Length: 25:47

Dr. Kristin Neff is currently an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion over a decade ago. In addition to writing numerous academic articles and book chapters on the topic, she is author of the book “Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself”. In conjunction with her colleague Dr. Chris Germer, she has developed an empirically supported eight-week training program called Mindful Self-Compassion, and offers workshops on self-compassion worldwide. An eight-week online self-compassion training program presented with Dr. Germer is also available through Sounds True. Kristin is also featured in the bestselling book and award-winning documentary The Horse Boy, which chronicles her family’s journey to Mongolia where they trekked on horseback to find healing for her autistic son.

Summary:
Dr. Kristin Neff shares what is now known about self-compassion and adolescents. Research shows that self-compassion makes a difference with adolescents who are students or athletes, or have anxiety, depression, or do emotional eating, or are LGBTQ. Kristin shares how to teach our children self-compassion while also helping them to correct their mistakes and not be stopped by failure.

Links:

Self-Compassion Guided Meditations and Exercises

Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens and Young Adults

JANINE HALLORAN

Coping Skills for Teens with Stress, Anxiety, and Anger

Janine Halloran is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, the founder of Coping Skills for Kids, and a mom of 2. For the past 20 years she has worked primarily with children and adolescents and she’s seen the value of learning healthy coping skills early in life, so kids will be more resilient and manage stress better as they grow up. Janine’s books–Coping Skills for Kids and Coping Skills for Teens–have activities and resources to help kids and teens learn to cope with the daily challenges of life.

Summary:
Teens are experiencing more stress than in previous generations. Teens also sometimes worry and feel angry. Janine Halloran says, “Emotions aren’t good or bad, they just are. What matters is what you do with those emotions.” Janine–and her book–help teens know what to do with their emotions. She understands teens, how to talk to them and how to help them deal with stress, anxiety and anger. There are 4 basic ways that humans handle stress. Janine talks about each area and gives examples of activities that you can use with the adolescent in your life (or even with yourself)! What to do if your child doesn't want to talk and how to come up with a plan for their anxiety or any high intensity moment.

Links:

Coping Skills for Kids downloads

Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart is a Pediatric Psychologist. She is Board Certified in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. She is the Founder and Owner of A New Day Pediatric Psychology. Originally from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, she considers herself a “dual-citizen” of Texas and the Caribbean. She specializes in treating ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, and medical diagnoses.

Summary:
Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart describes highly sensitive kids, the 10-15% of the population is more sensitive to noise, social situations, transitions, smells, etc. She talks about how you can parent a highly sensitive child, why you don’t want to “toughen them up”, how to help your child regulate their feelings, and how to help your child develop a secure attachment. We also have a great conversation about what to do if you and your partner don’t agree on parenting, even if you don’t have a highly sensitive child, you won’t want to miss this part!

Links:

Website

For over twenty years, Jennifer Miller has worked with educators and families to help them become more effective with children through social and emotional learning. She is author and illustrator of the blog, Confident Parents, Confident Kids and writes for numerous publications. She’s an expert contributor to NBC Universal’s Parent Toolkit. She has contributed to two books, “Smart Parents, Parenting for Powerful Learning” and “Building Powerful Learning Environments from Schools to Communities.” She does coaching, webinars, curriculum development, consultation and workshops in Ohio and nationally. She has her master’s degree in Instructional Leadership with a focus on social and emotional development. She lives with her husband and nine-year-old son in Columbus, Ohio.

Summary:
Our kids learn how to handle their worries and fears by watching us handle our own. So what do you do if you’re an anxious parent? Jennifer Miller has some answers… for us and for our kids. Her message is reassuring, based on her real-life experience as a parent and educator, plus she’s grounded in the science of social emotional learning.

Links

• Website
• Ways Parents Can Deal with Anxiety
• Parents and their Children Practicing Deep Breathing
• Morning Coffee Deep Breathing

RENEE JAIN

Helping Kids Overcome Stress, Worry, and Negativity to Find Meaning and Purpose

Renee Jain is the founder and Chief Storyteller of GoZen!, an online social and emotional learning program that helps kids cultivate basic coping techniques to overcome stress, anxiety, worry, anger, perfectionism, and negativity, as well as develop life skills to find meaning, purpose, and engagement in their lives. Renee founded GoZen! because she experienced anxiety as a child. As an adult, she wanted to share the tools from her formal education, her master’s degree in psychology, and personal experience, to help others.

Summary:
Renee Jain is a master at explaining feelings, normalizing the worry, stress, and anxiety that a lot of kids and parents feel, and shining the light on ways to address our adult emotions, as well as those of our kids. In this wide-ranging conversation, we learn why some amount of anxiety is normal and good, what to do if a child has a panic attack, and how to support a child who has a lot of negative self-judgment. With her reassuring presence and interesting stories, Renee shows how we can get off the roller coaster of emotions and support our kids with their feelings too.

Links:

Go Zen website

Dr. Daniel Peters is a psychologist, author, Co-founder of Parent Footprint, host of the “Parent Footprint Podcast with Dr. Dan” and the Executive Director of the Summit Center, specializing in the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, and families, with gifted, talented, and creative individuals, as well as anxiety, learning differences, dyslexia and more. He is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and Psychology Today, and he speaks regularly at national conferences.

Summary:
Dr. Dan Peters explains why kids get worried and what anxiety looks like. The good news is there are many things that a parent can do when their child has anxiety–without having to go to a professional. Dan also explains when to seek additional help, how to handle chronic stress, and importance of looking at our own worries when trying to support our kids to handle theirs.

Links:

Dr. Dan Peters' website