Our guest blogger and school counselor, Christa Marvenko-Athas, has some useful insight for coping with our feelings during this stressful time. Take a look at her simple mindfulness practice.

During highly stressful times I find it difficult to stay grounded in the present, although that is one of the best ways of coping with the stress response. Tara Brach, a psychologist, author, and proponent of Buddhist meditation, explains the use of the acronym RAIN as an easy-to-remember tool for practicing mindfulness.  I recommend creating reminders to take moments throughout your day and take a moment to:  

Experts say children who are openly talking about the worldwide pandemic are having a normal, healthy response.

If your child is casually mentioning COVID-19 in their day to day activities, you shouldn’t be alarmed, experts told The Atlantic.

Our guest blogger and school counselor, Christa Marvenko-Athas, has some useful insight for coping with our feelings during this stressful time. Take a look at her suggestions of how to approach this unprecedented situation at home.

As we all are determining how to manage our lives, obligations, and feelings regarding the coronavirus, it is important to consider we are being flooded with information regarding COVID-19.  This information is upsetting, concerning, and scary; our fight-or-flight responses are being activated not only daily, but also for days on end.

With each new piece of information most of us experience mounting stress.  In response to acute stress a cascade of stress hormones are produced in the body, which produces physiological change.  We are not meant to sustain this high level of fight-or-flight for long periods as this can create problems of its own.  Many of us are not only managing this stress response in ourselves but also in our children.  As we continue to face this challenge, I feel it is important to focus on a counter measure to this fight-or-flight response in order to calm the body, the mind, each other, and our children, and stay in touch with our strength and resilience.