Student resources for anxiety management and mental health literacy
During challenging times, it’s normal for our anxiety to spike. Dealing with uncertainty and unprecedented events such as COVID-19 can been difficult for us all, and especially students.
If you work with students, you can help them learn ways to manage these anxiety spikes and cope with the changes and stressors they’re presented with by downloading and sharing these resources. Plus, the information may be helpful to you too!
With the help of Ontario secondary school students, we’ve put together youth-friendly activities to help students understand more about anxiety and coping in relation to the pandemic. It’s important for students to have both the “how” and “why” to best support their use of these resources. The resources are designed to be used on Instagram or other social media platforms.
Download the social media bundles now
We all resonate with and respond different to different activities. Within each exercise set, students will find a menu of activities to try, all grounded in core cognitive behavioural therapy strategies.
Mental health literacy package:
- Understanding anxiety during uncertain times
- Anxiety vs stress
- Anxiety vs anxiety disorders
Breathing exercises package:
- Deep belly breathing
- Circular breathing
- Tracing exercises
- Breathing and noticing
Muscle relaxation exercises package:
- Simple stretch
- Adaptable chair exercises
- Guided body scan exercise (coming soon)
Gratitude exercise package:
- Personal gratitude strategy
- Building a gratitude journal/notebook
- Community care – spreading gratitude
- Repeatable gratitude reminders
Thought changing exercise package:
- Identifying and correcting thinking traps
- Interrupting negative self-talk, and more
Distraction exercise package:
- Active ideas to distract your thoughts
- Physical exercise
- 30 day selfcare challenge #SelfCareChallenge
By youth and for youth!
These resources were co-developed with secondary school students, including members of ThriveSMH, School Mental Health Ontario’s student reference group, and student trustees. Their insights on the needs of their peers, appropriate language, best formats, and appealing design have been invaluable to this work.
Where to find more youth-friendly resources
For the latest SMH-ON resources for students during this time, please visit the COVID-19 Youth Mental Health Resource Hub at Jack.org/covid . Stay tuned for more.