As part of the FLI HS Program, Future Institute hosted an online Mental Health workshop on March 9 at 5:00 PM Central (6:00 PM Eastern). FLI HS participants from high schools in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio attended the workshop.
Workshop Description:
In this panel, Sarah and Amy will be breaking down how stress functions in the body and the brain using their unique perspectives as mental health practitioners who focus on what the body communicates and how it functions. They will be teaching and walking through a few coping skills and basic stress management techniques, as well as walking through how one might begin the daily management of stress and social anxiety into the schedule of an upcoming high school graduate and a new college student. Both speakers intend to utilize research and clear-cut skills as well as their own experiences to create an atmosphere that people can feel free to interact with and participate in.
Workshop Presenters:
Amy Reidy
Occupational Therapist,
Yellowbrick Program
Amy is an occupational therapist at Yellowbrick program, working with emerging adults struggling with mental illness to help them use their strengths and skills to function as independently as possible. She earned her B.S. in Kinesiology at the University of Alabama (roll tide!) and her MS in Occupational Therapy at University of Illinois at Chicago. She loves her job but also thoroughly enjoys kayaking, hiking, needlepoint, reading murder mysteries, and watching Alabama football.
Sarah Tolan-Mee
Integrative Services Specialist,
Yellowbrick Program
Sarah Tolan-Mee is a somatic therapist with a background in the performing arts. She has a BA from Brown University, an MFA from The Juilliard School, and is certified in Somatic Parts Therapy. Her role at Yellowbrick is to facilitate emerging adults’ capacity for interoception, the ability to experience the connection with their inner emotional and physical experience. Using mindfulness, movement and sensorimotor techniques, Sarah’s enlists the mind-body relationship into the process of self-regulation. Outside work, Sarah enjoys spending time with her young daughter and challenging herself with new experiences, like skydiving.