Helping Kids Cope: Expert Strategies for Anxiety, OCD, and Mental Wellness

Dr. Leigh Weisz is the Founder of Coping Partners, a mental health clinic. As a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice, she was on staff and affiliated with The Family Institute at Northwestern University for several years. She has experience working with children, adolescents, families, and individual adults in areas such as child and adolescent family therapy, grief and loss, and relationship issues.

Dr. Weisz earned her graduate degree in clinical psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology with a specialty in children and families. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Spanish from the University of Michigan, having graduated with honors. Dr. Weisz has practiced in community mental health, hospitals, and outpatient family medicine practice settings.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[01:26] The difference between OCD compulsions and superstitious behaviors in kids
[02:36] Why child anxiety differs fundamentally from adult anxiety
[03:43] Using the “lighthouse” metaphor to help athletes reconnect with their motivation after burnout
[04:37] The importance of validating children’s emotions instead of rushing to fix them
[06:05] How excessive technology use impacts kids’ functioning, sleep, and mental health

In this episode…

Parenting during childhood development brings unique challenges, from navigating anxiety and obsessive-compulsive behaviors to fostering emotional resilience and balancing technology usage. While overwhelming at times, these hurdles can present growth opportunities when families embrace understanding, validation, and proactive support. What insights can you gain from experts helping children cope with these challenges?

Dr. Aryn Froum sheds light on OCD in children, explaining how compulsions differ from superstitions and why these behaviors aren’t driven by choice. Dr. Eli Lebowitz explores the distinct nature of child anxiety, emphasizing that it’s rooted in developmental and biological differences. Demi Agaiby uses a “lighthouse” metaphor to help athletes — and anyone facing burnout — reconnect with their core motivation and purpose. Dr. Leigh Weisz highlights the importance of creating safe spaces for kids to process emotions, encouraging parents to prioritize validation over fixing. Meanwhile, Ben Kessler examines technology’s influence on kids’ functioning, illustrating how excessive use can disrupt sleep, hygiene, and emotional well-being.

In this episode of The Coping Podcast, Dr. Leigh Weisz brings together experts like Dr. Aryn Froum, Dr. Eli Lebowitz, Demi Agaiby, and Ben Kessler to provide actionable strategies for parents, caregivers, and educators. Their insights offer a roadmap for helping kids navigate anxiety, OCD, and the everyday stressors of growing up.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Quotable Moments:

“OCD is much more serious, and it is a struggle. And it’s no picnic for the person who is dealing with it. They don’t want to be doing these things.”
“Child anxiety is not quite the same as adult anxiety. And the reason it isn’t is deeply rooted in our biology, in our basic makeup as our species.”
“Let’s bring us back to these whys, because otherwise you’re going to get lost out there and you’re never going to reconnect with it.”
“Let them ask the questions and then you can figure out right if it’s something you can answer or not.”
“And how can we sit with that feeling and understand it without thinking that we’re going to lose friendships? The stakes have gotten too high.”

Action Steps:

Validate your child’s emotions without immediately offering solutions: Allowing kids to process their feelings fosters emotional resilience and strengthens the parent-child bond.
Set clear boundaries around technology use: Limiting screen time helps protect sleep hygiene, social functioning, and overall mental health.
Support routines that reduce compulsive behaviors: Encouraging healthy, flexible habits can lessen the intensity of OCD-related rituals and improve daily functioning.
Revisit your child’s “why” during times of burnout: Helping them reconnect with their motivation builds perseverance and a sense of purpose.
Approach anxiety with developmentally appropriate strategies: Tailoring interventions to children’s unique needs ensures more effective support and long-term coping skills.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Coping Partners.

Coping Partners is a mental health practice dedicated to helping children, adolescents, and adults manage various challenges including anxiety, divorce, behavioral issues, relationship problems and much more in the Chicago suburbs.

Our practitioners are devoted to building on our clients’ strengths and bolstering weaknesses.

To gain insight and tools for getting unstuck check out our website at CopingPartners.com, email us at support@copingpartners.com.

Episode Transcript:

Intro: 00:01

Welcome to The Coping Podcast, where we share strategies for coping with the stressors of life, especially the difficulties of parenting. And here is your host, Dr. Leigh Weisz.

Dr. Leigh Weisz: 00:15

This is Dr. Leigh Weisz. I am the host of The Coping Podcast, where I feature top experts on topics like raising healthy children, parenting, and so much more. Thanks for tuning in to this special best of episode on this edition of the show. We’ll take a look back at some of our favorite moments from previous conversations. It’s brought to you by Coping Partners.

Coping Partners is a mental health practice in the Chicago suburbs dedicated to helping children, adolescents, and adults. We help manage various challenges including anxiety, divorce, behavioral issues, relationship problems, and much more. Check out more episodes of our podcast and our website at copingpartners.com, and you can contact us with any questions you have. Now let’s take a look back at some of our favorite memories from previous conversations. Just a quick disclaimer.

The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only. This is not intended to provide mental health treatment and does not constitute a client therapist relationship. The information provided is not a replacement for being assessed and evaluated by a licensed professional, and is not intended to replace mental health or medical advice.

Dr. Aryn Froum: 01:26

Sure, and there can be crossover with sensory issues too, in the area of clothing or hair or food. So something for parents to know too. And I will say that when I am sitting with a child or a teenager with OCD, that they talk about how they have to do certain things, like maybe wash their hands over and over again, or arrange their hockey bag or their dance bag in just the right way, or say an elaborate prayer at night to keep their family members from becoming ill. So this is not something that they want to do. It’s not like a superstitious behavior, right?

So you won the first playoff game when you were wearing your orange socks. So you’re going to wear them for the next game to bring you good luck. Right. Or you’re going to avoid walking on the cracks on the sidewalk or under a ladder. Those things are kind of short and silly and fun.

OCD is much more serious, and it is a struggle. And it’s no picnic for the person who is dealing with it. They don’t want to be doing these things.

Dr. Eli Lebowitz: 02:36

Yeah, I think it’s actually a really important point, because what we’re really trying to do is change the way that we think about child anxiety disorders. You know, for the longest time, the way we thought about child anxiety disorders is basically adult anxiety disorders in a smaller package, right. In a smaller person and a younger person, as though it’s exactly the same phenomenon. And that works to a degree, because in fact, yeah, child anxiety in many ways is very similar to adult anxiety. You do have worries.

You have fears, you have avoidance. All of those things that you have in adults. But what that really misses is that actually child anxiety is not quite the same as adult anxiety. And the reason it isn’t is deeply rooted in our biology, in our basic makeup as our species. Right.

This isn’t like just a, you know, abstract idea. It’s deeply rooted in our biology, especially, and in particular in our biology as mammals.

Demi Agaiby: 03:43

And I think, I mean, I speak about this when I’m speaking to athletes or even to parents. I say, you know, your why is the lighthouse right? And so when athletes are burnt out, right? If you think about it, the lighthouse. Its job is to to shed light on the water.

If your boat is so far from the lighthouse that it can’t see the light, how are you going to get to the shore? How are you going to get to your. Why? Right. And so that that’s what happened to me, and that’s what happens to so many athletes, is in the rough of a storm.

They’ll get pushed away from their why. They’ll get pushed away from their lighthouse. And so a lot of the work that I do when I have athletes who are, you know, burnt out or are experiencing an injury, I’ll say, let’s bring us back to this lighthouse. Let’s bring us back to these whys, because otherwise you’re going to get lost out there and you’re never going to reconnect with it.

Dr. Leigh Weisz: 04:37

Well, I mean, I guess it’s a it depends on what they’re asking, right? I’m not. It really depends. In other words, you want to understand what their fears are. So let them ask the questions and then you can figure out right if it’s something you can answer or not.

But sometimes you don’t answer their questions. Sometimes you just validate the feelings or the the fear or the experience and let them process. So one of the best ways of healing is to allow them to process their feelings, to cry, to just to be together with you as opposed to doing it alone. That goes for adults too, by the way. So we all are better off when we process in community, in groups.

And if they aren’t ready to process, that’s okay too, right? But you’re just giving them the permission that they can when they’re ready. Some people actually get kind of numb and are not able to cry and are not able to go there right away after a stressor, after a trauma. And that’s also very normal. In fact, we’re wired for a couple of different physiological responses.

So we don’t want to make people feel badly if they’re maybe not able to cry or feeling a little bit in shock. And the opposite is true too. Some people may be having difficulty sleeping or really be, you know, fearful, and that’s also very understandable. You know, when we’ve experienced a trauma like this.

Ben Kessler: 06:05

Such great points. That’s right. When we think of children or all individuals, we think of functioning. So when we think of children, young adults, we want to think of the settings that they live in, their home life, their school life, their social life, extracurricular life. And when we are so focused on using these devices, our our behavior is impaired and we can’t engage in those settings the way that we want to, and we can’t have a healthy sleep schedule and it affects our eating.

And so there goes our sleep hygiene. And there goes possibly our our our hygiene itself, because we may choose not to bathe and so that we can gain. And so exactly those stinky kids, right? And so we won’t find a way to help them understand what’s happening to their mind. And it’s so hard for them to do that because they’re so used to it.

You’re right. When you brought that up wake, sleeping with their phone, waking up at three in the morning, we hear typically things that maybe adults think of, oh, that’s sweet. Like something with Snapchat keeping a streak alive. Well, that’s nice, but to what end and what limit are we willing to take it? And if we miss it, what does that feel like internally?

And how can we sit with that feeling and understand it without thinking that we’re going to lose friendships? The stakes have gotten too high.

Outro: 07:29

Thank you for listening to The Coping Podcast. We’ll see you again next time, and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes and check out our podcast page at copingpartners.com.