015: Can We Help Our Highly Sensitive Kids Manage Their Stress Sensitivity? with Dr. Heidi Hanna

Healthy Parenting Handbook with Katie Kimball

I'm so happy to have my stress mastery mentor here today!

Heidi Hanna, PhD, is one of the most intellectual, intuitive and compassionate people I know, and I'm honored to host her wisdom today. We recorded this interview in March 2020, when we were all in a tailspin and figuring out managing our stress was more important than ever!
Fill your brain with Dr. Hanna's research and her personal experience today:

• At age 10, Heidi was fainting from stress - literally. Find out how to help if this happens to your child, or if they seem to get stomachaches and headaches in uncomfortable situations.
• Highly sensitive kids actually fare better than other kids if raised in the right environment...but we don't always get that right as you'll hear.
• What research is showing about how stress-sensitive people's brains work and why Dr. Hanna doesn't love the term "negativity bias," even though it's technically accurate to describe stress-sensitive people.
• Why HSCs sometimes spiral into thinking like, "It's all my fault, I messed that up, I'm so dumb, and this is why NO ONE LIKES ME!" (I feel like that's my whole high school life!)
• And more importantly, what parents can do to help kids stop that spiral, appreciate what their reactions are trying to tell them, and reverse the reaction.
• How we can look at the ways in which our kids (or ourselves) are reacting to stress and understand what recharge techniques they need to get more capacity.
• Dr. Hanna's encouragement for parents of HSCs and how we can see the positive about our children's personality.

Resources We Mention for Managing Stress

• Dr. Hanna's website
• Dr. Hanna's courses: Stress Mastery Fundamentals 101 and Stress Mastery Foundations
• Elaine Aron's Website
• My Healthy Parenting Handbook Episodes on Stress Mastery: part 1 and part 2
• My interview with Dr. K, an expert on highly sensitive children
• My introduction to highly sensitive people
• GoNoodle
• HeartMath device helps regulate stress response

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