Sciarra 1

Health March 8th: 25 mins

Brainstorm
● Coping strategies are a big component when adapting to scary or stressful situations – it's
important to find ones that work for you!

● Model some of yours: Ones that work for me are

○ Walking my dogs – show a picture of brooks and benson? (my dogs)
○ Listening to music
○ Fidget toys – enforce they can be a useful tool as long as they are NOT A
DISTRACTION
○ Journaling
○ Exercising
○ Prioritizing - chunking tasks
■ Ones that didn't work for me:
● Meditation – hard to slow my mind makes me stress more sometimes
● Ask them: what are ways they cope with problems they encounter?
○ *we each have different ways to deal with challenges and use different strategies for
different situations
○ Anyone one have an example personal (or theoretical) of when you coped well with a
problem
■ Or when you tried to cope with something but the strategy didn't work well?
Other examples:
● Take breaks
● Hobbies
● Adequate sleep
● Time management
● Mindfulness – mediation, yoga (eg. chair yoga)

Group activity – have situation cards and strategy cards

● Form groups of 3-4
● Give each group a different situation and invite them to order the cards from most helpful to least
helpful strategy for that situation
● Situations:
○ An upcoming exam you are worried about
○ A friend doesn't invite you to an event
○ Your team loses a big game
○ You over sleep and miss the bus to school
○ Someone makes fun of another student on social media
○ Your parents won't allow you to go out with your friends
○ You don't understand what you need to do on an assignment
○ Your dog runs away
○ You lost your cell phone
○ Your aunty cooks your least favourite food for dinner
○ You want to sleep in but need to wake up early for your sports team
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○ You fail an exam

If time or we need to pivot – tension release throwing of a stressor

● Everyone take out a piece of paper = loose leaf or we provide this?
● Write down their biggest stress, then crumple it up
● Everyone gets up to back of class - toss crumpled paper across the room: can place the trash can
so they have somewhere to aim and it's easier to clean up

Strategies:
Seek Support
Talking about your concerns
with friends or others; or talk
to the person directly about
the situation.
Hobbies
Taking a break doing
something else like a hobby
to re-focus.
Relax
Using relaxation strategies
like having a hot bath, or
meditation to cope with
stress.
Reduce Tension
Making yourself feel better by
reducing tension in a
potentially unhelpful way (eg.
yelling at people, being angry
and reckless)
Worry
Worry about your stressors
and take no action.
Avoid
Avoid the problem to forget
about the problem. Withdraw
from others. Read, do art,
play video games etc.
Work Hard
Concentrate on work as a
way to distract yourself from
thinking about your problem.
Cry
Crying as a way to deal with
the issue
Talk to a Professional
Discuss your concerns with a
school counsellor or trusted
team member
Think Positive
Thinking about the situation
in a rational and positive way
rather than focusing on the
negative.
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Problem Solve
Using a problem-solving
approach to dealing with the
problem. Evaluating what
options can be taken and
choosing one based on the
best outcomes.
Give up
Not try to cope or engage in
solving the problem.
Physical Exercise
Engaging in sports, or
exercise
Adequate Sleep
Make sure you are getting
enough sleep to refocus on
what you are trying to
achieve.
Accept Your Best Efforts
Acknowledging that some
things are in your control and
some things aren’t. Accepting
you have done your best.
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Situations:

An upcoming exam you are worried about Your team loses a big game

Someone makes fun of another student on You lost your cell phone
social media

Your dog runs away You don't understand what you need to do on
an assignment

A friend doesn't invite you to hangout with You fail an exam

their group of friends