Welcome to FERN at Home
Worry can make ordinary things feel enormous. FERN will help you understand what is happening and practise a simple way to find your next step.
You can complete FERN by yourself or alongside someone you trust. Younger children may enjoy having an adult nearby, while teenagers may prefer to work through it independently. Parents, carers and teachers can follow it too.
There are no right answers and nothing has to be shared. You can pause, take a break or return another day.
Download your activity booklet and find something to write or draw with before beginning.
FERN at Home - Online Course
Video 1: Something I Wish I Had Known
Everybody worries, including people who appear confident. Kim explains what FERN is for and how to use the videos and activities.
Video 2: Meet Your Alarm System
Meet Lena and discover why our bodies sometimes react to a friendship wobble as if a tiger has walked into the playground.
Use the first activity to notice how your own alarm system lets you know that something feels difficult.
Video 3: Meet FERN
Follow Lena as she uses FERN to understand what she is experiencing, recover enough calm to think and choose one manageable next step.
You will also begin making your own FERN plan.
Video 4: Find Your Guardian Animal
Choose an animal whose qualities can remind you of strengths you already have.
Your guardian animal cannot make worry disappear, but it can help you feel steadier and remember that you can feel wobbly and still carry on.
Video 5: For Adults: Helping Without Taking Over
This final video is for parents, carers, teachers and other trusted adults. Children and teenagers are welcome to watch too.
Kim explains how adults can use FERN’s shared language, support a child without questioning or rushing to reassure them, and recognise when further help may be needed.
Keep your booklet nearby
You can return to the videos and activities whenever worry makes something feel too big. You do not have to remember everything. FERN is there to help you begin.
Has FERN helped?
We would love to hear what you found useful, whether you completed FERN yourself or supported a child through it.
Your feedback helps us improve FERN and may help another family decide whether it is right for them. Share as much or as little as you choose. We will never publish your words or identify you without asking first.
Where next?
For parents wanting more support
Our parenting resources explore how to help children through anxiety, strong feelings and difficult times while holding on to confidence in yourself.
Girls’ Net
Girls’ Net brings girls of a similar age together online for six weekly sessions. Supported by a trained Rites for Girls Mentor, girls share healthy ways of coping, practise caring for themselves and discover that they are not the only ones finding life difficult.