Mindtrain - An ACT Treatment Manual for Anxious Kids
Mindtrain is an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy treatment manual for therapists working with anxious children aged 7-11 years written by Jodie Wassner and Glenn Fleming. Both Jodie and Glenn are psychologists from Sydney, Australia, with a great passion for ACT and working with children.
In addition to the ten sessions comprising Mindtrain, the program includes a wealth of resources that can be used with or without the structured course. These include mindfulness meditations (audio plus written scripts) designed specifically for children, calming and focussing games to develop the skill of incidental meditation, recommended readings, Values Cards and worksheets for assessing and monitoring the child’s world.
Mindtrain teaches children to accept and tolerate uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. Therapists are guided to teach about the process of worry rather than getting caught up in reassuring children that their fears are unlikely to happen. By teaching children about the process of worry and using mindfulness to tolerate anxiety, children become better able to handle new worries as they emerge.
The semi-structured nature of the program allows therapists with varying levels of experience to utilise the manual in its entirety or to select parts as an adjunct to other therapy. The six principles of ACT are weaved through the program in a structured way to assist children (and therapists) in acquiring a consolidated and user-friendly understanding of ACT.
The most popular aspect of Mindtrain has undoubtedly been the train metaphor - here’s a taster:
Picture yourself standing on the platform of a train station. Imagine that some of your thoughts and feelings are attached to a freight train. When your worries are strong, you can hear the rumbling of the train, the noise of the engine, you can definitely tell when they are coming. The train may stop at the station, but you know it will pass on once it has arrived. The train simply stops by to drop off and pick up passengers, and then it continues on down the track. It is up to you if you want to hop on the train, or just let the train pass by. Some trains have many, many carriages and take a long time to go past, while some only have a couple of carriages and whiz past in a second flat.
When the train is passing us by, it makes a lot of noise and can be scary.
When the train has passed on by, we hear the noise of the engine disappearing into the distance and we can appreciate the peace and quiet that remains.
Just like a train, thoughts and feelings that are hard to cope with will pass by if we let them. Sometimes when things aren’t going so well in life, or when you are feeling particularly worried or afraid, it can help if you have some things you can say to yourself to help feel better. These can help us choose not to hop on the train, and to let it pass by. Try some of these…..
- “Let the train pass by the station”
- “I can deal with this”
- “I don’t really like this feeling but I know it will pass”
- “This feels uncomfortable but I can handle it”
- “This won’t last forever”
- “I can choose to stay on the platform”
And remember, if you do hop on the train, you can always get off at the next station!
In the spirit of ACT, we are happy to provide a digital copy of Mindtrain, together with the audio files at no cost. Interested practitioners are welcome to contact Jodie Wassner for the appropriate link.
Contact: [email protected]
Jodie Wassner
Educational and Developmental Psychologist