Doug Bolton, Ph.D. and Lisa Damour, Ph.D. - Untethered

Over the past decade, children’s mental health challenges have reached epidemic levels—stress, anxiety, childhood depression, and suicide are at unprecedented high rates. Amid high-stakes pressure for kids to succeed, parents and teachers have never needed a road map to healthy child development more urgently. And as clinical psychologist and educator Doug Bolton, Ph.D. explains in "Untethered: Creating Connected Families, Schools, and Communities to Raise a Resilient Generation," his eye-opening and powerful new book, underlying our modern-day stresses is an even more pervasive problem: We’re relying on practices that are not in line with what science tells us about how to truly motivate children and help them thrive.

As Bolton persuasively argues, we need to step away from parenting and teaching based on controlling our children with incentives and punishments—they focus on short-term compliance at the cost of health development. Instead, creating healthy and strongly bonded communities for our children, both in our own families and in our schools, is key to their emotional well-being, and their success in life. "Untethered" offers tools to help us create these communities so our kids develop healthy attachments and learn emotional regulation, helping them feel more connected, less anxious, more included, less shamed, and more securely grounded. The power of communities is not only that they enhance our wellness—they buffer us from the impact of trauma and can be a guiding force in helping kids develop resilience.

Bolton will be in conversation with Lisa Damour, Ph.D. (FAN '19, '20, '21, '23), the author of three New York Times best sellers: "Untangled," "Under Pressure," and "The Emotional Lives of Teenagers," which have been translated into twenty-three languages. She co-hosts the "Ask Lisa" podcast, works in collaboration with UNICEF, and is recognized as a thought leader by the American Psychological Association. Damour authored the monthly "Adolescence" column for The New York Times, is a regular contributor to CBS News, and created Untangling 10to20, a digital library of premium content to support teens and those who care for them.