Help young people to manage their stress more effectively
Stress has reached epidemic levels in recent years, but thankfully, there’s greater awareness than ever of the damaging impact it can have. With Stress Awareness Month coming up why not initiate a potentially life-changing conversation with the young people you support?
Stress negatively impacts the majority of us. In fact, research from Rethink Mental Illness suggests that at some point in the last year, three quarters (74%) of us have felt so stressed that we have felt unable to cope.
And young people are particularly susceptible to being negatively impacted by stress as a result of the significant implications of each of their actions at this milestone moment of their lives. In a recent piece of research conducted by the Mental Health Foundation 60% of young people admitted to feeling unable to cope due to the pressure to succeed while 39% had experienced suicidal thoughts because of stress.
So, with important exams and milestone progression dates on the horizon, why not use upcoming Stress Awareness Month (1-30th April) to give your students some positive coping strategies to help them manage their stress?
Our free Role Model resources have been created by university students for younger students (14-18) to help them tackle life issues. Each resource explores issues through practical exercises and discussion points and gives accessible hints and tips that young people have found helpful in their own lives. Our Role Models ‘Worry’ resource is a great one to explore during Stress Awareness Month as it helps young people to open up about their stress and provides ‘tried and tested’ coping strategies. It even helps to challenge the belief that all stress is negative and helps young people to harness manageable amounts of stress as a motivator to help them get tasks completed.
You might also want to explore Stress Management Society’s resources during Stress Awareness Month. There’s a ‘7 Step Achievement Plan’ which provides a practical guide to take you from ‘distress to de-stress’ and a dedicated Stress Awareness Month 30-day challenge which breaks positive stress management strategies into manageable mini steps that young people can try out each day.
Left unmanaged the impacts of stress can be devastating. But when young people are given the tools to recognise and control the impact of stress on their lives, they can be empowered to manage it and approach life more positively.