How Anxiety Interferes With Being Successful Academically & In Life

— Over the past 7 years or so, Sheryl Roessler has seen a huge uptick in students with anxiety (sometimes mixed with depression). She has always had clients who deal with anxiety, but our world has changed dramatically. Sheryl first saw indications of this with the broad use of cell phones and social media –TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and in the past, Facebook. It began with feelings of missing out or seeing people who looked a certain way and wanting to be like them.

As the outside world has become closer to us, and news travels faster, events that would not have been known are now binging on their cellphones all hours of the day. The teens and young adults have lived through school shootings, lockdown drills, a pandemic, climate change issues, hearing people spouting hateful ideas and thoughts such as racism, anti-Semitism, anti-LGBTQ trans rhetoric, and now, a war in Ukraine. The pandemic only heightened student’s fears and anxiety on top of losing a normal part of their school life during lockdown.

They basically lost 14 months academically, socially, and emotionally. It is most important that students are given a safe place to land. Hopefully, that is at home, but as academics have been impacted, home sometimes becomes a place where an emphasis is on schoolwork and test taking and everything else takes second place.

Valeria interviews Sheryl Roessler, M.A. — She is an educational therapist who started North Shore Educational Therapy to bridge the gap between tutoring and therapy. 

Sheryl earned her undergraduate degree in Special Education and earned a master’s degree in counseling. With decades of experience as a special education teacher and counselor in Chicago’s North Shore, Sheryl has developed educational and therapeutic resources for students with issues that impact self-confidence and academic success. With her unique approach, Sheryl is equipped with the tools to help struggling students succeed in their academic endeavors. Sheryl bases her services in Chicago’s North Shore suburbs, but sees clients virtually all over the country, and often internationally.

Sheryl works with the student to become more accountable and self-confident, while also giving guidance and support to the parents. Not everyone gets to live their dream. Sheryl is living hers by helping her clients achieve theirs. This is where her heart lies.

To learn more about Sheryl Roessler and her work, please visit: https://northshoreeducationaltherapy.com/