We all have experienced the feeling of stress at some point in life. Whether you are dealing with corporate burnout, educational stress, or an overwhelming relationship, there are ways to harness your negative feelings and thrive!
Enter Dr. Frank Wood, Wittenberg Alumnus of 1984. Dr. Wood is a renowned psychologist from Cincinnati, Ohio and the founder of Thriving with Stress, an innovative training program on stress management. During his professional work with older adults, Dr. Wood found that stress can contribute to the onset, complications, and relapse of mental health issues. However, with the proper training, one can learn to deal with stress head on and alleviate these concerns in later life.
This may surprise you…but according to the psychologist, stress actually plays a vital role in an individual’s ability to thrive. While most of us have learned to avoid stress, Dr. Wood’s program teaches practical tools to more effectively address the pressures that come with life. Thriving with Stress training sessions can help build those skills and ultimately allow you to remain fully engaged and alive in the moment, which is a great place from which to live a life!
Before his success in the field of psychology, Frank Wood was a very lively Tiger at Wittenberg. He was a member of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and stayed active by playing intramural softball. He thrived in academia, as he was elected to Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, and held an internship at Camarillo State Hospital with the assistance of Dr. Wing. With a busy undergraduate career, he saw firsthand how stress can affect students. He hopes that his program can be implemented in a university setting to help young people deal with educational pressures.
“These types of programs will teach students skills that they can apply during their time at Wittenberg. After college, they will know these skills and apply them to things like communicating with parents, dating, job searches, promotions, savings, faith, and more,” Wood posits. “Students have an opportunity, almost a laboratory, during the college years to experiment. It is in this time that wonderful life changing and character building skills can change the course of students’ lives.”
Frank resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife, seven children and step-children, two Golden Doodles, and one cat. In regards to future professional plans, he anticipates great things for himself and the Thriving with Stress program. “I love being paid to teach a tool that improves life, and to see the change of which each person is capable,” Wood declares. “It is my hope that my training will continue to offer a platform to improve communication and decision making. I will strive to one day stand as one of the names who has helped reframe stress as a vital component to life rather than a thing to be controlled, continued, denied, or avoided. I hope that stress can be seen akin to a wave whose energy can permit us to surf!
Please visit www.thrivingwithstress.com for more on Dr. Wood and his program.
