Coping with Political Stress: Staying Grounded, Engaged and Effective

Coping with Political Stress: Staying Grounded, Engaged and Effective

In today's dynamic political landscape, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, anxious, and disconnected. In a 2022 study done by the American Psychological Association, more than three-quarters of adults (76%) said that the future of our nation is a significant source of stress in their lives. The constant barrage of news, debates, and social media discussions can take a toll on our mental and emotional well-being. However, it's essential to find healthy ways to navigate this stress while staying informed and engaged in our communities.

The Center SF and Manny's are excited to welcome Dr. Elissa Epel and Professor Rhonda Magee as hosts for this workshop. They will guide us through a space designed to provide participants with practical strategies and tools to manage political stress effectively, maintain mental and emotional balance, and stay actively involved in the issues that matter most.

Together we’ll experience simple, accessible awareness practices, and explore how they can enhance our capacity to:

- cultivate and maintain a regular mindfulness practice;

- center and de-stress in the face of conflicting views;

- communicate for connection across lines of real and perceived difference;

- maximize our personal and collective resilience over the sustained stress of this political season, and beyond.

Professor Rhonda V. Magee, M.A., J.D. is a teacher and innovator of mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions for lawyers, change agents, and for minimizing social-identity-based bias and its consequences. A full-time faculty member at University of San Francisco since 1998, and a full professor of law since 2004, she is the Founding Director of the Center for Contemplative Law and Ethics. Magee has been named Dean’s Circle Research Scholar, served as co-director of the University’s Center for Teaching Excellence, and co-facilitator of the Ignatian Faculty Forum faculty development program. She teaches Torts; Race, Law and Policy; and courses in Contemplative and Mindful Law and Law Practice. She is a trained and highly practiced facilitator, with an emphasis on mindful communication, trained through programs at the University of Massachusetts’s School of Medicine’s Oasis Teacher Training Institute, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Facilitator Training Program. She is a Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute.

Elissa Epel, Ph.D, is an international expert on stress, well-being, and optimal aging and a best-selling author. She is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, at the University of California, San Francisco, where she is Vice Chair of Psychology and directs the Aging Metabolism Emotions Center. She studies the environmental, psychological, behavioral, and social factors that impact cellular aging, and is also focusing on climate wellness.