Anxiety in Children & Adolescents
Feel confident in managing your child’s anxious feelings and overwhelm. Support your child in developing coping mechanisms to manage stress and thrive. Restore balance in your family and focus on creating loving memories.

Common Symptoms of Anxiety in Children and Teens:
- Your child often experiences intense worry or fear
- They struggle to participate in everyday activities
- Your child is easily overwhelmed by social situations or separation from you
- Their anxious behaviors impact the entire family
- Your child who internalizes their anxiety, appearing withdrawn or irritable, only to have occasional outbursts when overwhelmed
You are not alone.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, 3% of Canadian children feel different types of anxiety, from minimal to severe anxiety and panic attacks. While it’s a normal part of life to feel a little nervous before the first day of school, recurring feelings of anxiety can be detrimental and must be addressed in a loving, compassionate way.
- Recurring fears and worries about routine parts of everyday life
- Irritability and trouble concentrating
- Self-consciousness or sensitivity to criticism
- Withdrawal from social activities
- Avoidance of difficult or new situations
- Complaints about stomach aches or headaches
- Drop in grades or school refusal
With proper support, parents can learn how to manage these symptoms and stressors with their children. Your child will build resilience, enjoy a more active social life, andbe able to handle adversity with confidence.

We also know that coping skills can be developed and learned. We work with your child to build the skills they need to improve their emotional well-being, the quality of their relationships, and their ability to manage stress. Supporting them will also restore balance within your family and help you reclaim more enjoyable and connected moments with your child.
As a parent, you play a crucial role in supporting your child’s emotional development. Our approach is built on a framework that emphasizes the dynamic, reciprocal interactions between parents and children. It’s a two-way street—children influence parents just as parents influence children. This dance, full of give-and-take, shapes a child’s emotional health and resilience.
When a child or teen experiences anxiety, it’s natural for parents to adapt their routines or behaviours to ease their child’s distress. They may avoid certain activities, rearrange schedules, or shield their child from triggers. While these accommodations can bring short-term relief, the side effects are that they lead to a cycle of avoidance, unintentionally increasing anxiety in the long run.
In other words, parents can shape the environment in which children process and navigate their anxiety. This is why we are intentional about supporting and educating parents on how to best support your children.

About Dr. Zia Lakdawalla &
the FFEW Team
A core aspect of FFEW’s work is also parent therapy and coaching – our philosophy is that healthy change starts at home. We specialize in parenting, anxiety, behavioural change, and emotional regulation.
Given the needs of the community the team at FFEW is growing to offer a range of service and support for families in the Greater Toronto Area. Today, FFEW includes a team of clinical therapists, social workers, and psychotherapists. Each licensed professional specializes in something unique, so whatever the challenge you and your child are facing, we can help.
Our approach is evidence-based and focused on the emotional well-being of all family members involved.

DIRECTOR, CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST
OPTION 1
Coaching Sessions
OPTION 2
Child Group Therapy: CBT + SPACE
Research suggests that a practical and hands-on approach (exposure and response prevention with small steps) to targeting anxiety results in the most meaningful changes. So, in this group, we practice, practice, practice! We use real-life situations to coach children to use skills in the here and now. Not only do we talk about what to do—we go out and DO it!
Parent Coaching
This approach begins by acknowledging the interpersonal nature of a child or adolescent’s anxious feelings and how they can impact parenting styles. It then focuses on small but meaningful adjustments that parents can make in HOW they respond to their children’s anxious distress. We also coach parents to employ CBT strategies by creating and finding ways to help children face their fears.
OPTION 1
Coaching Sessions
Individual parent coaching involves working one-on-one with a skilled therapist to develop strategies and skills to support the child. This approach helps parents to:
- Gain confidence in parenting their anxious child
- Develop the tools to effectively address their child’s anxiety
- Enhance your child’s ability to cope with anxious thoughts and feelings
OPTION 2
Child Group Therapy: CBT + SPACE
Through didactic teaching, skill-building exercises, and peer support, parents of anxious children will understand anxious feelings in their little ones. This group:
- Offers a SPACE and CBT approach to support parenting with evidence-based strategies to support their child.
- Provides a framework for understanding the interpersonal nature of anxiety and a roadmap for what parents can do to support their.
- Provides a supportive group environment where parents can share experiences, receive feedback, and learn from each other.
Anxiety in Children: Benefits of Early Intervention
- Generalized Anxiety
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Specific Phobias (including needle phobias)
- Separation Anxiety
- Panic Disorder
- Trauma and Stress
- School Refusal
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (link to OCD page)