Ep 214: Building Resilience Early with Dr. Kate Lund

What if resilience wasn't something you scrambled for in a crisis, but something already woven into the fabric of your family's everyday life?

That's the big idea behind this conversation with Dr. Kate Lund, licensed clinical psychologist, resilience expert, and author of Bounce: Help Your Child Build Resilience and Thrive in School, Sports and Life. Dr. Kate brings over two decades of clinical experience, specialized training from three Harvard Medical School affiliated hospitals, and a perspective on resilience that's deeply personal, deeply practical, and deeply worth your time.

In this episode, we cover:

What led Dr. Kate to dedicate her career to resilience (hint: it started with her own story as a kid navigating a medical diagnosis and returning to school feeling different from everyone else)

The Relaxation Response, a research-backed, two-minute technique you can teach your whole family to help regulate stress before it takes over a moment

How to tell when your child's stress levels have hit a tipping point, and what parents often miss because the signs don't always look the way you'd expect

Why holding space for your kid sometimes means doing nothing at all, and how to resist the urge to fix, redirect, or jump in with your own story

The Daily Wins exercise that shifts kids (and parents) out of the "everything went wrong" spiral and back toward what's possible

What a resilient lifestyle actually looks like in practice, and why it's so different from trying to build resilience in high-stakes moments.

The college admissions conversation every parent of a teen needs to hear, including Dr. Kate's refreshingly honest take on navigating what we can and can't control

A moment that stuck with us:

Lindsay shares the story of her daughter coming home from a rough rowing practice and not wanting to talk. Instead of pulling out the coaching toolkit, Lindsay chose to just be there. Later that evening, her daughter came back with her phone and said, "Mom, I made myself wallpaper with the thoughts I need to remember." The seeds had been planted. They just needed space to grow.

That's resilience as a lifestyle, not a rescue mission.

About Dr. Kate Lund:

Dr. Kate is a licensed clinical psychologist, resilience expert, speaker, and author. She helps parents, athletes, students, and entrepreneurs thrive within their own unique contexts. She's also an active volunteer at Seattle Children's Hospital, where she and her therapy dog Wally bring comfort and smiles to young patients facing difficult medical situations.

Find her at katelundspeaks.com, and connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Resources mentioned:

Bounce: Help Your Child Build Resilience and Thrive in School, Sports and Life by Dr. Kate Lund

Step Away: The Keys to Resilient Parenting by Dr. Kate Lund

The Optimized Mind Podcast wit

Lindsay Miller is a distinguished kids mindfulness coach, mindfulness educator and host of The Stress Nanny Podcast. She is known for her suitcase tricks and playful laugh. When she's not cheering on her daughter or rollerblading on local trails with her husband, you can find her using her 20+ years of child development study and mindfulness certification to dream up new ways to get kids excited about deep breathing. Having been featured on numerous podcasts, platforms and publications, Lindsay’s words of wisdom are high impact and leave a lasting impression wherever she goes.

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