School Programs
Cool Kids®, Delivered in Your School
A ten-week cognitive behavioural program for anxious students aged 7 to 12, developed at Macquarie University and delivered in your school by a psychologist.
Anxiety at school is not always obvious. Some children avoid, withdraw or seek reassurance, while others may become distressed around particular tasks, transitions or situations. Cool Kids® gives them something concrete: how to notice anxious thinking, how to examine a feared prediction, and how to approach avoided situations in steps small enough to actually attempt.
At a Glance
What This Looks Like in a School
- Ages
- 7 to 12 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
Cool Kids® provides explicit teaching and practice in understanding anxiety, examining worried thinking and approaching avoided situations gradually. Wellbeing teams most often identify students who are:
- Avoiding activities, excursions, presentations or particular lessons
- Frequently at sick bay with physical complaints such as stomach aches or headaches, particularly around situations that feel worrying or difficult
- Reluctant to attend school, or difficult to separate from a parent at the gate
- Asking for constant reassurance from staff
- Highly worried about making mistakes, or distressed when things do not go as planned
- Worried about a wide range of things, much of the time
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
Cool Kids® is a skills program, not a discussion group. Each session teaches a technique and sets structured practice for the week that follows.
Understanding Anxiety
- What anxiety is and what it does in the body
- Recognising personal early warning signs
- Exploring how avoidance can keep worries going
- Understanding anxiety as a body-and-brain response, and learning strategies for responding to it
Detective Thinking
- Identifying anxious thoughts as they happen
- Looking for the evidence for and against a worry
- Working out how likely a feared outcome really is
- Developing more balanced or helpful ways of thinking
Stepladders
- Breaking an avoided situation into gradual steps
- Starting with a step that is genuinely achievable
- Practising steps gradually and reviewing how the child responds
- Building on success rather than forcing exposure
Coping & Problem Solving
- Practical strategies for physical signs of anxiety
- Problem solving when a worry is about something real
- Assertive communication and dealing with teasing
- 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 in the 7 to 12 range. We meet with the school to discuss support needs, group fit, and whether the standard version or the Autism Spectrum Adaptation may be appropriate. That choice rests on individual needs and program fit rather than on diagnosis alone.
- 02
Place It in the Timetable
Ten weekly 90-minute sessions, generally within a single term. A consistent slot matters more than which slot — the stepladder work builds week on week.
- 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 Cool Kids® materials and workbooks.
- 05
Involve the Classroom
With the school's agreement, we brief teaching staff so that stepladder steps involving the classroom — answering a question, reading aloud, joining a group, where these form part of an individual student's planned stepladder — are recognised and supported consistently where relevant.
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 Cool Kids® 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 classroom-based stepladder steps where relevant
Families & School Staff
Parent, Carer and Teacher Involvement
Cool Kids® includes parent/carer involvement throughout the program. Parents and carers learn about the strategies being covered and how they can support gradual practice between sessions. The program also explores how responses to anxiety, including reassurance and avoidance, can sometimes unintentionally keep worry patterns going.
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
Cool Kids® was developed at Macquarie University and has been evaluated in controlled research over three decades, including randomised controlled trials conducted outside Australia. Two examples are given below. They describe groups of participants in the settings studied, not a guaranteed result for any individual student.
Effects Replicated Outside Australia
A randomised controlled trial involving 109 children and adolescents aged 7–16 — a wider age range than this program, which runs 7–12 — compared the Danish Cool Kids® group program with a waitlist condition. At post-treatment, 48.2% of participants receiving Cool Kids® were free of all anxiety diagnoses compared with 5.7% in the waitlist group. Improvements continued to three-month follow-up and were maintained at 12 months. Participants with a primary diagnosis of social phobia showed less improvement than those with other anxiety diagnoses.
A Different Delivery Format
A randomised controlled trial of 95 children aged 7–12 compared therapist-supported Cool Kids® Online — a self-directed online format, not a school group — with a waitlist condition. Children receiving Cool Kids® Online showed significantly greater remission of anxiety diagnoses and greater caregiver-reported reductions in anxiety symptoms and interference at the end of treatment. Child-reported outcomes and some secondary outcomes did not differ significantly between conditions. This tells us about the Cool Kids® program family rather than establishing outcomes for a school-delivered group.
Both trials studied programs delivered outside a school — a clinic group and a supported online format — with families who had sought treatment. A group formed within a school may differ from those samples in ways that matter. Separately, the Autism Spectrum Adaptation modifies aspects of the program for autistic children. Its evidence base is smaller than that of the standard program, 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 Cool Kids® Anxiety Program 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 Cool Kids® Anxiety Program for your own child? See the Cool Kids® Anxiety Program page.