com.au

Are anxiety and depression genetic?

The resounding answer is no.

It is possible, however, that parents may pass on certain vulnerability for the stimuli around us. For example, if a stimulus is negative some children may react with anxiety and at a later stage depression. It is critical therefore, that we learn skills to cope with our anxiety and life around us. Anxiety and depression tend to occur together. Anxiety is more common in childhood but as we grow up we can develop depression as well as anxiety.

The past 20 years has shown us that early intervention and prevention programs are essential to prevent the onset of both anxiety and depression. In these programs we teach children, parents, health professionals and educators, proven and effective positive-coping life-skills. Skills that will help them navigate life’s obstacles, whatever their pathway may be.

There are some things we can’t change; the temperament, sensitivity or vulnerability to stress that each child is born with (and that as adults we carry throughout our lives), but what we can change is our ability to deal with life events and our coping skills that help us go through life feeling happy and confident most of the time.

We can so easily learn these coping skills! In fact, Australia has some of the best evidence-based programs, as acknowledged by the World Health Organization for teaching children emotional and social resilience skills (Friends for Life and Fun Friends Programs). These skills help children and communities (families and schools) deal effectively with: Bullying (both victims and perpetrators); school refusal and absenteeism; social anxiety; social isolation; lack of social skills; Autistic Spectrum Syndrome presentations; lack of motivation and self esteem associated with learning disabilities; depression; aggression; and lack of empathy for cultural differences and people with disabilities

What can we do to help our children be happier and more resilient?

The answer is to implement a preventative approach.

All children will benefit from a program that builds resilience and coping skills, life can be tough! In addition, parents need to become detectives, be on the lookout for the signs that your child is finding things difficult and respond with a timely preventative program, such as Friends for Life before things escalate. Early intervention in a child’s life can help combat these difficulties before anything becomes a big issue. It is so easy and the whole family –parents and siblings - learn the positive coping skills too.

We can use a “learning to swim” approach – all children can benefit from learning social emotional skills early in life – so that we as parents maximise their ability to cope in a positive way, with stressful life events before anything challenging happens. Another good analogy is having your dental health checks at primary school every year, even if your teeth appear healthy! The preventative dental care approach, used in Australia for the past 20 odd years, has given us one the best dental care systems in the world.

Some of the most simple social and emotional skills to learn are: How to understand feelings in ones self and others (empathy), helping other people, smiling at people, speaking with a confident voice, taking deep breaths and drinking water when we feel angry, doing nice things for our community, being kind to animals, looking after and respecting our elders, cleaning rubbish from parks and schools, and helping our families.

Teaching children to be positive and optimistic is one of themost important gifts that we can give them. Little children learn quickly that they can choose which way they think – they can think red or green thoughts. Green thoughts mean “go” and can help them to see the best in themselves and others, which make them feel confident and brave. Red thoughts mean “stop” which tend to make children feel sad and upset. When children think: “I can not do anything right. I am not good at things”, or “people will laugh at me,” they feel like giving up and they also feel anxious and sad. However, teaching a child to think: “I do not have to be perfect, I just have to try my best” will help them feel calm and happy for life.

The significance of family and community connections should be passed on to our young children, with the decisions to spend time with inspiring role models in their families and their communities encouraged. We can also demonstrate to our young generations that forming strong support networks with family members or close friends will help us get through illness and other difficult times.

We may not always be able to prevent our children facing challenges in their life times. However, we can equip them with all of the tools that they require, a second language of resilience that they can draw upon to help them stay calm and strong in the face of adversity. We can equip them with the map to negotiate their unique pathway, wherever it may lead them.

Copyright 2010 of Dr Paula Barrett

Professor of Educational Psychology

Universityof Queensland

Pathways Health and Research Centre

Patron of Pathways to Resilience Charitable Trust