What types of challenges does the program address?

Confident Parents: Thriving Kids has two program streams to help parents support their children aged 3-12 to manage either anxiety or behaviour challenges. Behaviour challenges may include uncooperative or disruptive behaviour, aggression or defiance. Sometimes anxiety can look similar, but the behaviours only appear in certain situations – like getting ready for school or going to bed. When children are feeling anxious, they may seem  restless, agitated, withdrawn or tearful, complain of stomach aches or have trouble falling asleep.

What can I expect?

Confident Parents: Thriving Kids helps you develop skills and strategies to support your child to manage anxiety or behaviour challenges, through a series of online videos (for anxiety) or workbooks (for behaviour) and activities, supported by coaching sessions by phone. Coaching sessions can be scheduled during day, evening and weekend hours. Both program streams are based on strategies shown to be effective, and are offered at no cost to parents and caregivers across BC.

Support for Indigenous Families
The We are Indigenous: Big Worries/Fears, Parent/Caregiver Support Program is a free telephone coaching program supporting First Nations, Metis and Inuit families across BC, whose children aged 3-12 years are struggling with the experience of the Big Worries/Fears, which is also known as anxiety. The program includes both Indigenous perspectives and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and the materials were developed with the leadership and guidance from an Indigenous advisory group, Caring in All Directions.

Learn more

Which program is right for my family?

Confident Parents: Thriving Kids offers a choice of two skill-building programs – one for families with children experiencing anxiety, one for families with children who have behaviour challenges. So how do you decide which program is right for you, or whether you would benefit from both programs?

Some children have challenging behaviours when they are worried. For example, they may be well-behaved most of the time but they misbehave in certain situations, such as when it’s time to be dropped off at school. Children can worry about all sorts of different things, like being away from their family members, making mistakes, trying new situations, getting a needle, or speaking in front of the class at school. If anxiety is your main concern, or if your child has behaviour challenges mostly when they are anxious or worried about something, the anxiety program is probably the best place to start.

On the other hand, some children have challenging behaviours whether or not they are worried. Do daily activities with your child - like getting dressed, doing chores or going to school - leave you feeling frustrated and ineffective? If you’re finding that behaviour in general is a struggle, then the behaviour program is probably the right place to start. Working to encourage your child to follow directions, to be more cooperative or less aggressive will also help any future work you do to help them reduce anxiety.
How do I sign up?

For the Behaviour program:

Please talk to your family doctor or pediatrician to request a referral.

For the Anxiety program:

Please talk to your family doctor, pediatrician, psychologist, nurse practitioners, Child and Youth Mental Health clinician or Aboriginal Child and Youth Mental Health clinician to request a referral. Teachers and school counsellors/psychologists and Early Childhood Educators’s are now able to refer families to the program.

For the Big Worries program:

Please talk to your family doctor, nurse practitioner, teacher or school counsellor, Child and Youth Mental Health clinician or Aboriginal Child and Youth Mental Health clinician to request a referral.