Abstract
Research suggests students who face social anxiety struggle to develop friendships, participate in group activities, and remain focused during academic tasks. While various programs exist to address a multitude of anxiety-based challenges, there are limited options that focus solely on social phobia/anxiety. Group therapy is a proven method in helping children to better adapt to novel situations and reduce internalized stress, especially when using cognitive behavioral, narrative, and solution-focused techniques. The purpose of this project is to provide counselors, school psychologists, and other practitioners with current research and resources useful in forming and managing a social anxiety counseling group.
The present curriculum has been designed to address social phobia and social anxiety concerns among elementary and middle school students. The SOCA curriculum is differentiated into three developmentally appropriate options: kinder through 3rd grade, 4th through 6th grade, and 7th through 8th grade. This project contains a literature review on the research identifying common challenges associated with social anxiety, as well as the benefits of group counseling techniques in the management of social anxiety. The literature review was used to develop the SOCA curriculum, a research-informed counseling group curriculum designed to help students understand, recognize, and cope with social anxiety.