Core Components 

The Cool Little Kids programme is an early intervention programme targeting parents of 3- to 6-year-old children who exhibit excessive shyness, separation anxiety and lack of confidence. The programme is delivered via Zoom to 4-8 parents over 6 group sessions, across a 6-to-8-week period for approximately 1.5 hours. In addition, each family has 2 short telephone consultations to assist with troubleshooting and skill application during the programme.  The programme can also be delivered as an individual therapy to treat issues such as oppositional behaviour and parenting confidence and an online version (Cool Little Kids Online) of the programme is also available for parents to complete at their own pace.  

Cool Little Kids is one programme in a suite of Cool Kids programmes. It aims to provide parents with knowledge and practical skills to help their child overcome and manage their anxiety using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) techniques, giving parents effective tools and strategies to assist their child.  

Groups are led by a Clinical Psychologist who is experienced in working with children and parents with anxiety, who can also be supported by an additional co-therapist/psychologist (not mandatory).   

Through roleplay, discussion and home practice tasks, parents participate in six sessions covering:  

1. Understanding anxiety and shyness in preschool children 
2. Causes and risk factors for child anxiety 
3. Helpful and unhelpful ways of responding to anxiety in children, 
4. Skills and strategies to help your child build brave behaviours and face fears 
5. Dealing with setbacks and difficulties 
6. How to maintain progress after the programme ends 

Cool Little Kids is clearly operationalised with a programme kit and practitioner manual.  

Fidelity 

Fidelity of Cool Little Kids is maintained through standardised training, supervision, accreditation, a practitioner toolkit & worksheets and a professional manual.  

Modifiable Components  

Cool Little Kids is standardised and has been adapted for the web-based programme Cool Little Kids Online. This programme includes 8, 30–60-minute modules with easy-to-read information, practical skills and videos. 

Cool Kids Professional manuals have been translated into Turkish, Swedish, Icelandic, Korean and Danish. 

Support for Organisation / Practice 

Implementation support is provided by the Centre for Emotional Health Clinic (CEHC), Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.  

Implementation Support 

CEHC provides support with practitioner training and accreditation. CEHC also provide online access to purchase therapist manuals and participant workbooks.  

Licence Requirements 

A licence is required to deliver Cool Little Kids. 

Start-up Costs 

Following certification as a Cool Kids Anxiety practitioner costs include: 

• Cool Little Kids Registration which includes eTraining and one year extension to Cool Kids License Accreditation (obtain upon completing Cool Kids Anxiety Programme which is a pre-requisite) - $49.95.   

• Cool Little Kids Course Materials - $44.95. 

• Cool Little Kids Parent Manual required for each family - $24.95 (discount available for bulk quantities) 

Building Staff Competency 

Qualifications Required 

A pre-requisite for acceptance to the Cool Little Kids e-training is successful completion of the Cool Kids Anxiety programme obtaining certification as a Cool Kids Accredited Provider.   

Any professional wishing to run the Cool Little Kids programme must have a 4-year undergraduate or 2-year postgraduate degree in health education (psychology, counselling, social work, occupational therapy or education).  Additional training in cognitive-behavioural therapy is also required.   

Training Requirements 

Practitioners must be certified in Cool Kids Anxiety prior to engaging in The Cool Little Kids self-paced eTraining. The training takes approximately 1.5 hours to complete, and once enrolled participants have 90 days to complete the course modules and accreditation assessment tasks. Upon completion of the final quiz, participants receive a certificate of achievement and an extension to their existing Cool Kids license to practice for one further year. 

Supervision Requirements 

Participants will receive a 30-minute supervision session to review specific feedback on their first set of case studies (2) and a second set of case studies (2). 

In addition, CEHC provide face to face and online professional development workshops and external presenters (1 hour session typically).  Fees to be discussed with Developer. 

Theory of Change  

Cool Little Kids is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with a focus on teaching practical skills. The programme is founded on the basis that whilst some shyness in preschool years can be a normal part of development, excessive shyness in children can lead to the development of more serious problems later in life such as anxiety disorders.  

Values

Cool Little Kids focuses on helping parents with anxious children overcome and manage their anxiety using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) techniques. The programme recognising that excessive shyness, separation anxiety and lack of confidence in children, if not managed, can lead to the development of more serious problems later in life such as anxiety disorders.

• Does this align with the key values of your organisation?

Priorities 

The programme focuses on providing parents with knowledge and practical skills to help their child overcome and manage their anxiety using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) techniques to give parents effective tools and strategies to assist their child. 

• Is helping parents understand and help manage their child’s anxiety a priority for your organisation?
• Is having an early parenting intervention for anxiety a priority for your organisation?

Existing Initiatives  

• Does your service already provide an early intervention approach which aims to improve parents to enable their children to manage their anxiety?
• Are existing initiatives effective and acceptable to families?
• Are there components in the Cool Little Kids programme that are not met by existing interventions or approaches?

Workforce 

To implement Cool Little Kids requires a trained professional in health education (psychology, counselling, social work or occupational therapy) who has undergone additional training in cognitive-behavioural therapy.   These professionals must complete a self-paced eTraining over a period of up to 90 days including accreditation assessment tasks.   

• Do you have practitioners with appropriate experience and competencies?
• Can your organisation protect time needed for training, certification, and supervision of these practitioners’?

Technology Support 

To deliver Cool Little Kids requires access to technology that can enable sessions to take place online e.g.  Wi-Fi enabled tablet or computer.  

• Do your practitioners have the required technology to access the training platform, supervision, training and delivery of the approach?

Administrative Support 

• Do you have the administrative support and systems to manage referrals?

Financial Support 

The Cool Little Kids Practitioner eTraining and Accreditation costs $49.95, the purchase of the Cool Little Kids Course material at $44.95 & Parents Manual for each family at $24.95. 

• Does your service have the finances to support either the funding of individual training, or a wider role out of the intervention?

Comparable Population  

Cool Little Kids is delivered online to parents of pre-school children aged 3-6 years.  

Research has demonstrated effectiveness in children in Australia upon initial recruitment at aged 3-6 years and again 11 years later.  

• Is this comparable to the population you serve?
• Do you have sufficient demand to provide parents of pre-school children with online support to enable them to help reduce the child’s fear and anxiety?

Desired Outcome 

Cool Little Kids seeks to support parents to reduce their child’s excessive shyness, separation anxiety and lack of confidence. 

Outcomes from evaluations have demonstrated that participating in Cool Little Kids can reduce the likelihood of a child developing an anxiety disorder in their teenage years and has shown to be effective in reducing anxiety. 

• Are these outcomes a current priority for your organisation?
• Do you have other existing initiatives that would be supportive of addressing this need and achieving these outcomes?