Coping with Emotions and Stress, Problem Solving & Decision Making

This start-up guide for instructors and helpers provides written information and a video tutorial that overviews session structure and accompanying documents. It provides tips for teaching these plug-and-play lessons (sessions) with ease while creating meaningful, positive culture-building experiences. 

Investigates how and why brains remodel at their ages, what brains do in general, and the functions of parts that change. Introduces use it or lose it brain connection types and good connections to set goals for making while young. Portrays the sensitivity of the brain to permanent changes during remodeling, and how to protect their developing brains by limiting harmful exposures such as substances and maximizing good exposures such as positive social interactions. 

Clarifies why all emotions are normal and OK but need to be managed to work for us. How to measure, recognize, and manage intense emotions and the triggers that lead to them. Reveals the connection sequence between events, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors: thoughts determine feelings and reactions to an event, but thoughts can be inaccurate and unhelpful. Covers types of thinking errors that cause stress, over- or underreactions, or unhelpful reactions and how to check and change unrealistic or inaccurate thoughts for best results. 

Explains sadness versus depression, feeling anxious versus having anxiety that interferes with life, the common nature of these problems, and why self-harm including dying by suicide happens sometimes. Encourages use of trusted adults and resources (given to students and parents). Gives warning signs of needing help and reinforces that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Teaches multiple ways to manage anxiety. Reassures there are always better solutions for distress than self-harm, and that help is available.

Validates that feeling stressed is normal and common. Defines coping as a learned skill and explains how it feeds resilience, optimism, happiness, and success. Provides ways to manage stress such as using support people, emotional control, self-care, healthy media, planning, and choices as well as avoiding things that harm coping. Reminds youth to check their thoughts when stressed because they may be thinking things that aren’t accurate, causing unnecessary stress.

Defines media and explains how media including social media can help or harm feelings, behaviors, and coping with stress. Examines how the substances alcohol, marijuana, narcotics, and vaping can harm coping, motivation, learning, decision making, and mental and physical health and explains addiction. 

Specifies how students can recognize when they or other people are not coping well enough and need help, and how to get help. Reveals how to recognize warning signs that someone is dangerous to self or others and what to do about it including suicide and school violence prevention measures. Provides resources and hopeful, empowering messages.

Explores factors that make it easier or harder to handle common problems and difficult situations such as being pressured by peers, concerned about a family member, worried about school, or lonely. Describes decision making and problem solving as two crucial life skills that feed happiness, confidence, and success while reducing stress. Explains how to make decisions and determine what to do about problems by using YEG’s 5-Step Decision Problem Tool which includes weighing pros and cons, considering consequences for self and others, and evaluating and learning from results.