Brave Little Ones

Welcome to the website of the ‘Brave Little Ones’ research group!

We are investigating ways to help young children (aged 3 to 6), and their parents cope with shyness and anxious behavior. This could be, for example, a fear of sleeping alone or feeling nervous when trying new things. Our goal is to try to reduce and prevent the development of more serious anxiety symptoms for these children later in life. 

Shy and anxious behavior is very common at an early age, but at a later stage, this behavior could lead to potential mental issues. That is why we are currently investigating two programs to prevent these issues: 

• A preventive parent training program for Dutch parents of shy/anxious children aged 3-6 years old (Cool Little Kids), of which we are currently investigating the working elements behind the usefulness of the program (Building Blocks)  

• A stepwise (matched-care) treatment, that offers more help if it turns out that this necessary for parent and child, varying from a low-threshold webinar about anxiety in children to more intensive individual support (Brave Steps) 

Do you want to know more about our research? Read more about our projects or contact our research team!