Dr. Alex Russell: Drop The Worry Ball

By Mary Gauthier, Executive Director, Greenwood Centre for Teaching and Learning
Dr Alex Russell, clinical psychologist and author of Drop the Worry Ball, spoke to a group of 65 Greenwood parents on understanding anxiety and helping teens manage it.

Dr Russell opened with an engaging story of the recent Canadian Women’s Olympic Hockey Team’s loss to the United States. An avid hockey fan, he talked about how he had to manage his disappointment and emotions. In a humorous manner, he explained how we learn to manage our emotions and use coping strategies. He explained how this managing and coping is what we need to model for our children. Although he went on to say we are doing a lot right for our children, his talk was about what is going wrong, what is the source of increasing anxiety in children, and what we as the adults in their lives can do.

We need to give our children ways to “manage risk and give them room to develop resiliency skills,” he said.

A full report on Russell's tips, and recommended readings can be downloaded here.
Back

Greenwood College School

443 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto, ON M4S 2L8
Tel: 416 482 9811
We acknowledge with gratitude the Ancestral lands upon which our main campus is situated. These lands are the Ancestral territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishinabek and the Wendake. The shared responsibility of this land is honoured in the Dish with One Spoon Treaty and as settlers, we strive to care for the land, the waters, and all creatures in the spirit of peace. We are responsible for respecting and supporting the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. When away from this campus we vow to be respectful to the land by protecting and honouring it. We will create relationships with the people and the land we may visit by understanding the territories we enter and the nations who inhabit them.
Copyright © 2022 Greenwood College School