Beneath the Worry
A Roadmap for Bringing Alarmed Kids to Rest
Making Sense of Anxiety in Kids
Watching our kids struggle to sleep, avoid school, melt down over simple tasks, unfocussed or screen absorbed is heartbreaking. Anxiety shrinks their world—and ours too.
Most approaches to anxiety teach kids how to cope, but you can’t think your way out of an emotional problem. Piling on techniques doesn’t address the reasons for alarm but there is another way through that cultivates true growth and resilience.
Grounded in developmental and relational science, based on the pioneering work of Gordon Neufeld, Beneath the Worry equips parents, educators, and helping professionals to move beyond symptom management and address the emotional problem at its source.
What if their resistance or battles weren’t about being difficult but alarmed?
What if we stopped asking them to be braver, calmer, or smarter about their anxiety and started understanding what their emotional system is trying to tell us?
Why This Course is Different
“We’ve tried everything.”
Most approaches teach kids to cope. Alarm is part of our emotional, neurobiological system designed to preserve connection and signal distress. This course looks deeper — treating anxiety at the root not just at the surface.
“I’m not the expert.”
You don’t have to fix your child. You’re already their best bet. This course gives you a roadmap to bring them to rest — and partner effectively with professionals (when needed).
“Is it worth it?”
Instead of short-term hacks, you’ll gain a developmental map you can use for years — grounded in decades of practice, from childhood to adolescence.
Is This Course for You?
Beneath the Worry is perfect if you are:
- A parent who wants more than short-term coping tools and real lasting growth.
- A caregiver helping kids whose sensitive or neurodivergent systems make them feel everything more
- An educator who’s tired of band-aid approaches for the classroom and want strategies that work beneath the behaviour.
- A helping professional who wants to help families break the cycle of “try harder, cope harder” and to bring kids to rest.
- A school or organization that wants an evidence-based approach grounded in developmental science that can support all kids. as a medium for caretaking
If you’ve been piecing together advice that never quite fits, this is an opportunity to discover a fresh, relational lens that flips the script on anxiety and equips you to lead kids toward rest, resilience, and recovery.
What Is Possible When You Make Sense of Anxiety at Its Roots
Relief from helplessness
No more sitting on the sidelines or cobbling together advice. You’ll have a clear roadmap to bring rest.
01
Repair & strengthen your relationship
Anxiety strains connection. You’ll restore trust, closeness, and — when needed — work with professionals from a position of strength.
02
Clarity in the confusion
Even when kids can’t explain what’s wrong, you’ll know what’s driving alarm — and how to move forward.
03
Strategies you can use right away
Everyday matters. You’ll gain practical, relational strategies to reduce alarm immediately.
04
Hope for your child’s future
Watch your child reclaim joy, play, friendships, and school life.
05
The reassurance that you are the answer
You’ll leave knowing you already hold what your child or teen needs most: your presence, your leadership, your love.
06
Your Teacher, Dr. Deborah MacNamara
For over 25 years, I’ve helped families, educators, and professionals make sense of kids through developmental and relational science. As a developmentalist, counsellor, educator, and internationally recognized speaker, I’ve worked in schools, mental health settings, and communities around the world — from local workshops to the United Nations.
My books Rest, Play, Grow and Nourished — have been translated worldwide — and grew out of my work as a counsellor, educator, and faculty member of the Neufeld Institute. Across every role, my focus has remained the same: to help adults create the conditions kids need to thrive.
At the heart of my work is a simple truth: when adults understand the roots of a child’s struggles, they become their child’s best bet for resilience and growth.
“Deborah is amazing - I have a new and more informed view of children with anxiety. I thoroughly enjoyed her 4-week course and learned a great deal.”
Parent & Counsellor
- 4 Live Teaching Modules (90 min each)
Six hours of developmental insight to understand anxiety from the inside out (attend live or watch recordings)
Beneath the Worry Includes:
THE COURSE
$297
Course fee
First access to the next course in the Alarm Spectrum Series— Making Sense of Attention Problems. This companion course will take you deeper into the Alarm Spectrum by exploring the roots of attention problems in kids’ today.
- 3 Live Q&A Sessions (1 hr each)
Bring your questions or submit ahead if you can’t join live.
- Course Handbook
Key insights, reflection prompts, and space to apply learning.
- The Roots of Anxiety
A one-hour masterclass you can re-watch anytime.
- Recorded Case Consult
See theory in action with a real family scenario.
- Private Members-Only Space
Connect with others for reflection, questions, and support.
- Certificate of Completion
Provided for all who complete the course.
- Recordings & Lifetime Access
All sessions are recorded and yours to rewatch anytime.
Saturdays, Oct. 11, 18, 25, Nov. 1
10:00–11:30 am PST
Wednesdays, Oct. 15, 22 & 29 4:00–5:00 pm PST
- Peer Orientation & Anxiety (60 minutes)
Why kids worry more when they lean on peers, and how to bring them back to rest in adult care.
EXCLUSIVE BONUSES
- Sensitive & Neurodivergent Kids (60 minutes)
How to support kids whose sensory systems are easily activated and leave them vulnerable to alarm.
- Special Bonus
Conversation with Dr. Gordon Neufeld on the roots of anxiety (exclusive to this course).
PLUS
DATES AND DETAILS
*all sessions are recorded if you can’t attend live
Course Modules
Four focused sessions that bring clarity and direction when every day counts.
Nature’s Plan for Alarm
- Why alarm is emotional, not “mental.”
- The natural flow of alarm in kids and how to support big feelings.
- Practical ways to handle transitions without adding more alarm.
When Alarm Gets Stuck
- Recognizing when alarm is overwhelming and disguised.
- Reduce the need for emotional defenses in a child or teen.
- Diffuse emotional stuckness with two powerful primers to expression.
True Attachment & Transformative Play — The Natural Remedies
- Why not all attachment and not all play are equal.
- How to cultivate the kind of relationships that truly softens and reduces alarm.
- Using play to release alarm and restore rest.
Resilience, and Recovery
- Why recovery requires vulnerable emotion, not just calm.
- How resilience and courage grow when alarm is metabolized.
- Solving everyday challenges (bedtime, school, mealtimes) where it applies.
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FAQs
Courses are offered live with recordings available for rewatching or for those who can’t attend live.
Yes. You’ll have lifetime access to the videos and resources.
Courses are designed for adults—parents, educators, and professionals.
Yes. Anxiety at its root is part of the human alarm system, which spans ages and developmental profiles. When we address anxiety at its emotional roots, the principles apply to every child or teen— and extends to adults of all ages too.
Of course, every child or teen’s journey is unique. Children with learning differences or who are neurodivergent may face additional challenges — like heightened sensory sensitivity or greater difficulty adapting — that can make them more prone to alarm responses. In the course, we acknowledge these differences and offer guidance on how to support sensitive or neurodivergent kids with extra care, while still working from the same developmental roadmap.
Yes — if you feel it’s necessary. Parents know best when a child’s emotional health needs require extra support. For many families, this course alone can reduce anxiety and bring relief. For others, additional counselling or therapeutic help may be valuable — either for the child, the parent, or both.
It’s always your call to judge the severity and nature of your child’s needs. This course gives you a clear roadmap you can start using right away, and professional support can be an important complement if needed.
(In Canada, course participants are eligible for priority access to counselling openings through Kids Best Bet Counselling when available.)
Many parents feel exhausted after “trying everything” — coping tools, calm-down kits, affirmations, — only to find little lasting change. What makes Beneath the Worry different is our focus on the roots of anxiety: the child or teens alarm system and the relationships that bring it to rest.
Rather than piling on more coping tricks that put the burden on kids, this course helps you understand anxiety as an emotional problem — one that lives in the body and the context around the child, not just in their thoughts. You’ll learn how to work with alarm at its source, using a developmental roadmap that brings lasting relief.
Perhaps you’ve focused on managing the symptoms — worry, panic, avoidance — without knowing how separation, sensitivity, or immaturity stir alarm beneath the surface. In this course, we’ll step back from “getting kids to cope” and instead show you how to reduce alarm and grow resilience.
Remember: your previous efforts haven’t failed you — they’ve shown you that anxiety is more than surface symptoms. This course gives you the missing piece: a developmental-relational approach that empowers you as the adult to be the answer your child needs for rest, recovery, and growth.
Not at all. This course is designed for everyday parents, educators, and professionals. The material is grounded in developmental science, but it’s presented in clear, practical language — with lots of examples — so you can easily apply it to real life.
Yes. A certificate of completion is provided for participants who complete the course, which may be used for professional development hours where applicable.
Should my children or teens watch with me?
Does this course apply to kids of all ages and with learning differences or neurodivergence?
Should I seek professional help for my child or myself?
Can this course help when I’ve tried so many things to deal with my kid’s anxiety?
Do I need any prior knowledge of psychology or child development?
Is there a certificate of completion?
Are courses taught live or recorded?
Can I watch the course more than once?
If I can’t attend live, can I still submit a question for the Q&As?
Can I purchase a group license?
More questions?
Why This Can’t Wait
When your child is anxious, you don’t just see it — you feel it in your body. Watching them struggle to sleep, avoid school, or melt down over simple tasks is heartbreaking.
Today, one in five kids live have alarm issues that shrink their lives and alarm the adults who care for them. By age 14, nearly half of all mental health struggles are starting to make an appearance.
Beneath the Worry gives you:
The truth is, we don’t do well as parents when our kids aren’t doing well — because our lives are bound together.
Calm isn’t enough and coping tools manage the surface. Healing happens when we work with the human system’s built-in pathways for moving alarm to rest and resilience.
A clear developmental roadmap to reduce alarm.
Strategies that work right away while you wait for other supports.
Confidence that you can be part of the solution.
- 4 Live Teaching Modules (90 min each)
Six hours of developmental insight to understand anxiety from the inside out (attend live or watch recordings)
Beneath the Worry Includes:
THE COURSE
$297
Course fee
First access to the next course in the Alarm Spectrum Series— Making Sense of Attention Problems. This companion course will take you deeper into the Alarm Spectrum by exploring the roots of attention problems in kids’ today.
- 3 Live Q&A Sessions (1 hr each)
Bring your questions or submit ahead if you can’t join live.
- Course Handbook
Key insights, reflection prompts, and space to apply learning.
- The Roots of Anxiety
A one-hour masterclass you can re-watch anytime.
- Recorded Case Consult
See theory in action with a real family scenario.
- Private Members-Only Space
Connect with others for reflection, questions, and support.
- Certificate of Completion
Provided for all who complete the course.
- Recordings & Lifetime Access
All sessions are recorded and yours to rewatch anytime.
Saturdays, Oct. 11, 18, 25, Nov. 1
10:00–11:30 am PST
Wednesdays, Oct. 15, 22 & 29 4:00–5:00 pm PST
- Peer Orientation & Anxiety (60 minutes)
Why kids worry more when they lean on peers, and how to bring them back to rest in adult care.
EXCLUSIVE BONUSES
- Sensitive & Neurodivergent Kids (60 minutes)
How to support kids whose sensory systems are easily activated and leave them vulnerable to alarm.
- Special Bonus
Conversation with Dr. Gordon Neufeld on the roots of anxiety (exclusive to this course).
PLUS
DATES AND DETAILS
*all sessions are recorded if you can’t attend live
From Restless to Focused: Making Sense of Attention Struggles in Kids
Anxiety was just the beginning. Attention struggles reveal the next layer of the alarm system — and the second step in the Alarm Spectrum Series.
What if we've been treating attention problems without ever making sense of their roots? Today's struggles with focus and restlessness often stem from one of three places: developmental immaturity, emotional alarm, or neurobiological differences.
THE ALARM SPECTRUM
Attention issues are not solved by "trying harder" to focus, nor should parents be left worrying when their child falls behind, sidelined in treatment, or helpless in the face of a diagnosis. With warmth and clarity, Dr. Deborah MacNamara helps unearth the roots of attention struggles, showing how much of today's restlessness needs to be seen through a developmental, relational, and emotional lens.
Understanding which of these three roots is driving your child's struggles is the key to finding the right path forward — whether that means supporting growth, reducing restlessness, or helping a child thrive with neurobiological differences.
