MIND OVER MONSTERS

MIND OVER MONSTERS confronts the youth mental health crisis and offers a new path out - one that realigns our focus on actively building mental health rather than solving problems after they arise.

Alarming statistics in recent years indicate that mental health problems like depression and anxiety have been skyrocketing among youth. To identify solutions, Cavanagh interviews a roster of experts across the country who dedicate their lives to working with young people to help them actualize their goals, and highlights voices of college students from a range of diverse backgrounds. Cavanagh also brings the reader on an invigorating tour of pedagogical, neuroscientific, and psychological research on mental health - one that involves her own personal journey from panic to equilibrium. The result of these combined sources of inquiry indicates that to support youth mental health, we must create what Cavanagh calls compassionate challenge - first, we need to cultivate learning and living environments characterized by compassion, and then, we need to guide our youth into practices that encourage challenge, helping them face their fears in an encouraging, safe, and even playful way. MIND OVER MONSTERS is a must read for teachers, administrators, parents, and young people themselves. Sarah Rose Cavanagh is the senior associate director for teaching and learning at the Center for Faculty Excellence and an associate professor of practice in psychology at Simmons University. Her previous books include The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion and HIVEMIND. She lives with her family and friends in Massachusetts, where she can be close to both pumpkins and the sea.