Beneath the Surface
Understanding, assessing & treating anger, irritability & aggression in children and adolescents
Because anger is rarely the problem. It is the visible signal of a problem we have not yet seen.
Presented through the Clinical Psychology Resource Centre - evidence-informed clinical training built for practitioners who want skills they can use from their very next session.
About the CPRC →Why This Webinar Exists
Anger is one of the most common reasons children are referred and one of the presentations clinicians feel least equipped to treat. We are trained to recognise it. We are far less often trained in what to do next.
The angry child reads ambiguity as threat, escalates fast, and pulls hard on the adults around them. It is easy for a treatment plan to collapse into behaviour management - chasing the outburst, rewarding its absence - while the fear, shame, grief, or unmet need driving it goes untouched. The behaviour quietens for a while, then returns, because nothing underneath has changed.
Anger is also profoundly transdiagnostic. The same outburst can sit on top of DMDD, ODD, ADHD, anxiety, depression, trauma, autism or simply a stressor that has outrun a child's current skills. Without a structured differential and a functional analysis, it is genuinely hard to know what you are treating.
After close to three decades working with children, adolescents and families, Dr Anna Cohen built this webinar around a single organising idea - the Anger Iceberg. It gives you a clear, evidence-based pathway: reframe what anger is, understand the developing brain, assess what the anger sits on, and treat the core with CBT, experiential and sensory work, and skilful work with the systems around the child.
Your Presenter
Dr Anna Cohen
Senior Clinical Psychologist
I have worked with children, adolescents, and families as a Clinical Psychologist for close to three decades - in private practice, in group programmes, and across multidisciplinary teams. Across that work, the same pattern keeps recurring: the angriest child in the room is frequently the most frightened, ashamed, or overwhelmed.
The children who arrive angry are some of the most rewarding to treat once you can see past the behaviour to what it is protecting. That shift - from managing the outburst to working below the waterline - is what this webinar is built to teach.
I co-founded the Clinical Psychology Resource Centre with Isabel Fraser because we kept meeting clinicians who were theoretically well-trained but wanted practical, translatable tools to bring into the room with complex children and families. That is what the CPRC exists to provide.
Author of five books on parenting and child psychology, including Skilful Parent, Happy Child (2023) and Taming Teens (2019). Peer-reviewed publications span attachment, gifted children, and the disclosure of child sexual assault.
- Co-Founder Clinical Psychology Resource Centre Evidence-informed practical training for clinicians at every career stage · Current
- Co-Founder & Clinical Director Kids & Co Clinical Psychology Assessment & treatment of children, adolescents & families · Multiple locations across NSW & QLD · 1999–Current
- Co-Founder & Clinical Director Heads & Tails Clinical Psychology Clinical psychology in a nature-based setting with the presence of animals · Integrating CBT, DBT, ACT & Gestalt · 2014–Current
- Founder Better Parent Academy Practical, evidence-based parenting education · betterparentacademy.com
- Author & Clinician Five books on child psychology & parenting Peer-reviewed research in attachment, giftedness & child protection
Webinar Curriculum
What We'll Cover Together
A structured 2.5-hour pathway - from understanding what anger really is, through assessment and differential diagnosis, to the full evidence-based treatment toolkit and the systems around the child.
Module 1
What Anger Is and What It Hides
Anger as a normal, adaptive secondary emotion. Separating anger, aggression and hostility. The Anger Iceberg as a clinical and therapeutic frame and the primary emotions that sit beneath the behaviour everyone sees.
Module 2
The Developing Brain & Emotion Regulation
Why regulation is a developmental, relational achievement. "Flipping your lid" - the amygdala, the prefrontal brakes, and why regulation must precede reasoning. Temperament, attachment and chronic threat behind chronic anger.
Module 3
Assessment & Differential Diagnosis
Anger as a symptom, not a diagnosis. A wide differential - DMDD vs ODD, ADHD, anxiety, depression, trauma, autism. The functional analysis as the heart of assessment, plus validated, multi-informant instruments.
Module 4
Evidence-Based Treatment I - The CBT Core
What the evidence actually says (d = 0.67). The hostile attribution bias and how to test it. The anger-coping sequence: awareness, arousal regulation, reappraisal, problem-solving and rehearsal - modelled, practised, set as homework.
Module 5
Evidence-Based Treatment II - Experiential & Skills-Based
Working below the waterline where anger lives in the body. Externalising through clay and play dough, the Anger Iceberg worksheet, the skill-card sort, and DBT-informed skills for adolescents - matched to developmental level.
Module 6
Working with Parents, Schools & Systems
No child regulates inside a dysregulated system. Parent management training plus the emotional half - connection before correction. Greene's "children do well if they can." Practical, de-escalating school consultation.
"Don't argue with the slammed door. Get curious about the iceberg beneath it."
Dr Anna Cohen · Clinical Psychology Resource Centre
Who This Is For
Built for clinicians who sit with angry kids
If any of these sound familiar, this webinar is designed for you.
You treat children & adolescents
Psychologists, counsellors, social workers, mental health OTs and allied health professionals working with anger, irritability, oppositionality and aggression.
You want a real differential
You need a structured way to tell DMDD from ODD from trauma from anxiety and a functional analysis that tells you what the anger is actually doing.
You want tools, not just theory
You want the CBT anger-coping sequence, experiential and sensory techniques, and DBT-informed adolescent skills you can use in your next session.
You work with families & schools
You coach parents and consult to schools, and you want language that shifts a system from managing outbursts to preventing them.
A note on level
This is an intermediate-to-advanced clinical webinar. It assumes a working familiarity with child development and core therapeutic models, and moves quickly into assessment and treatment. New-graduate clinicians are very welcome and will get the most from it alongside supervision.
What you will actually leave with
Not slides you file away. A coherent clinical framework and concrete tools, grounded in the evidence base and tested across three decades of practice with angry children and their families.
Continuing Professional Development
2.5 CPD Hours
This webinar constitutes a structured CPD activity aligned with AHPRA registration standards. A certificate of completion is provided to all participants. Please verify applicability with your professional association.
Continuing the Work
Clinical Supervision with Dr Anna Cohen
A 2.5-hour webinar gives you the map - the frameworks, the evidence base, the clinical logic. What it cannot do is sit beside you when you are four sessions in with an explosive eleven-year-old, the iceberg work is stirring something up, the parents are at the end of their rope, and you are holding genuine risk.
That gap - between knowing the model and delivering it well - is exactly what clinical supervision is built for.
Across the full CPRC programme
Supervision and case consultation for clinicians working in the child, adolescent and family space - not just this webinar. Anger, anxiety, trauma, attachment, family systems, school refusal and beyond.
Beneath the Surface in depth
Case-based supervision applying the six-point framework - reframe, brain, assessment, CBT core, experiential work and systems - to your own clinical caseload.
Flexible & CPD-eligible
Individual or small-group sessions, available in person or online, structured to count toward your continuing professional development requirements.
If even one angry child you are carrying right now would benefit from a second clinical mind, reach out. Supervision is where good frameworks become good practice. To enquire or book, contact the CPRC - your participant portal also includes a direct supervision booking link.
Join NowRecommended Pre-Reading
Read before you attend
To get the most from the webinar, we recommend Dr Anna Cohen's parenting books beforehand. They introduce the developmental thinking and regulation-first language that underpin the work below the waterline - so you arrive ready to focus on clinical application across the age range, from the early years through adolescence.
Skilful Parent, Happy Child
Raising kids aged six to twelve - building considerate behaviour, regulation and connection through the primary-school years.
View book →
Parenting Made Easy - The Early Years
Practical strategies for the 1–5 year old, laying the foundations of regulation and routine from the start.
View book →
Parenting Made Easy - The Middle Years
Guidance for the middle years, supporting parents through the growing independence of school-aged children.
View book →
Taming Teens - The Adolescent Years
Navigating adolescence - staying regulated, connected and effective with teenagers, when anger runs hottest.
View book →Prefer the full set? Purchase all of Dr Anna Cohen's parenting books for $100.
Purchase the book set - $100 →Secure Your Place
Ready to work below the waterline?
Two and a half focused hours with Dr Anna Cohen that change how you understand, assess and treat the angry child - not just today, but in every difficult referral that follows. Practical. Evidence-based. Immediately applicable.
Group registrations (3+): contact us for a discount code. Replay access available for 30 days. Provisional and student rates available on request.
What's Included
Questions
