Coping Cat

Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive · Kendall, Hedtke · 2006

What it is

Coping Cat is a manualised cognitive-behavioural treatment for children with problematic anxiety (separation, social and generalised anxiety, and related problems). The child learns to recognise anxious feelings and body reactions, notice anxious thinking, build a personal coping plan (the FEAR…

Format

• Format and dose. 16 sessions, weekly, about 50 minutes, mainly individual child sessions with a workbook; two parent-only sessions (sessions 4 and 9), and parents joined to other sessions when needed for exposures. One STIC ("Show That I Can") homework task per week. Some descriptions give 16–20…
• Session 1: orientation to the programme, rapport, the child's anxious situations.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Phase 1: Skills training (sessions 1–8). Goal: teach the child to recognise anxiety and to build and rehearse the four-step FEAR plan. Content: rapport and orientation, psychoeducation about feelings and anxiety, body clues, relaxation, anxious self-talk and coping thoughts, problem solving, self-evaluation and self-reward, then assembling and reviewing the FEAR plan (session 8).
• Indicative session map (exact numbering in the 2006 manual not verified; order below follows a published study table that used Coping Cat and Henin's training slides):
• Version followed: the standard individual Coping Cat programme for ages 7–13 (Kendall & Hedtke, 2006: therapist manual 3rd ed. and Coping Cat Workbook 2nd ed.; Parent Companion, Kendall, Podell & Gosch, 2010), 16 weekly sessions of about 50 minutes, as described by the CEBC profile, Kendall et al. (2023) and training sources. Named variants (C.A.T. Project for teens, Camp Cope-A-Lot computer version, group, brief…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• rewards given non-contingently or withheld punitively. Working: willingness to take harder steps rises.
• confidentiality in public; the phone becoming a safety signal (fade it). Working: gains generalise to real settings.
• children clicking through without learning; check understanding. Working: the child applies skills in coach sessions.
• parents who undermine exposures by rescuing; plan what they will say in advance. Working: weekly accommodation logs fall.
• the child watching but declining to try (shrink the step, swap roles). Working: the child rehearses with rising independence.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.