An Evening for Parents with Dr. Alex Russell
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Addressing student anxiety and the rise of mental health struggles in students: An Evening for Parents with Dr. Alex Russell
Dear Parent/ Guardians:
STAR Catholic knows issues of student anxiety and the struggles that come hand-in-hand with being young are a concern for you as parents and us as educators. We are pleased to invite you to a parent session featuring Dr. Alex Russell. Dr. Russell will be bringing the same message to teachers in STAR Catholic, as that parent-teacher partnership is strengthened in the Division.
Culture Shift:
Supporting achievement and wellbeing
through the Student-Parent-Teacher Triangle
The current acute rise in mental health struggles among students is occurring within a culture of marks-based competition and parent over-involvement. Dr. Alex Russell discusses how creating a culture shift, a partnership between teachers and parents can support children’s emotional growth through a variety of ways. His discussion, aimed at parents will focus on:
- Reframing anxiety as a healthy, essential emotion; and the development of adaptive anxiety in a student as a key goal of learning
- Building and supporting a strong parent-teacher alliance in which a sense of responsibility is gradually shifted onto students
- Developing a culture of student engagement by focusing more on intrinsic aspects of a student’s experience (“flow”; character or personality; likes/dislikes) and less on extrinsic factors (marks, ranking, “likes” on Facebook).
An Evening for Parents with Dr. Alex Russell
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Doors Open at 6:30 p.m.
7 p.m. to 8 p.m.; questions to follow
Free Admission
The FREE event will be hosted at St. Benedict School in Leduc, but live streaming of this important and informative talk will be set up at your local STAR Catholic School as follows:
In Person Attendance
Leduc: Attend event in person at St. Benedict School (75 Alton Drive, Leduc)
Beaumont: Attend event in person at St. Benedict School (75 Alton Drive, Leduc)
Live Stream Locations
Drayton Valley: Live Stream at Holy Trinity Academy (5749 45 Avenue, Drayton Valley)
Wetaskiwin: Live Stream at Sacred Heart School (4419 – 52 Avenue, Wetaskiwin)
Ponoka: Live Stream at St. Augustine School (5520 45 Avenue, Crescent Ponoka)
Lacombe: Live Stream at Father Lacombe Catholic School (5114 – 54 Avenue, Lacombe)
About Dr. Alex Russell
Dr. Alex Russell is a clinical psychologist who lives and works in Toronto. He provides assessments and psychotherapy to children and adults, in addition to consulting with schools, teachers, and psychologists. The heart of his message is that children learn through the experience of non-catastrophic, painful failure, and it is through the process of these failures that they mature into resilient, resourceful, and emotionally balanced individuals. Parents need to see failing—whether it’s a test, a course, or a tryout for a team—as a normal part of growing up and not a sign of parental incompetence. In Drop the Worry Ball: How to Parent in the Age of Entitlement (co-authored by journalist Tim Falconer) and on stage, he offers a fresh perspective on raising children that is reassuringly familiar and strikingly sensible.
As an educational speaker, Dr. Russell has addressed many parent and counselor groups over the years. He is intimately familiar with the culture of the school system and the relationship that parents, teachers and counselors share with regard to the children we are raising. He has been an active parent in his community and an avid hockey player and coach.