Anger management

Flexible activity

In this activity, parents are taught physical, cognitive and planning strategies to manage their anger.

Anger management can support parents to manage their anger in positive and healthy ways. Managing anger in positive ways sets a good example for children and helps them feel safe and secure. It can also prevent parents from losing their temper and lashing out inappropriately at their children or other family members.  

How can it be implemented?

Supporting parents to deal with their anger can be delivered a number of different ways. You should use your professional judgement to determine what is most appropriate for your client/s.  

Group sessions

• Group sessions are weekly and last 2hrs. Groups could be run for 4-16 weeks. 
• Active training methods such as modelling, rehearsal practice, feedback and goal setting can be used to teach specific parenting and anger management skills throughout the program.
• A workbook with key learnings and exercises can also be given to parents. 

Home visits

• Home visits are typically conducted weekly for 1-2 hrs. 
• Addressing parents' anger can be addressed in a designated home visit(s). Alternatively, it may inform the broader approach taken when working with a family.

Daily diary

• Parents can complete a daily diary to record events that required discipline and how they responded to them. 
• The diary entry should be discussed with a case manager in regular home visits.

What should I consider when working with Aboriginal people and communities?

Aboriginal service delivery needs to acknowledge and address issues of intergenerational trauma, self-determination and Aboriginal people’s ongoing experiences of racism. The importance of including information about Aboriginal trauma and how to deliver trauma-informed practice in training programs related to cultural safety is asserted by Menzies and Grace (2020).

​​Aboriginal workers support cultural safety as they have a good understanding of Aboriginal ways of communication, the history of trauma, and community dynamics.

See the Cultural Safety and Wellbeing Evidence Review for further guidance on how to deliver culturally safe services and improve outcomes for Aboriginal people.

Who is the target group?

Anger management activities were conducted with parents: 

• experiencing significant difficulties in managing their own anger when interacting with their preschool-aged children
• at risk of child maltreatment
• who are concerned about their anger or that they might harm their own child.
• Parents with children aged 0-10 years old

What programs conduct this activity?

• In the Triple P - Enhanced group behavioural family intervention (EBFI) parents are taught physical, cognitive and planning strategies to manage their anger. Parents are introduced to the emotion of anger, its physical effects, and are provided with a variety of techniques and strategies for becoming physically and mentally relaxed. Parents are also taught to identify high-risk anger situations, and develop coping plans to manage anger in these situations.
• In the Parental Daily Diary Program parents are introduced to methods of anger control and pick methods they believe will work for them. Mothers are urged to use their newly acquired anger management techniques during the early, more difficult to implement episodes of time-out.
  

Further resources