Learn How to Use Stress for Success

As adults, we want our children to succeed in life.

The pressures of getting into a good college, career choices, social media, and personal relationships, all put stress on today’s young adults. Overlake’s Office of Student Support and our PFSA recognize that the best solutions in dealing with stress begin in the home and have invited a distinguished psychologist to offer a parental strategy.

Later this month, Dr. Laura Kastner, a clinical professor in the Department of Pscychology and Behaviorial Sciences at the University of Washington, will present a lecture to Overlake families who want to learn more about supporting their child’s successful development. Kastner’s message that stress is a health issue rather than a parental failing not only provides many with relief, but guides parents with skills that improve their own well-being as well as their children’s. “The kids that are most successful going into adulthood are the ones with social and emotional strength,” says Kastner. “You need to have ways to reduce stress and cope with emotions and setbacks.”

By creating a plan, parents realize that stress can energize and motivate to achieve optimal performance. Kastner adds the the biggest obstacle parents face in learning the techniques “to get calm” is the time and effort required to learn stress-reduction. As adults, our everyday lives are busy and stress-saturated too!

With modern lives infused with stress, Kastner also offers physical activities that parents implement immediately to help their child succeed. Research is clear that the link between mental and physical health improves with proper nutrition, sleep, and exercise. Supportive families that also promote technology turn-offs, mindfulness, self-calming, and family time, have children who develop into successful adults. “When it comes to mental health, it comes to what I call the bargaining phase,” says Kastner. “If you have a medical diagnosis you say, ‘Please God don’t make this cancer!’ but when it comes to mental health we think, ‘Maybe we don’t have to bother right now?’ or ‘Maybe it’s not too bad, and they can cry themselves to sleep?”

Every Overlake parent is invited to Kastner’s presentation, and she will answer questions following her lecture. Click here to learn the latest from her on using Stress for Success. The presentation is on January 25th and begins at 7:00 p.m. in Discovery Hall.