School Programs
Chilled — Anxiety Program for Teens, Delivered in Your School
A ten-week cognitive behavioural program for anxious secondary students aged 12 to 17, developed at Macquarie University and delivered in your school.
Chilled is the adolescent program in the Cool Kids® suite. It uses the same cognitive behavioural framework, with examples, language and material pitched at secondary students — exams and assessment, social media, friendship groups, part-time work, independence and the future.
At a Glance
What This Looks Like in a School
- Ages
- 12 to 17 years
- Length
- 10 weekly sessions
- Session
- 90 minutes
- Versions
- Standard, and an Autism Spectrum Adaptation
- Group Size
- Targeted small group, agreed with the school
- Facilitation
- Psychologist-led; therapy-assistant support depending on group numbers
- Parent / Carer Component
- Yes
- Teacher / Educator Support
- Yes
- Cost
- Quoted per school; additional fees apply where parent sessions are scheduled outside school hours
Identifying a Group
Which Students This Suits
Anxiety in secondary students is not always immediately obvious. It may be associated with avoidance, difficulty attending, withdrawal, distress around assessment or persistent worry. These are possible presentations rather than diagnostic signs. Wellbeing teams most often identify students who are:
- Avoiding assessment, presentations, or particular subjects
- Attending irregularly, or experiencing distress associated with attending
- Highly worried about making mistakes, or distressed by performance that feels less than expected
- Withdrawing from friendship groups or extracurricular activities
- Anxious about social situations, judgement or being noticed
- Worrying persistently about the future, health, family or school
A diagnosis is not required to take part, and taking part is not an assessment. Where a school is unsure whether the program may be appropriate for the students it has in mind, we are glad to talk it through first.
Program Content
What Students Work On
Chilled is a skills program. Each session teaches a technique, and students practise it in the week that follows rather than only discussing it in the room.
Understanding Anxiety
- Understanding physical and emotional signs of anxiety
- Recognising personal early warning signs
- Understanding how avoidance can keep worry patterns going
- Understanding when anxiety may be useful and when it begins to interfere with everyday life
Detective Thinking
- Catching anxious thoughts as they occur
- Weighing the evidence for and against a worry
- Estimating how likely a feared outcome really is
- Developing more balanced or helpful ways of thinking
Stepladders
- Breaking an avoided situation into gradual steps
- Choosing a first step that is genuinely achievable
- Practising planned steps gradually and reviewing how the student responds
- Building on progress rather than forcing exposure
Adolescent-Specific Skills
- Managing assessment and exam anxiety
- Social anxiety, judgement and social media
- Assertiveness and handling conflict
- Planning how strategies can continue to be practised after the program
Delivery
How It Runs in Your School
- 01
Identify the Group
Your wellbeing team identifies a proposed group of students across the 12 to 17 range who may be appropriate for the program. We meet with the school to discuss group composition and whether the standard version or the Autism Spectrum Adaptation may be appropriate. That choice reflects individual needs, group composition and program fit rather than diagnosis alone.
- 02
Place It in the Timetable
Ten weekly 90-minute sessions, generally within a single term. Schools commonly use a wellbeing period or a consistent line so students miss the same lesson each week rather than a different one.
- 03
Plan Parent Participation
Parent/carer participation forms part of the program. We work with the school to plan how it fits the program timetable. Where parent sessions need to be scheduled outside school hours, an additional fee applies.
- 04
Run the Program
A psychologist facilitates each session, with a therapy assistant supporting delivery where group numbers require, using the Macquarie University Chilled materials and workbooks.
- 05
Coordinate With Staff
With the school's agreement, we brief relevant staff so that stepladder steps involving school — a presentation, a class discussion, a return to a dropped subject, where these form part of an individual student's planned stepladder — are recognised and supported. Staff are not asked to be responsible for whether a student generalises a strategy.
Working Together
What We Bring, What the School Provides
We Bring
- A psychologist as facilitator, with therapy-assistant support depending on group numbers
- Macquarie University Chilled materials and student workbooks
- Both the standard version and the Autism Spectrum Adaptation
- Parent sessions, on site or online (an additional fee applies where these are scheduled outside school hours, whichever mode is used)
- Briefing for teaching and wellbeing staff
- Insurance, Working with Children Checks and required documentation
The School Provides
- A consistent, private room for the ten sessions
- A timetabled slot that works for the identified students
- Identification of the student group, with your wellbeing team
- Communication with parents and carers about their participation
- A staff contact for the duration of the program
- Support for school-based stepladder steps where relevant
Families & School Staff
Parent, Carer and Teacher Involvement
Chilled includes parent/carer involvement alongside the student sessions. Adolescents have more independence than younger children, so the parent role shifts: less direct coaching, more about understanding the strategies being covered, supporting planned practice and knowing when to step back. The program also explores how family responses can support gradual approach rather than unintentionally reinforcing avoidance. Parents and carers are not asked to monitor constantly, run the stepladder or take on a therapeutic role.
Parent/carer participation should be considered when planning the program timetable. Where families are unable to attend during school hours, The Social Space can arrange parent sessions outside school hours for an additional fee. This is quoted alongside the rest of the program rather than assumed within it.
We also offer teacher support. With the school's agreement, we brief teaching and wellbeing staff on what the group is working on each week. Teacher and wellbeing-staff awareness can provide additional support for recognising and practising relevant strategies during the school week. It sits alongside the parent component rather than replacing it.
The parent, carer and teacher arrangement is agreed with the school before the program is scheduled. We are glad to talk through what is realistic for your school community.
Research & Evidence
What the Research Tells Us
Chilled is the adolescent program in the Macquarie University Cool Kids® suite. The suite has been evaluated in controlled research, but most of that research studied the broader suite rather than Chilled specifically. One trial is summarised below, with its age range stated rather than glossed over.
Effects Replicated Outside Australia
A randomised controlled trial involving 109 children and adolescents aged 7–16 — an age range that covers most, but not all, of the Chilled group — compared the Danish Cool Kids® group program with a waitlist condition. At post-treatment, 48.2% of participants receiving the program were free of all anxiety diagnoses, compared with 5.7% in the waitlist group. This describes that trial, in that setting.
What the Same Trial Also Reported
The study reported that group-level improvements were also observed at three-month and 12-month follow-up. It also reported that participants whose primary diagnosis was social phobia showed less improvement than those with other anxiety diagnoses — worth knowing for a secondary cohort, where social anxiety is common. These are group-level findings and do not describe every participant.
The adolescent program has a smaller dedicated evidence base than the children's program, and this research was conducted in clinic settings with families who had sought treatment. A group formed within a school may differ from those samples, and group-level findings do not predict an individual student's outcome. Separately, the Autism Spectrum Adaptation modifies aspects of the program for autistic participants. Its evidence base is smaller again, so findings from the standard program should not be assumed to apply in the same way.
School Delivery & Pricing
Costs depend on the number of sessions, the size of the student group and practical requirements such as travel, so we quote per school rather than publishing a set fee. Tell us what you are considering and we will put together a quote.
Parent/carer participation is part of the program. Where those sessions need to be scheduled outside school hours, an additional fee applies and is set out in the quote — the standard delivery cost does not assume out-of-hours parent sessions.
School delivery is arranged directly with the school. Medicare and NDIS arrangements apply to individual clinic participation, not to a program commissioned by a school.
School Enquiries
Talk to Us About Running Chilled at Your School
Tell us about the students you have in mind and what your school is hoping to support. We can talk through whether the program may be appropriate for the proposed group and what practical delivery could look like.
Enquire About DeliveryTalk to Our Team
Looking for Chilled for your own child? See the Chilled program page.