Published on 2nd of November, 2023
Anxiety can be hard for children to manage but the CMM children’s group programme Wise-Up offers a pathway through the tough times and provides hope that anxiety can be tackled.
One child, Michael (not his real name) often refused to take part in classroom activities and was unable to deal with any sort of conflict, negativity or situations that did not go as planned. Michael often came to his teacher at these times and would remain with the teacher until he eventually felt ready to discuss the problem or recommence learning.
In the six weeks since taking part in Wise-Up, Michael’s teacher has only once helped him resolve an issue, with Michael now able to remain engaged in classroom activities and solve problems himself, a significant improvement on previous behaviour.
Wise-Up continues to be one of CMM’s most popular group programmes. It helps meet the needs of children with low to mid-level anxiety, or who struggle with difficult emotions, by gaining confidence and learning strategies for managing behaviour when anxiety arises. It is run every term in different schools and venues around Christchurch.
Our group programmes coordinator, Rowena Dawson, says the level of interest in Wise-Up from schools continues to increase, with six in-school programmes having been delivered this year, in addition to three community Wise-Up programmes in Hornby and another booked for term 4. Interest in our other children’s group programme, ACES, which helps children find ways to cope with parental separation, is high, with more Mana Ake kaimahi trained in ACES delivery.
We need Wise-Up more than ever. A Te Whatu Ora survey found that four percent of children aged five to 14 in the year to June 2022 had a diagnosed anxiety disorder, almost double the number 10 years ago. That’s 34,000 children in our country today.
Wise-Up works. One parent described their child as having learnt how to calm himself when anxious. A teacher reported that a pupil returns from Wise-Up sessions happy and excited. One participant described learning a lot about their emotions and how to deal with feelings. A school reported that Wise-Up provides a valuable programme with engaging activities that pupils could relate to.
We’ll be holding Wise-Up at Hornby in Term 1 next year. Please contact Rowena Dawson at rowenad@mmsi.org.nz for more information.
Children shouldn’t feel unduly worried about things. Please support Wise-Up or our other groups programmes with a donation. Go to www.mmsi.org.nz/donate and select Group Programmes
