PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Scrolling through TikTok, it’s something many teens and 20 and 30 somethings find themselves doing throughout the pandemic.
The same is true for 23-year-old Palm Beach Gardens Resident and Florida State University student Lauren Kreidler.
“Probably in the beginning of the pandemic, it was a way to capture my attention,” said Kreidler of when she downloaded the app.
She’s a familiar face at WPTV, where her passion for meteorology has found her in front of the camera and green screen and next to talent eager to learn since she was a kid. Her TikTok handle is aptly named WeatherWithLauren. Even Kreidler was surprised when her content leaned more towards mental health, something she began with at the start of the pandemic.
“When I started this, I started having anxiety myself and my symptoms felt very debilitating to the point where driving was scary, going to the grocery store these basic things that shouldn’t be scary, but they were to an anxious person, so they left me feeling very alone,” said Kreidler.
She tried everything from dogs to cow therapy, eventually finding her place in #mentalhealthtiktok, where her, “Come to Therapy with Me,” videos really took off.
“It took me finding a therapist I click with to realize it’s OK to feel this way and that’s alright that you have anxiety but let’s work through this,” she said.
In a matter of weeks, Kreidler went from hundreds of followers to more than 30,000. Her message has stayed the same.
“To keep going and there is help out there for you it may not seem possible at certain times but there is help and you can get there and you just have to have faith in yourself,” said Kriedler.
And for those overwhelmed by their mental health or the pandemic Kreidler said this, “those storms will pass and we will be in this together.”
Spoken like a true advocate and meteorologist.
To find Kriedler’s videos, click here.
