MAY’S MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH: KU Professor Shares Summer Stress-Busting Strategies

 

May 16, 2019

For Immediate Release

Media Contacts

Kelli Lane / 954-235-0331 / [email protected]

Suzi McCreery / 561-301-9583 / [email protected]

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

MAY’S MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH:

Local Professor Offers Top SUMMER STRESS-BUSTING Strategies

 

Keiser University Psychology Professor Robin Schupper, Psy.D.

 

West Palm Beach, Florida – May 2019 Keiser University psychology professor Dr. Robin Schupper reminds us that although the summer is when we anticipate happy events such as graduation ceremonies, weddings, and sometimes preparing for a move to college, stress can still rear its ugly head.

 

Her points include:

• Change of any kind is uncomfortable.  We may not like to be bored, but we are hard-wired as humans to rely on the known, the predictable, and the routine.  When we are moved out of our typical comfort zone, our nervous system goes on alert, whether the push comes from negative or positive sources.
• The Holmes-Rahe is one of the more widely used stress inventories, and lists marriage as the 7^th most stressful life event, with retirement as 10^th, pregnancy as 12^th, and outstanding personal achievement as 25^th.  Graduating or starting school is 27^th, and vacation is 41^st.
• With every positive achievement comes the inevitable question: What’s next?  We spend so much time focusing on getting through classes, working toward a promotion, getting to vacation time, and planning weddings and other events that we overlook the unknown of what we are to do afterward, and the potential letdown that occurs when everything we have worked so hard for is over and done.

In order to mitigate summer stress Schupper recommends we:

• Embrace the “new normal.”  Accept that life is different and that the experience has probably changed us in some positive ways
• Take time when working toward goals to think about what life might look like afterward, and what we may wish to further achieve.
• Make a plan for what comes next, but first, take some time to relax and to appreciate what we’ve overcome and how joyous that feels.

 

About Dr. Robin Schupper

Dr. Robin Schupper completed her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a minor in Writing, at Jacksonville University in Florida, and her Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Clinical Psychology through Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.  She completed her Internship at the V.A. Medical Center in Salem, Virginia, and Residency at a child and family-centered private practice in Greenville, South Carolina.

 

Dr. Schupper has been licensed as a Psychologist in the state of Florida since 1989.  She served as a Court Psychologist for Palm Beach County, FL, performing evaluations for the Delinquency, Dependency, Family, and Criminal Courts, serving as an expert witness in court and co-writing and presenting the first Children of Divorce workshops in the county for parents involved in custody proceedings.  In 1995, Dr. Schupper became the Chief Psychologist for the Broward County, FL Courts. She was a Florida Supreme Court Certified Dependency Mediator for the Broward County Courts.  She has also worked extensively in inpatient and outpatient facilities, as well as in private practice, conducting psychotherapy and assessment with children, adolescents, and adults.  Since 2012, she has been a University instructor and joined the Psychology Faculty at Keiser University’s Flagship Campus in August of this year.

 

About Keiser University

Keiser University is a private, not-for-profit university, serving nearly 20,000 students and employing 3,800 faculty and staff members. Co-founded in 1977 by Chancellor Arthur Keiser, Ph.D., and Evelyn Keiser, the university currently offers more than 100 degrees at 21 Florida campuses, as well as online and at two international sites.

 

Keiser University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges as a level VI institution to award certificates and degrees at the associate, baccalaureate, masters, specialist, and doctoral levels.

 

For additional information regarding Keiser University, visit www.keiseruniversity.edu.