PTO Speaker Series

Managing Anxiety in Children, with Dr. Kimberly Harrison

Children are experiencing more stress than ever. Whether dealing with difficult schoolwork, social situations, weather events, or concern about the coronavirus, sometimes the worry can become overwhelming. What can parents do to help? Dr. Kimberly Harrison is a clinical psychologist skilled in helping parents learn how to model and teach children simple and effective techniques for handling anxiety. On Thursday, April 2nd, Dr. Harrison gave an insightful presentation via Zoom to help all of us cope better and stress less.

Past Speaker Series

On Friday February 21st, join Dr. Crystal Collier at 7:45 a.m. in the Poe Cafeteria for a one-hour program that elucidates how screen exposure affects mood, learning, memory, sleep, and relationships. These events are always free.

Technology: The Reshaping of Our Children's Brains

Technology is shaping how our brain develops with positive and negative effects. More children are suffering from depression and anxiety than any other time in our history due to too much screen time. This one-hour program elucidates how screen exposure affects mood, learning, memory, sleep, and relationships. Practical, every-day parenting solutions and clinical techniques will be discussed, so bring your questions!

Dr. Crystal Collier has been working with children, adolescents, and adults suffering from mental illness, behavior disorders, and substance abuse since 1991. She has been licensed by the State of Texas as a professional counselor since 1999 and counselor supervisor since 2008. Her areas of expertise include adolescent brain development, prevention programming, parent coaching, addiction, family-of-origin work, and training new clinicians. Dr. Collier created a comprehensive prevention model to teach the neurodevelopmental effects of risky behavior to children, teens, and parents, which was selected for the 2015 Prevention and Education Commendation from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. In addition, Dr. Collier teaches counseling skills and addiction classes as an adjunct professor and was awarded the Torch Bearer of the Year award in 2018 by the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals.