Irish parenting expert brings ‘helping children and teens cope with anxiety’ talk to Carlow

Renowned clinical psychologist and Ireland’s most-followed parenting expert Dr David Coleman is set to bring his nationwide tour to Carlow as he aims to ‘help children and teens cope with anxiety’.

David, who specialises in working with children, teenagers and their families in this area, will visit venues around the country to offer concrete and practical tips to adults on how to help children deal with the stresses and pressures in their lives.

From his many years of working both in the HSE and now in private practice, in addition to his successful TV shows, three parenting books and being the most-followed Irish parenting expert with over 130,000 followers on Instagram, David has combined his knowledge to offer parents and adults working with this age group a trustworthy, easy-to-digest session.

Incorporating an hour-long presentation and a 30-minute audience Q&A, and receiving rave reviews from audience members, David has decided to take the show on the road starting in Co Clare in October.

David will also head to Donegal, Galway, Westmeath, Sligo, Limerick, Waterford, Cork, Louth, Kilkenny and Dublin before finishing up in Carlow in November.

“I've long realised that anxiety in this age-group is a problem that only ever seems to be growing. In recent years, though, anxiety seems to have become pathologised by kids and parents, as some kind of mental illness,” Dr Coleman explained.

“Many teenagers who attend me in my private practice announce to me that they ‘have anxiety’ like they have Covid or the 'flu, or some other disease. This is never a helpful way to conceptualise anxiety since anxiety is always going to be a transitory feeling like happiness, sadness, anger and so on. 

“You never hear anyone saying they have ‘happiness’ as a defining feature of their lives.”

“My goal in this tour, then, is to reframe anxiety as a normal, functional and important part of children's and teenagers' lives that needs to be regulated, not eliminated. 

“There is plenty for kids to be anxious about with social media, school, bullying, perceptions of friends, self-consciousness and so on. But kids need to understand that being anxious about things is natural, not ‘a mental health issue’. 

“The talk will help parents understand anxiety better and give them practical tools that they can use and share with their kids for coping with anxiety such that it doesn't block their kids from doing what they might want or need to do.”

Tour dates and locations:

2nd October:  Glor, Ennis, Co Clare

3rd October:  An Grianan, Letterkenny, Co Donegal

8th October: Town Hall Theatre, Galway City

9th October:  Mullingar Arts Centre, Mullingar, Co Westmeath

15th October: Hawks Well, Co Sligo

16th October: Lime Tree, Limerick City

17th October: Theatre Royal, Co Waterford

21st October: The Everyman, Cork City

22nd October: An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk, Co Louth

23rd October: Watergate, Co Kilkenny

24th October: Draiocht, Blanchardstown, Co Dublin (sold out)

29th October: Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin

7th November: Visual Carlow, Co Carlow