There’s an anxiety epidemic, and increasing numbers of kids are struggling to learn, connect, and thrive. These kids are falling off the developmental curve, and their anxiety is causing them to experiencing losses in relation to their academics, social life, and extracurriculars. While traditional interventions help some, many continue to suffer. We need to think outside the box about how to tackle this problem. One solution is to increase the “dose” of outpatient treatment by delivering it in an intensive format. The goal of this innovative approach is to increase treatment momentum in order to minimize losses and maximize re-engagement in life.Kathryn Boger is a child and adolescent clinical psychologist, specializing in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders. She has had extensive training and experience in the delivery of empirically-supported treatments in both outpatient and residential levels of care. Kathryn helped to develop and is the program director for the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program (MAMP). MAMP is an outpatient, group-based program that is recognized as a regional leader in providing empirically-supported intensive treatment for children and adolescents, aged 7-19, with anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive disorders. Kathryn conceptualized this program with a colleague in order to address the need for intensive, empirically-supported treatments for this age group and to help develop a continuum of care between weekly outpatient therapy and residential levels of care. Her goal is to provide an increased “dosage” of treatment to help kids who are struggling with debilitating anxiety learn to manage their symptoms and regain control of their lives more quickly. Kathryn will be talking about the treatment of pediatric anxiety in her TEDx talk.This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
