This page outlines how education staff, care services, parents, guardians, and health professionals work together to manage a child or student with anxiety in education and care settings.

About anxiety

Anxiety is more than just feeling stressed or worried. While anxious feelings are a common response to a stressful situation, they usually pass once the situation has passed, or the stressor is removed. When anxious feelings don't go away, happen without any particular reason, or make it hard to cope with daily life, it may be a sign of an anxiety condition.

Find out more about anxiety including:

• signs and symptoms
• treatments
• support strategies.

Health support plans and agreements

If a child or student has anxiety, the education or care service should refer to health support planning for children and students in education and care settings to ensure that the appropriate plans and agreements are in place. This is in addition to the anxiety-specific plans and agreements listed on this page.

Educational adjustments

Educational adjustments support students on an individualised basis. Adjustments should be determined by the parents and education and care service and documented in the health support agreement.

Examples of adjustments may include:

• working on difficult concepts in the morning
• developing creative presentations of course material
• having games that develop working memory as part of the daily routine
• interoception activities in the daily routine, especially prior to complex tasks.

Training and education for staff

Further Information for education and care staff is available at Positive Partnerships and Student Wellbeing Hub.

Friends Resilience have developed a range of age specific programs for education and care services to guide the social and emotional development of children and young people through teaching them resilience.

• Fun Friends for 4 to 7 year olds
• Friends for Life for 8 to 11 year olds
• My Friends Youth for 12 to 15 year olds
• Adult Resilience for 16+ years olds.

Anxiety awareness

The Lifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre provides resources and questionnaires that may assist education and care services to support children with anxiety, including:

• identifying and managing anxiety in your students – for teachers
• stigma-reduction and help-seeking in Australian classrooms
• school anxiety scale – teacher report 
• school anxiety scale - scoring.

How parents and caregivers can help

Parents or guardians must:

• notify the school, preschool or care service if their child has depression
• complete health care plans and agreements with their health care professionals and provide them to the school, preschool or care service
• provide required medication to the school, preschool or care service.

If a medication agreement is in place, parents and caregivers must fulfil the roles and responsibilities outlined on the medication management and care page.

How health professionals can help

Health professionals support schools, preschools, care services and families by helping to develop the care plan and any supporting medication and care agreements.