Last month, Bishop Guertin High School hosted a community forum on mental health that was recorded on their YouTube channel. We were honored to partner with Bishop Guertin and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health on this project. Read more
Tag: stress
Pushing the Reset Button
In an April 12, 2020, interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Rule, New York Times columnist David Brooks said that the coronavirus was like “an x-ray on our society…we know ourselves better when you are in a valley. So I am hopeful that we’re going to have a great reset.”
Building a Team Culture in the Digital Age: A Program for New Hampshire Athletic Directors and Coaches
Tuesday, April 30, 2019 6–8 p.m.
Victory Club, UNH Wildcat Stadium, 155 Main Street, Durham, N.H.
FREE for all N.H. Athletic Directors and Coaches!
No matter what the sport, young people today—from middle school to Division I—are lacking in two areas: the ability to really bond and create old-school camaraderie and accountability and to generate and enjoy even basic confidence. Coaches are often at a loss how to connect—or even just communicate—with these “Digital Age” kids. Even high-functioning student-athletes today need confidence training that literally gives them the skills and habits of mind to have that ability to shed stress, connect, and behave with true, organic confidence on game day and in life.
In this program, we explore these Digital Age kids and provide concrete techniques for how to communicate with them, motivate them, and get them to bond with each other and your coaching staff.
Speakers Include:
Jeff Levin, Jeff Levin Coaching
Sean McDonnell, Head Coach, UNH Football
Jimmy Lauzon, Merrimack Football
…and others to be announced!
This program explains why modern kids are so different from the players we coached even just a few years ago. The old-school coaching mentality doesn’t always work, and we’ll explain how that came to be. We’ll discuss the issues holding these kids back, what’s keeping teams from building unity, and what adjustments coaches can make to relate better with their players and to get players to relate better with each other. Learn how to build team camaraderie and commitment, and how, by dealing with these Digital Age issues, you can build a team that has as much, if not more, dedication than the teams of old.
Many thanks to Coach Mac and UNH for allowing us to use the Victory Club!
This program is presented by The Reconnection Project: A Jeff Levin Coaching Program.
An RSVP would be appreciated, but isn’t required. RSVP by text or phone call to Jeff Levin at 603-496-0305 or use this contact form:
What is the Weekend Intensive Program?
COVID Update: I continue to work with individuals and families using the Weekend/Family Intensive program. I will work in-person with families within a reasonable driving distance when COVID protocols can be followed. Also, many families are now coming to me to work in person and stay at a nearby hotel. If in-person is not possible, using Zoom is a bit tougher for new clients, especially Weekend/Family Intensive families, but it’s working just fine for many families who need help now and can’t wait for the pandemic to be over. As always, I am happy to work for as many hours as it takes for your family to make progress, and if we have to use Zoom we can arrange as many Zoom sessions as are needed for me to work with all the people involved.
Please feel free to contact me to discuss your situation with you to see if I am a good fit for your child and family.
We designed the Weekend/Family Intensive program for families who are really struggling and need immediate help.
With the Weekend/Family Intensive, Jeff comes to you (or the family comes to him) or uses Zoom to work with the entire family over the course of a weekend. He gives you an evaluation and a lot of feedback, and then works with all parties involved to develop a plan for moving forward.
The Weekend Intensive also works well for families who are not close enough geographically for weekly sessions. Usually, after an intense weekend of work, everyone is comfortable enough with each other for work to continue via Zoom, phone, text, email, etc.
Below is a video where Jeff explains the Weekend Intensive in more detail. As always, feel free to contact Jeff to discuss whether this program can help your teen or 20-something and your family.
Finding Common Ground: A Program for School Administrators
Finding Common Ground:
Partnering with Parents, Educators, & Students
to Reduce Anxiety & Stress in the Public Schools
March 4, 5-7pm, Puritan Backroom, Manchester, New Hampshire
Sponsored by The Reconnection Project/Jeff Levin Coaching
School administrators are invited to enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a relaxing, solution-focused forum with your colleagues on the new challenges caused by the epidemic of increased stress and anxiety. The discussion will include:
- The increasing number of parents seemingly at cross-purposes with school staff.
- Breaking down the seeming vastness of the anxiety issue into manageable, conquerable steps.
5-5:30: Registration and Introductions
Remarks by Stephen Sierpina, Windham H.S. principal
Jeff Levin, Reconnection Project Founder
5:30-6: Discussion of the issues: How pervasive is the stress/anxiety in your school community?
6-7: Solutions: How can we work over time with parents, our staffs, and, of course, the students to reconnect the school community and reduce student stress, anxiety, and all of the negative behaviors they engender?
Preregistration would be appreciated, but drop-ins are also welcome: Contact Jeff Levin at (603) 496-0305 or at jeff@jefflevincoaching.com.
Want to receive more emails about reducing stress in schools? Join our mailing list.
Failure-to-Launch Young Adults: A New Approach
When school started, I heard about several kids who went to college—very good colleges to which the students had happily anticipated going for months—and after only a few days, called their parents to pick them up and take them home.
I see this more and more. Some will go back to school. Others will sit in their parents’ basements playing video games, with their parents wringing their hands because they do not know what to do. This can go on for years, and failure-to-launch young adults make up a large part of my business.
What I find when I talk with these teens and 20-somethings are young people who have never faced adversity, are full of shame and doubt, and lack a sense of themselves or autonomy. When I talk with the parents, I find adults who thought they did everything right and are mystified about where things went wrong.
How did they get there? And, more importantly, how to get them past this? Read more
The Importance of Mission
“Our own life has to be our message.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
The recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, terrible tragedy that it was, also ended up bringing to the fore something positive that is sorely lacking in many of today’s young people: a mission. Although I wish it weren’t mass shootings that were the reason, the way students around the world rallied around the cause of “no more school shootings” couldn’t have been a better demonstration of how kids are brought to life around a mission. Read more
What Dreams Are Made of
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
I talk about making dreams come true a lot. That sounds so…frivolous, so hokey—so why do I keep saying it?
Because it is so important to kids’—and adults’—mental health, that’s why. Read more
Are We Having Fun…Ever?
One thing I ask parents frequently is how much fun their family has. The reply is often that their child loves their organized athletics, or music, or whatever afterschool activity that their child does, and that is fun for their child.
It is true that some children love those activities. But some children don’t. They do them out of a sense of duty. They do it because their parents make them. Or they do them because it has been impressed on them, either consciously or unconsciously, that they have to do it to get into college—for their résumé, in other words. And many of them never tell their parents that they would rather not do them, or do them quite so much. When you have Outcome Fever, it becomes very hard for your kids to be honest with you.
But even if your child loves their extracurricular activity, that is different from plain fun. Unlike organized activities, fun has no responsibilities, such as practicing, attached. Most importantly, the fun I’m talking about has no outcomes attached. Read more
Raising Kids in the Digital Age Program for Parents: June 11 in Newton
Please join me for a free program on Raising Kids in the Digital Age!
Sunday, June 11, from 3–5pm at Stone L’Oven Pizza, 1649 Beacon Street, Newton, Massachusetts.
Enjoy some wonderful live music while you gain knowledge, share exasperation and joy, discuss the challenges, and acquire support and understanding for the journey of being a parent today.
Interspersing thought-provoking music, lecture, and group discussion, I explain how to lessen the scrapes and bruises involved in parenting in the “Digital Age.” You will leave with some tips for how to safely prepare your kids for a fulfilling and independent life, as well as some tools for you to shed stress, feel empowered, and connect with yourself and your family. See the full flier below.
Questions? Feel free to contact me or use the form below.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
