Welcome to the first module of LUNA! This week, we will introduce you to our program and help you understand more about your child’s anxiety.
In this module, you will read information, watch videos, complete a checklist of worries and fears, and set goals for the program. Your child or teen will also have their own modules with readings, videos, and worksheets to complete, which can be done on their own or with your help based on their learning style, independence level, or preference.
You will spend about 45 minutes reading information, watching videos, and completing activities on your own and/or with your child.
LUNA (Learning to Understand and Navigate Anxiety)
The LUNA program is a family-based, online treatment program to help children and teens manage and overcome their anxiety. It is based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, the most scientifically supported treatment for anxiety in youth, which involves identifying and changing unhelpful anxious thoughts and behaviors. The primary element of this program is about helping your child face their fears and worries head on instead of avoiding them. We have tested this self-guided material along with therapist support in research studies, which show that it can be valuable in helping your child with anxiety.
LUNA is a family-guided treatment, which means we teach you and your child how to successfully complete the modules by doing activities together and/or on your own. You and your child will work together as a team to tackle and overcome anxiety.
Like anything new, learning to overcome anxiety takes time and can be challenging. But this is an incredibly valuable skill for children and teens that can help them throughout their lives!
Why Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
You might be wondering why LUNA takes a cognitive-behavioral approach. Lots of research has shown that cognitive-behavioral therapy, also known as CBT, is the “gold standard” for treating anxiety. In other words, many high-quality scientific studies show that CBT helps most children feel less anxious, so they can enjoy the things they would like to enjoy and accomplish the things they need to accomplish. The CBT used in this study is a specific type of CBT that emphasizes Supported Approach of Feared Experiences. This specific type of CBT will focus on helping your child gradually face situations that cause them anxiety in a supported way so that they can overcome these fears.
If you are interested in learning more about CBT in general, check out this link: https://effectivechildtherapy.org/cbt/.
Meet Sophia and George
Throughout this program, you and your child will follow along with Sophia and George, two autistic teens with anxiety who are also working hard to overcome their fears and worries.
Hello, meet Sophia and George! Sophia is a 13-year-old girl who loves anime. She loves drawing anime characters in her sketchbook and making up characters and storylines in her free time. Now, meet George. George is a 16-year-old boy who loves everything about medieval history. He spends most of his time reading fantasy books about medieval times and playing his favorite medieval video game.
Sophia and George love doing these things, but sometimes they struggle with anxiety, fears, and worries. Anxiety is an emotion or feeling everyone has that tells us something bad is going to happen. It is similar to fear, worry, or nervousness. Anxiety does not feel great, but sometimes it can help us by telling us things about our world that can be helpful to act on. For example, Sophia often feels anxious or nervous before a math test. This can be helpful because her anxiety tells her to study, which will help her do better on the test.
But, sometimes, anxiety can be unhelpful. When our anxiety is too much and too intense, it can be hard to overcome. For example, Sophia sometimes feels so anxious about her math test that she can’t focus while she studies. Sophia may even avoid studying, which then leads her to receive a bad grade.
Feeling anxious, even when there is no immediate danger, can also be unhelpful. George often worries about having a serious illness. He checks his body a lot for any signs of disease, spends hours searching for symptoms online, and repeatedly asks his parents if they think he is sick. Even when his doctor tells him he is healthy, he still struggles to believe it. This makes it hard for him to focus on school and enjoy his favorite activities.
Anxiety like this is difficult to manage, but the LUNA program is designed to help teenagers manage unhelpful feelings of anxiety or worry. You are taking a great step towards overcoming anxiety by participating in LUNA! Welcome to the journey!
Structure of LUNA
In LUNA, you and your child should complete one module at a time, going in order. Modules 1-7 are likely to apply to any child or teen struggling with anxiety, and you should complete them in order. Modules 8-11 are supplemental modules focusing on specific topics that may be helpful for you and your child. For these supplemental modules, you will choose the most appropriate ones for you and your child to complete. Module 12 should be completed last, as it asks you to reflect on you and your child’s progress throughout the program and plan for the future. Try to complete one module each week. For each module, you will...
- Read and watch videos to help your child overcome their anxiety and fears.
- Work with your child to complete tasks that will help them manage their anxiety.
- Help your child practice what they’ve learned after each task – your child may also practice what they’ve learned independently, but your support and guidance will be crucial.
- Meet with a therapist every two weeks to discuss any challenges you’re experiencing and to receive feedback and guidance.
- Come up with different ways to keep your child motivated throughout this journey. Your child may receive rewards or extra support to help them reach their goals!
Throughout the LUNA modules, there will be videos like you just watched, as well as worksheets/figures for both you and your child. To use the worksheets, just click on the associated link. Then, you may either print out the worksheet to fill it out on paper or save the worksheet onto your device to fill it out electronically. Be sure that you save the worksheets on your device before filling them out to make sure you don’t lose your work! If you would like to go back to a worksheet or find a specific worksheet for any reason, you can visit the Worksheet Library where we will have all the LUNA worksheets and figures listed and ready to download.
Completing LUNA
It’s very important for your child to practice what they learn in LUNA. Managing anxiety is not easy, and it can’t be done overnight. If you and your child follow your weekly schedule and complete the activities, you will have the best chance of seeing improvement in your child’s anxiety. Our research with this program has shown that families who complete more modules have the best outcomes. However, we also understand that life happens, and some weeks can be busier than other weeks. While we encourage you to be flexible around your own schedule, we also strongly recommend that you and your child try your best to complete LUNA activities every week.
We know that it might be easy to forget to work on the LUNA modules and complete the associated activities. We have found that families who incorporate LUNA into their schedules benefit the most. It may help you to add LUNA modules and activities onto your online calendar or onto your physical calendar at home. You could also set timers on your phone that remind you to work on LUNA or download a scheduling app that can send you reminders to work on the program. These tips may also help you keep your child on track as well.
Completing LUNA will be a team effort, so it is important that your child is on board and willing to put in the work! Some teens and children may not understand much about their own anxiety, or why they need to work to overcome it. If your child requires more explanation of why LUNA is important and helpful, you can tell them that this program is designed to help kids and teenagers overcome unhelpful feelings of fear and anxiety. Learning to manage these feelings will help them accomplish the things they would like to do and live their life the way that they want to, without anxiety getting in the way.