What's in the WORRY BOX??

Making a worry box with your child, student or client is a great way to work together and utilize cognitive-behavioral therapeutic priniciples to address excessive worry and anxiety in children. The aim of this activity is to take the worry and anxiety off of the child and place it into a tangible item such as a box or jar.

The first step is to decorate the box/jar you have chosen to use. In order for the child to feel some kind of ownership and sense of connection to the box, it is important to have the child decorate it in whichever way they want to - allowing them to take the lead role in said step. The decoration could include things that make the child feel safe or things that the child may be interested in or it may be include wording of difficult situations for the child. This initial step is a great time for the parent/teacher/therapist to discuss, explore and process various concepts with the child in a comfortable manner.

The next step is to write down the child's worries on strips of paper which are then folded in placed in the worry box. Dependent upon the child's ability to do so, the adult may assist the child in writing, spelling and thinking of different worries to put into words (in times like these it is recommended that the child draw a picture of what they are worried about, once again reinforcing the child's ownership of the activity).

It is important for the adult to check in with the child as frequently as deemed necessary in order to ensure that the worry box is being used to its full potential in the benefit of the child. It is recommended that the adult ask the child about their day and if there

was any time during the day that may have caused the child to worry which would provide a beautiful opportunity to engage in the worry box activity of putting their worry in there. If the child says no or you want to change it up that day, you could reach into the box and grab one of the strips of paper with the worry written on it and it will provide an excellent visual in order to get conversation started in a therapeutic and safe way.

During this time the child will indicate whether or not that worry is still causing them anxiety and if that is the case, you would fold it back up and place it back in the box. If the child indicates that one of the written worries is no longer causing them anxiety or uncomfortable feelings then you and the child could come up with a method of disposing of the strip of paper. A suggestion for doing so is ripping the piece of paper and throwing it away while stating to the child that they were so strong in overcoming said worry. It is important to check in as much as possible and that is something you and the child could decide on together.

** The picture I am including on this post is of a Worry Box I worked on with a client of mine who I am treating for symptoms of Anxiety co-morbid with Autism Spectrum Disorder. **