Basecamp

Detailed description

BaseCamp applies an evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural approach to help children develop effective anxiety-management strategies. It engages children by appealing to their sense of adventure, imagination and creative energy. The program features a National Park theme where children embark on an adventure with their group, equipped with a workbook containing maps, activities and destinations. The activities aim to teach, model and support children in utilising specific anxiety-management skills and to normalise their feelings and experiences. In a home and school setting, BaseCamp provides parents and carers with practical information about childhood anxiety and equips them with fieldwork tasks for ongoing learning. In a clinical setting, BaseCamp meets the needs of clinicians and other service providers working with childhood anxiety. The manualised format allows clinicians, children and parents to access the same information to ensure treatment integrity and support evidence-informed practice. In addition, the treatment remains targeted and specific to meet individual needs by drawing on children's personal experiences. The program includes the following clinical components: Psychoeducation, Cognitive Restructuring, Graded Exposure and Relaxation, all aimed at supporting the development of children's understanding of anxiety, modifying unhelpful thinking patterns, managing avoidance patterns, tension and rumination commonly associated with anxiety.

Program structure & method delivery

8 practical sessions of 1 hour in duration for a maximum of 6 participants. 2 x 30 minute parent consultations (phone) before and after the program. An exclusive workbook featuring interactive activities, facts, fieldwork, and stories. Weekly email updates with key program content and suggestions for home and school. Understanding Worry, Anxiety, and its components. Practice cognitive restricting techniques to develop more realistic and helpful ways of thinking about the situations and events that make them anxious. Implement guided graded exposure exercises to develop coping strategies and to develop more realistic views about overcoming worries. Practice relaxation techniques to reduce overall arousal levels and physiological tension typically associated with anxiety. Learn relapse prevention techniques to consolidate on anxiety-management techniques and learn how to generate an action plan when difficulties are confronted. In schools, facilitators deliver the program to children after receiving accreditation as per program structure above. Face to Face session with a child in a group Parent Sessions x 2 Email information for home and school Privately, accredited facilitators deliver program to children as per program structure.

Student assessment measures

Yes

As part of the BaseCamp program students complete child specific pre and post evaluation at various points. Children may also complete the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS)

Professional learning compulsory

Yes

Prospective facilitators are required to complete the Basecamp training content and deliver 1 program under supervision before accreditation. Ongoing supervision is required to maintain accreditation.

Identified theoretical framework

The BaseCamp program is based on a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Framework (CBT). CBT is based on the theory that our 'cognitions' (thoughts, beliefs and interpretations) influence our emotional reactions and behaviours (Beck, 1964; Ellis, 1962). More simply, thoughts about an event shape perceptions and experiences, and fundamentally, the meanings attributed to them.

Author(s)

Dr Kathryn Berry and The Quirky Kid Clinic

About author(s)

Dr Kathryn Berry is a Clinical Psychologist at the Quirky Kid Clinic where she has practised since 2013. Prior to joining Quirky Kid as part of her PhD, she was placed at the Westmead Hospital Anxiety and Depression Clinic and the Westmead Children's Hospital Department of Psychological Medicine and Acute Psychiatric Ward. She provided individual and family-based interventions for children and adolescents experiencing anxiety, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Depression and other acute psychiatric conditions. As part of her thesis, she worked with the Catholic School system across Sydney implementing a CBT-based resilience building program for anxious, bullied adolescents. The program demonstrated positive outcomes and the findings were published by the Journal of Adolescent Health (2009). Most recently, Dr. Kathryn Berry worked with a team at the Macquarie University Anxiety Research Unit (MARU) implementing a CBT-based group program for anxious children.