Hi Reader I have been working on an interactive board for an upcoming Back to Campus event. At the top, it asks one simple question: What feels hardest right now? Students can place a dot beside one of six answers: Keeping up with everything Meeting people Asking for help Stress and overthinking Sleep and energy Roommates and boundaries After they choose, they can take a card with one small strategy they can try. I am really curious to see where students put their dots, but I am even more...
10 days ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader Today, I want to talk about the kind of quiet, sneaky stress that happens in almost every freshman dorm room during the first few weeks. When parents hear the word anxiety, we often picture full-blown panic attacks or tearful 11 PM crisis calls. But day-to-day anxiety in college freshmen usually doesn't say, "I'm anxious." Instead, it dresses up as everyday friction. The Canvas Paralysis: Staring at an open assignment portal for an hour, overwhelmed by not knowing how or where to...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader It occurred to me this week that some of you might be a little confused about who I serve these days! Those who have been in my community for a while know me as a teen anxiety coach and former school counselor. Several years ago, I created The Anxiety Maze Navigator, a 12-week, 1:1 anxiety management program for ages 14 to 24ish. Many of you joined my email list back then because you wanted better tools to help your child with anxiety, or because you were considering working with me...
21 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader Summer is winding down. Maybe your family is soaking up one last stretch of togetherness before your student heads off to campus. Maybe you've already picked out the dorm bedding and registered for classes and started that Pinterest board. All of that is fun. All of that matters. But there's something almost nobody talks about before move-in day: how your student is actually going to manage once they get there. Getting to college is one thing. Thriving there is a completely...
24 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader If you've ever handed your teen a beautiful planner, a color-coded calendar, or "the system that worked for their older sibling" and watched them ignore it completely, I want you to know something: that's not a discipline problem. That's a fit problem. I saw this play out clearly with a student I've been coaching this year. Let's call her Maya. Maya had a split schedule, part of her day structured, part of it wide open and self-directed. At first, she loved it. The freedom felt...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader There is something I want every parent of an incoming college freshman to understand: The best time for your child to learn how to ask for help is before they desperately need it. I know this because I did not ask for help when I went to college. I did not talk to my professors. I did not go to office hours. I did not ask an advisor what I should do when I started falling behind. I did not tell anyone how overwhelmed I was becoming. Instead, I skipped class. Then I skipped more...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader As parents, we spend a lot of time getting our children ready for college. We make lists of everything they need to take, figure out who is bringing the refrigerator, shop for dorm supplies, and hope we haven't forgotten anything important. Those are all necessary things to do, but there is something much bigger happening that often gets overlooked. Your child isn't the only one preparing for a new chapter. You are too. Most people talk about the emotions of becoming an empty...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader When my client Cristina went through a tough breakup after freshman year in college, she told herself she was fine. She didn’t realize that her relationship with her boyfriend had given her a false sense of confidence and worth. Not only did she miss the comfort and the sense of everything is OK, she realized she didn’t even know who she really was. Who was she without this relationship and her thoughts were telling her “You are nobody” “You are a loser!” “You will never find...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader This is one of those newsletters I wish I did not need to write. Over the last few weeks, there have been several suicides of teens and young adults in my area. I do not know the families or the private pain behind these losses, and I would never pretend that I do. But when a community loses multiple young people in a short amount of time, I think we have to pause and ask a bigger question: what are we missing? Not because we are looking for someone to blame, but because somewhere,...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read