A Parent’s Guide to School Avoidance: How to help your child become more engaged with school

On May 26th the Stevenson Spring Lecture Series offered A Parent’s Guide to School Avoidance: How to help your child become more engaged with school by Melissa Jeffay and Dr. Kim Nguyen. One of the major challenges that students and families are faced with during the pandemic is school engagement. Melissa Jeffay and Dr. Nguyen covered common issues students experience related to the pandemic, a behavioral conceptualization of why school avoidance makes sense, the impacts school avoidance has on parents, interventions that are within parent control, and when to seek help from school staff and outside treatment providers.

On May 19th the Stevenson Spring Lecture Series continued with Transitions and Persistence for the First Year College Student presented by Transition Coach KaDee Jay. The lecture shared what both research literature and direct experience with college freshman at a variety of colleges shows will help your student make the transition to college successful.

On May 13th the Stevenson Spring Lecture Series continued with Mindfulness Skills for Students at Home, presented by Dr. Sophia Aizin. Research studies have found that using mindfulness based practices can help us better regulate our emotions, tolerate distress, and reduce overall stress. During this past year students have been challenged with significant changes in their learning environment, which has resulted in increased stressors. The workshop offered the chance to learn how to support your child in the home with evidence-based mindfulness skills, and discussed how to apply these mindfulness skills to support oneself as a parent during this challenging time.

On May 6th the Stevenson Spring Lecture Series kicked off with a lecture by Drs. Elena Lister and Lana Farina focused on the importance of opening the lines of communication with teens around suicide. It included a discussion of risk factors, symptoms and triggers for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The lecture also focused on strategies for communicating about this difficult topic and effective coping skills and ways to support communities in the aftermath of a completed suicide.