Course description

A racing heart in a queue. A "what if" that won't switch off at night. A train, a meeting or a phone call you keep putting off. Feeling anxious sometimes is normal, but when anxiety is there much of the time, or starts to shape your days, it helps to understand what's happening and what you can do about it. This course explains anxiety in plain, calm language and helps you build practical everyday coping skills, at your own pace.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and each one ends with a short, practical exercise. You follow Huia, an accounts administrator in Stockport, through the year after a frightening panic attack on a station platform: her trip to A&E and her GP, her anxiety diary, the predictions that never came true, a step-by-step return to the train, a setback in a supermarket queue, and the coping plan she wrote at the end. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, example answers, a cheat sheet and printable tools, including a personal check-in, a help contacts card, an anxiety diary spreadsheet, a trigger map, an in-the-moment card, a fear ladder spreadsheet, a supporter guide and a coping plan template.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: what anxiety is, when it becomes a problem, your safety net of urgent help, your GP and NHS Talking Therapies in each UK nation, talking about anxiety, and a personal check-in with no scoring.
• How anxiety works: the body's alarm, why the sensations feel so frightening, anxious thinking, and the two habits that keep anxiety going: avoidance and safety behaviours.
• Kinds of anxiety: generalised anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, health anxiety and a short guide to other conditions, for understanding only, never for diagnosing.
• Knowing your triggers: kinds of trigger, an anxiety diary with 0 to 10 ratings, spotting patterns, hidden contributors such as caffeine and late-night news, and your trigger map.
• Calming your body in the moment: grounding, the NHS calming breathing steps, riding out a panic attack, movement, and a personal in-the-moment card.
• Working with anxious thoughts: catching anxious predictions, weighing them up, living with uncertainty, beliefs about worry, and kind, steady self-talk.
• Facing fears step by step: why gradual steps help, building and climbing a fear ladder, dropping safety behaviours, cutting back on checking and reassurance, and setbacks.
• Anxiety in everyday life: work and your rights, journeys, appointments and busy places, social situations, different times of life, and screens, news and symptom searching.
• Supporting someone with anxiety: what helps and what doesn't, listening well and the reassurance trap, encouraging help, children and young people, and looking after yourself.
• Your coping plan and next steps: looking back, writing your own coping plan, early warning signs and setbacks, getting the most from professional help, and keeping going.

Who it's for

Adults who want to understand anxiety in themselves or in someone they care about. You don't need a diagnosis, and you don't need any previous knowledge. A full section is written for partners, friends, relatives and colleagues who want to support someone without taking over.

What this course is, and isn't

This course is education and self-help. It isn't a diagnosis or a treatment, it doesn't give advice about medicines, and it doesn't replace care from a GP or mental health professional. It explains how to get help through your GP and NHS Talking Therapies, with the routes for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and what to do if you ever need help urgently. It's written for adults; for a child or young person, it tells you where to go for help. If you feel you might harm yourself, or you can't keep yourself or someone else safe, call 999 or go to A&E now.

What will I learn?

• Explain what anxiety is, how the body's alarm works and why anxiety can keep itself going
• Recognise the main kinds of anxiety, and know when and where to get help in each UK nation
• Keep an anxiety diary, spot patterns and map your own triggers
• Use grounding, calming breathing and a personal card to get through anxious moments and panic
• Catch anxious predictions, weigh them up and live a little more easily with uncertainty
• Face feared situations step by step with a fear ladder, and cut back on checking and reassurance
• Handle work, journeys, appointments and social situations with less avoidance
• Support someone you care about without taking over, and know what to do in an emergency
• Write your own coping plan, spot early warning signs and get the most from professional help

Frequently asked questions