Helping Kids and Teens Cope with Anxiety While in School

Dr. Mari Kurahashi, MD, MPH, Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Stanford Children’s Health discusses helping kids/teens cope with anxiety while returning back to school after a year of online learning, managing mask requirements, catching up on lessons, and reengaging w/friends (or making new friends) while staying safe. She offers tips for parents, guardians, and teachers.

Mari Kurahashi, MD, MPH,  is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and is Co-Section Chief of General Child Psychiatry and is Co-Director of the  Stanford Parenting Center  (SPC) at Stanford Children’s Health. Dr. Kurahashi specializes in parenting support treatments (PCIT, PMT, and SPACE)  that improve the parent-child relationship and decrease the parent and child’s psychopathology.   She has a longstanding mindfulness practice and is the Director of the Mindfulness Program in the Division of Child Psychiatry, where she leads a Mindful Parenting program to foster parental well being. Her work focuses on how parenting styles impact the child’s development, coping defenses, emotion regulation, beliefs, behaviors, cognitive abilities, and values and how parenting practices can foster wellbeing in the child. She is currently focused on continuing to create digitally accessible parenting resources to empower parents to help prevent and intervene early in their child’s psychopathology and foster resilience especially given the current pandemic and social climate.