Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Project Portfolio

Degree Name

Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives (DLd)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Trisha Welstad, DLd

Second Advisor

Kristin Hamilton, DLd

Third Advisor

Jason Swan Clark, DMin, PhD

Abstract

American stress levels are rising in almost all age groups, especially in females. The medical and mental health response is largely reactionary as practitioners scramble to address the resulting negative impacts on bodies and minds. Traditional avenues for help are overwhelmed and increasingly difficult to access. As a result, there is opportunity for Christian organizations to help communities deal with the impact of the stress epidemic.

The scale of addressing stress-related issues is initially overwhelming, but starting small and supporting a targeted group provides significant opportunity for the development of self- leadership skills and habits to proactively address it. Resilience science, the study of how some individuals can bounce back from stress more easily than others, is a multidisciplinary field that helps people learn healthy ways to handle stress. As a leader of a local church (and associated Christian school) in St. Charles, MO, there is urgency to do something to equip the most vulnerable (our children) with skills to help them proactively deal with the daily stressors they face instead of waiting for reactive consequences to occur. With research showing that stress resilience is largely teachable, and that early-adolescence is a critical development stage to learn protective skills, this project addresses the opportunity that St. Charles County, MO, churches and schools have to develop resilience in early adolescent girls alongside their primary female influencers (PFIs).

Many attempts to arm kids with protective emotional intelligence and resilience skills have been too complex and focused on children learning the skills in a vacuum with little family or community support. That is where this project differs from other social emtional or resilience curriculum. It is simple. It is memorable. It is a half-day stress resilience workshop that early adolescent girls attend with a primary caregiver at locations hosted by local churches and schools.

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS