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Dealing with Anxiety in Kids & Families – Lynn Lyons

Anxiety is a persistent master. When it moves in, it takes over every part of  life from daily routines to learning, from recreation to social connections. To make matters worse, many things adults do to help anxious children can actually make the anxiety stronger.

Nationally recognized expert, therapist and author on anxiety, kids and families, Lynn Lyons, has been featured in the NY Times Magazine, On Point – NPR, Time and Psychology Today.  VT-HEC is bringing Lynn to Stowe, VT on October 10 & 11 for a presentation titled: Interrupting the Worry Cycle: Advanced Strategies for Managing Anxious Students (& Parents!).

Anxiety is the top reason that parents seek help from a mental health provider, a top predictor of developing depression in adolescence or early adulthood and is perceived as “epidemic” by educators and parents across the country. All these children put a palpable strain on frustrated, helpless parents and teachers.

In this workshop, Lynn will explore concrete and often counter-intuitive strategies that educate children and adults about anxiety and provide an “umbrella approach” that is applicable to all the anxiety disorders and OCD. She will demonstrate HOW to interrupt anxiety’s cognitive patterns with simple, process-based strategies that offer an alternative to techniques that inadvertently support avoidance of anxious symptoms.

Lynn will offer proven strategies that help children manage anxiety, change their relationship to worry, and prevent lifelong patterns that lead to depression, avoidance and other physical and emotional challenges.

Lynn will also be offering two follow-up webinars to those attending the Stowe presentation. These webinars will support those that are working to implement Lynn’s strategies to develop effective plans and address the challenges they are encountering.

More information and information can be found here: https://www.vthec.org/wp-content/uploads/Lynn-Lyons-v.7.pdf

Dennis has been the Director of the the VT-HEC since it was founded in 2000. He spent 16 years at the VT-DOE as Director of teams with various names that included: special education, Title I, health and wellness and other family and education support services. Prior to that Dennis worked at the Barre Town School (VT) starting as a special educator and serving many years as the Director of Student Support Services. He also spent 6 years as a classroom teacher grades 5-8 in NJ.

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