Robert Barsel Biography
Rob Barsel is a 17 year old junior in high school whose passion to help children understand mental health began at 5 years old when his father passed away suddenly. His mother immediately enrolled him in a peer support group for grieving children as well as individual therapy. Although he gained a lot from individual therapy, it was being around other children who had experienced a similar trauma in peer support groups where Rob began to heal. He learned about healthy coping skills and the power of understanding his own emotions and sharing them with others.
At 12, Rob went through an 8-hour training on best practices as indicated by the National Alliance for Grieving Children and a year-long shadowing of a trained peer support group facilitator. Rob facilitated groups for kids ages 3-8 for a year there then decided he wanted to share his knowledge with all kids, not just those who were grieving.
Rob spent the last 3 years developing his own curriculum along with the help of his school’s mental health counselor and a Recreational Therapist. Rob founded Coping Kids in 2019. He has been facilitating groups for at-risk youth for over 3 years, helping countless kids in Las Vegas. He wanted to help as many kids as possible so decided to write a book to help children 12-18 learn about their Mental Health and healthy coping skills which is included as a free resource above.