My work with schools and pastoral teams
Does this sound like you?
Are you unsure how best to support parents whose children are struggling with their emotional wellbeing or mental health?
Are you struggling with parents who are so distressed at their child’s stress that they lose clarity and maybe blame the school?
Does it sometimes feel like you are drowning in needy parents?
You care deeply about the children in your care and have tremendous sympathy for their parents, but with everything else that’s on your plate you simply don’t have enough time or resources to support them.
If you can identify with this read on
As you know, mental health is a big issue: 1 in 8 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder and 1 in 6 young people aged 16-24 have symptoms of a common mental disorder such as depression or an anxiety disorder.
Parents are often undone by these unseen illnesses with their harmful behaviours, and understandably so. Seeing their child suffer is upsetting and challenging.
And whilst most schools have a well-developed support structure for fragile students, it’s hard to educate and support parents too.
Services such as CAMHS are overstretched with long waiting lists and a high threshold for intervention, so families are increasingly turning to you for support. You see the need and would love to do more, but it feels outside of your remit and expertise.
When you have dedicated resources to supporting the students in your care, it’s frustrating to realise that so much of your great work can be undone at home by well-meaning parents.
Parents need educating and empowering in a non-judgemental, supportive space, and this is not something that schools can solve alone.
I have a solution for you
How would you like a parent community that understands exactly what anxiety is about, knows how to deal with it and can actively help their child build resilience?
A parent community that knows how to give their child the skills and tools to cope with stress, anger and anxiety?
Imagine being able to work collaboratively with parents to support your students.
We know that emotional wellbeing starts at home, and there is a real hunger amongst parents to be better educated and informed.
The truth is that loving and concerned parents do not cause anxiety but emotionally intelligent parents are a powerful part of the solution
If you’d like an emotionally intelligent parent community, resulting in happier and well-adjusted children, my workshop on how best to parent an anxious, angry or stressed child can help.
By offering this workshop to your parents, you’ll:
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help them understand what anxiety is really about, how it affects us and how to alleviate the symptoms.
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equip your parents with the skills and tools they need to calmly help their child or young person feel happier and more relaxed.
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give your parents the ability to put the oxygen mask on themselves first when they are experiencing turbulent child weather instead of expecting the school to fix it all.
Inger’s workshops for parents of anxious children have been incredibly well-received and much appreciated by our parents with consistent positive feedback. The level of interest was huge and resulted in Inger running seven fully-booked workshops from November 2018 to June 2019 in order to accommodate everyone on the waiting list.
As a school we are committed to raising awareness around mental health and supporting students in how they can look after their mental health. Inger’s workshops have enabled us to support parents too which is vital in ensuring that our young people are fully supported both in school and at home.
Inger has been incredibly organised and efficient in both her communication with school and when running the workshops making the whole process very easy and stress free. I can fully recommend both Inger and her workshops as an invaluable addition to any school who want to help support the wellbeing of their students and parents.
The workshop
“How to parent an anxious child or teen” is a two hour workshop which I deliver online via Zoom to parents.
Your parents will come away knowing the physiology and anatomy of anxiety and will be able to ‘explain the brain’ to their child.
Many young people think they’re going mad when they feel anxious. Being truly understood by their parents is a big first step in coming into relationship with anxiety.
Parents will learn how to put the oxygen mask on themselves first and why this is incredibly important when dealing with an anxious child.
When parents know how to deal with their own distress they become much better at helping their child and, if necessary, accessing the right help.
In the workshop we create a strategy for how to emergency-land anxious thoughts.
This strategy empowers parents to help their child deal with their ‘what ifs’ and fearful thoughts as they happen, which in turn builds resilience and self-sufficiency.
Parents will be introduced to a powerful energy psychology tool that can kill anxiety feelings in an instant.
Parental feedback was extremely positive, with virtually all responses categorising the different parts of the workshop as useful, and parents left with practical strategies and further avenues to explore for support. We would definitely recommend Inger’s workshop to other schools.
Why this is a win-win-win offer
Hundreds of parents have attended this workshop and experienced first-hand the impact of this work on their child’s wellbeing.
It’s a win for your parents who will be able to help their child build resilience and perspective
A win for your students who will have coping techniques and strategies for those inevitably stressful times.
And a win for your school as you will have students and parents that are better resourced and equipped to deal with this epidemic of stress, anger and anxiety in our children and young people.
I’ve been running this workshop for parents in Essex primary schools since 2016. In 2018 I partnered with Saffron Walden County High School, delivering this valuable work to secondary and sixth form parents.
Here’s how it works:
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The workshop is delivered at your school or online via Zoom, making it easy for parents to access.
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You have the flexibility to target specific parents or year groups, and can even tie the workshop in with your other EWMHs events or support packages.
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The workshop can be offered to a small group of people, or as a bigger lecture-style event. Whatever works best for you.
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Other than emailing an invitation to parents, there is no other admin burden to the school. Parents book their place via Eventbrite, and I provide the handouts.
Some schools offer the workshops as part of a wider package of support and some schools pass on the cost to parents. I am committed to making this work accessible to as many parents as possible, so keep the cost low and sometimes free.
Why I am qualified to work with your parents
I am an experienced family therapist and have had my private practice in Saffron Waldon, where I work 1:1 with young people and their families, since 2008. (You can read more about my background and expertise here.)
Hundreds of parents have attended my group workshops, which are often fully booked. (Workshops offered to parents through Saffron Walden County High School sold out in under an hour.)
I have also been approached by schools looking for bespoke support for their students. For instance, I supported a year group with very complex needs at Saffron Walden County High School over 10 weeks, and provided workshops for Year 8 and 9 students as part of Alec Hunter Academy’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Skills Day.
I am passionate about helping families be happy again. I’m on a mission to make therapists of the future unemployed by providing the right support at the right time to families and schools.
I found the workshop on Monday to be very useful. I have found I am much more patient and am managing to maintain that patience throughout an episode my child’s of anxiety for longer.
The most important lesson for me was that I am not only allowed, but supposed to put myself first. A happy mum stands more chance of effectively helping her stressed out child. Knowing I wasn’t alone in trying to make sense of what we were going through was a lifeline.
I had an opportunity to use the techniques you taught just the other week with my eldest son. It worked like a dream and what could have been a disastrous situation was averted. Thank you, thank you.
Would you like to offer your parent community this opportunity to grow and learn?
If you’re interested in exploring this further, please contact me directly on 01799 500 690 or via email to inger@ingermadsen.com.
Alternatively, you can book a time to speak with me here.
Inger recently delivered a fantastic 10 week workshop to students in Yr 10 and 11. The course was professionally delivered and the high quality content more than supported the very complex needs of the group. Each individual students was given practical and effective skills to help them manage their exam preparation and transition from GCSE’s into Sixth Form/College. All the students who completed the course reported marked changes in their stress levels as well as instant access to stress reductions strategies.
I would have no reservations in recommending Inger for any other group work or individual interventions, she is a consummate professional who is able to work really effectively with young people and adults.