Over a hundred people attended the second annual Anxiety Summit held at Valencia Hills Community Church on Monday afternoon to better understand how anxiety manifests in a person, whether it be physically, emotionally, or spiritually.   The event started off with a panel discussion led by Pastor Dan Broyles, who asked a series of prepared questions to Amy Kaltenbach, a marriage and family therapist, Ken Kistler, a pastor at Crossroads Community Church, and Lance Steinberg, a psychiatrist.  Broyles said that he started the Anxiety Summit last year after noticing an uptick in people reporting they had anxiety.   “It just feels like post COVID there has been an uptick in anxiety and with this event we want people to have some tools to deal with it,” said Broyles. “If we can help reduce someone’s anxiety just a little bit, it is worth it.”  He added that the summit event provides information on how people can help others, whether it be a child, friend, or themselves.   From left: Pastor Dan Broyles, Ken Kistler, Amy Kaltenbach, and Lance Steinberg speak at the Valencia Hills Community Church Anxiety Summit on Monday Jan. 20, 2025 in Valencia. Katherine Quezada/The Signal He started off the panel discussion by asking what role anxiety played in the speakers’ lives when they were teenagers.   Kistler said that his social anxiety as a teenager steamed from wanting people to like him, Kaltenbach said her anxiety came in the form of fear of public speaking, and Steinberg said his anxiety was about the unknown about his career.   Kaltenbach said that worrying about the unknown was normal.   “Worry, I think, is kind of normal,” she said. “We worry about when our child has a cold and want to make sure it is getting better, not worse. I think anxiety is more like a chronic feeling.”   She added that it was like thinking about all these different scenarios and deciding the worst one was going to happen and people carry it in their body.   Kistler and Kaltenbach agreed, saying that anxiety is something that is carried every single day and can sometimes inhibit a person from doing activities.   Broyles said that often people think they can solve their anxiety using one tool but, in some cases, it takes medical, spiritual, and physical treatment.   “That’s why some people are like, ‘Well, I tried this one thing and I still feel anxious’ because most often it is actually a whole person type thing that affects us,” he said.   Each panelist offered some advice on how they thought it was best to deal with anxiety.  In the more spiritualist sense, Kistler said that prayer and leaning into the belief that God has the answers can help.  Kaltenbach said to start planning out your days and aligning them to hit personal goals and values.   Steinburg said that people should try to ground themselves in their day-to-day activities. He said that it could help being observant of the space around you to remain grounded.   After the panel was completed, breakout sessions on the topics: trauma and anxiety, loneliness and anxiety, parenting, technology and anxiety and perfectionism were started.  Broyles said he is hoping to continue the summit next year.  The post Valencia Hills hosts second annual Anxiety Summit  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.