Teen Mental Health: stress

To help students recognise when they are experiencing stress; to help equip them with skills to become more resilient and to develop the ability to manage their stress, we have built mental health and wellbeing into our scheme of learning for tutorials. These sessions are delivered to groups of around 15 students who are on the same programme of study, either L2 or L3 BTEC courses or A-level courses. During the first tutorial in the series, students were introduced to the concept of the mental wellbeing continuum before being asked to complete their own stress container. They added everything that causes them stress (college work, exams and siblings were common stressors) We then looked at the way that they currently tackle their stress, which often isn’t that healthy, and finally students considered how they react to stress; emotionally, physically, psychologically. After that, we had students consider other things that they could do, including joining enrichment groups in college such as art therapy or sports groups. We then share with them ‘Action for Happiness 10 Keys to Happier Living’ and have students make a pledge, committing to actioning a new coping strategy which could be anything from drinking more water or setting up a new charity group. At the end of the session, students were reminded of the support services available to them within college and through external organisations and they were given a Mental Health Foundation booklet ‘How to Manage and Reduce Stress’. A1 MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING