Enhancing
Resilience 2
Stress
&COPING
Stress & Coping
for Middle / Senior Secondary
Health / Personal Development
2005
MindMatters is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing under the National Mental Health Strategy and the National
Suicide Prevention Strategy.
MindMatters Consortium Members
Youth Research Centre, The University of Melbourne
Associate Professor Johanna Wyn, Helen Cahill, Roger Holdsworth
Deakin University
Professor Lawrie St Leger, Margaret Sheehan, Bernie Marshall
Sydney University
Dr Louise Rowling, Vicki Jeffreys
Australian Council of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER)
Jeff Emmel – National President
Project Coordinator
Shirley Carson
Project Officer
Anne Sheehan
Editor
Helen Cahill
Writers
SchoolMatters: Mapping and Managing Mental Health in Schools
Margaret Sheehan, Bernie Marshall, Helen Cahill, Dr Louise Rowling, Roger Holdsworth
CommunityMatters: Working with Diversity for Wellbeing
Jeremy Hurley, She’ll be Write
Enhancing Resilience 1: Communication, Changes and Challenges
Introduction
Creating connections
Games collection
Friendship and belonging
People, identity and culture
Helen Cahill
Helen Cahill
Helen Cahill
Pamela Morrison
Pamela Morrison
Enhancing Resilience 2: Stress and Coping
Introduction
Coping
Stressbusters
Helen Cahill
Helen Cahill
Helen Cahill
A Whole School Approach to Dealing with Bullying and Harassment
Facing facts – an approach to dealing with bullying through the Health class
Giving voice – an approach to dealing with bullying through the English class
Defining moments – an approach to dealing with bullying through the Drama class
Check list of strategies to reduce bullying and harassment
Helen Cahill
Pamela Morrison
Helen Cahill
Coosje Griffiths
Understanding Mental Illnesses
Margaret Sheehan, Bernie Marshall, Kerry Sunderland
Loss and Grief
Dr Louise Rowling
Educating for Life: A Guide for School-Based Responses to Preventing Self-Harm and Suicide
John Howard, Barry Taylor, Helen Cahill
The following schools made a contribution to the development of the MindMatters materials:
Tuggeranong Senior College (ACT)
Engadine HS (NSW)
John Paul College (NSW)
All Saints College – Bathurst (NSW)
Corrigin DHS (WA)
St Luke’s Catholic College(WA)
Elliott Community Education Centre (NT)
Darwin HS (NT)
Cranbourne SC (Vic)
Kooweerup SC (Vic)
Heywood SC (Vic)
Trinity Grammar School (SA)
Gepps Cross Girls HS (SA)
St James College (Tas)
Deception Bay HS (Qld)
Bwgcolman Community Education Centre (Qld)
Southern Cross Catholic College (Qld)
St Johns Park HS (NSW)
Clarkson Community HS (WA)
Tennant Creek HS (NT)
Galen College (Vic)
Carey Baptist Grammar (Vic)
Burra Community School (SA)
Clarence HS (Tas)
MindMatters reference group
Dr Bruce Simmons, NT Council Of Government School Organisations; Kim Freeman, Mental Illness Australia; Paul Byrne, DETYA; Marie Lyall,
Australian Secondary Principals Association; Barry Taylor, Taylor Made Training; Roy Martin, Australian Education Union; Lois Kennedy,
Education Queensland; Assoc Prof Graham Martin, Flinders Medical Centre; Coosje Griffiths, Australian Guidance & Counselling Association,
Sven Silburn, TVW Institute for Child Health Research; Mary Edwards, Tranby Aboriginal College; Kerry Webber, DHAC.
For information about sales contact
Curriculum Corporation
PO Box 177
Carlton South VIC 3053
Australia
Tel 03 9207 9600
Fax 03 9639 1616
Email sales: [email protected]
Or download from the MindMatters website: http://www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters
ISBN 0642415285
This work is copyright. Provided acknowledgement is made to the source, schools are permitted to copy material freely for communication
with teachers, students, parents or community members. No part may be reproduced for any other use other than that permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968, without written permission from the Commonwealth of Australia. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction rights
should be directed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney-General’s Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit,
Canberra ACT 2600.
The views herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Health and Ageing.
Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of material used in the MindMatters materials.
If accidental infringement has occurred, please contact the publisher.
Design and layout by Education Image Pty Ltd.
Printed by G.T. Graphics Pty Ltd.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2000
Reprinted with amendments 2002
Reprinted 2005, 2007
Contents
Enhancing Resilience 2: Stress and Coping
The classroom materials have been designed
for use with classes in middle to senior secondary school.
The MindMatters materials ......................................................4
Rationale ....................................................................................9
Coping
Activities for the Health or Personal Development class ..............19
Stressbusters
Activities for school camps, leadership training,
or for the Health or Personal Development class ........................63
Use this booklet in conjunction with CommunityMatters,
which gives a cultural and social context to enhancing
resilience.
3
The MindMatters
materials
School
Educating
for LIFE
Mapping and managing mental health in schools
A guide for school-based responses to preventing
self-harm and suicide
MATTERS
Enhancing
Resilience 1
Enhancing
Resilience 2
Stress
&COPING
&
Communication, Changes CHALLENGES
A Whole School Approach to
Dealing with
BULLYING &
HARASSMENT
Loss&
GRIEF
Loss & Grief
Stress & Coping
Communication & Connectedness
for Transition / Junior Secondary
Home Group / Health / English / Study of Society
for Middle / Senior Secondary
Health / Personal Development
Dealing with Bullying & Harassment
for Junior Secondary
Health / English / Drama
Understanding
MENTAL
ILLNESSES
Understanding Mental Illnesses
for Middle / Senior Secondary
Health / Psychology
4
Understanding
MENTAL
ILLNESSES
for Junior / Middle / Senior Secondary
Health / Personal Development
This booklet is part of MindMatters:
a mental health promotion resource for
secondary schools. It is best used as part of
a comprehensive whole school approach to
the promotion of mental health as outlined
in the SchoolMatters booklet.
MindMatters
resources
SchoolMatters: Mapping and
Managing Mental Health in Schools
This overarching document provides
schools with a framework and planning
tools to assist them with possible
structures, strategies, partnerships and
curriculum programs to promote and
protect the mental health of all members
of the school community.
CommunityMatters: Working with
Diversity for Wellbeing
This booklet explores community, culture
and identity and suggests strategies for
managing the wellbeing needs of diverse
groups of students, particularly those
who feel marginalised for social reasons,
within the contexts of school and
broader communities.
Educating for Life: A Guide for
School-Based Responses to
Preventing Self-Harm and Suicide
This guide outlines the policies,
processes and practices that contribute
to a comprehensive approach to suicide
prevention.
Enhancing Resilience 1:
Communication, Changes and
Challenges
The curriculum units are designed to
enhance resilience via the promotion of
communication, participation, positive
self-regard, teamwork and a sense of
belonging and connectedness to school.
They are particularly useful with new
groups.
Creating connections
Activities for the Home Group, Personal
Development, Pastoral Care or core
curriculum teacher, focussing on issues
of communication, codes of behaviour
and team work.
Games collection
A collection of interactive games
designed to promote communication,
cooperation and teambuilding. Suitable
for use within each of the key learning
areas.
Friendship and belonging
Activities for the English class exploring
the challenge of making and
maintaining friendships.
People, identity and culture
Activities for the Study of Society class
exploring personal and social identity,
and addressing issues of belonging and
culture.
Enhancing Resilience 2: Stress and
Coping
This booklet guides schools in their focus
on enhancing the resilience and
connectedness of their students. It is
targeted at middle to senior secondary
students and deals with the importance
5
of providing ongoing opportunities for
participation and communication,
creating a positive school culture,
friendly relationships, and valuing school
and community. Two booklets, designed
for use in Health, Pastoral Care or
Religious Education, address issues of
coping with stress and challenge,
help-seeking, peer support,
stress-management, and goal setting.
Coping
Activities for Health or Pastoral Care in
which students identify some of the
stresses and challenges young people
have to deal with, and explore the
range of emotions commonly
associated with feelings of stress. They
examine a range of coping strategies
and consider ways of dealing with a
range of challenging circumstances.
Stressbusters
Activities for Health or Pastoral Care in
which students explore the role and
effect of supportive groups, the role of
trust and courage in help-seeking
behaviour, and explore conflict
resolution and stress-management
techniques.
A Whole School Approach to
Dealing with Bullying and
Harassment
This booklet guides schools in their
attempts to take a whole school
approach to dealing with bullying and
harassment. A comprehensive check list
to guide policy and practice is included.
Three curriculum units, targeted at
junior secondary school students, are
provided for use in the Health, English
and Drama class. The Health unit is also
6
suitable for Personal Development and
Pastoral Care classes. It is anticipated
that schools would choose one of the
units for use with a particular class.
Facing facts: a whole school approach to
dealing with bullying and harassment for
use in the Health class
Students define and give examples of
different types of bullying and
harassment, and consider the effects of
bullying on victims, perpetrators and
onlookers. They identify common
barriers to seeking help or taking
protective action. They are equipped
to research bullying in their own
school and use interactive exercises to
develop help-seeking and
assertiveness.
Giving voice: a whole school approach to
dealing with bullying and harassment for
use in the English class
Students explore the language of
bullying, and look at forms of bullying
perpetuated at different levels of
society. They use group work and
participatory exercises to read, write
and discuss poetry, stories and
newspaper items, exploring the effects
of bullying and possibilities for
protective action.
Defining moments: a whole school
approach to dealing with bullying and
harassment for use in the Drama class
Students explore the body language of
status and power, identify and enact
common human responses to
messages of welcome or rejection.
They also use a range of dramatic
devices to depict and examine the
stories and experiences of oppression,
and prepare a performance piece
around the theme of bullying.
Understanding Mental Illnesses
MindMatters Website:
This document provides an overview of
the issues a school may face in relation
to mental illness among students, staff
and families. It includes a curriculum
unit, aimed at middle to senior
secondary students, that intends to
increase students’ understanding of
mental illness, reduce the stigma
associated with mental health problems,
and increase help-seeking behaviour. A
video accompanies this curriculum unit,
and this is also relevant for considering
mental illness and stigma with any
school audience.
www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters
The website contains background
information, a diary of events, case
studies, a chat line, an annotated
bibliography, PDF copies of all the
booklets, links to other sites, state-bystate information on professional
development programs, curriculum
ideas referenced to curriculum
frameworks and stories of how schools
are implementing MindMatters.
Loss and Grief
Issues of loss and grief have been linked
to depression, and traditionally such
issues have been under-explored in
schools. This document provides an
overview of school practices relevant to
dealing with death and loss within the
school, including a sequence of lessons
for junior, middle and senior secondary
school students.
MindMatters is available from:
Curriculum Corporation
PO Box 177
Carlton South VIC 3053
Australia
Tel 03 9207 9600
Fax 03 9639 1616
Email sales: [email protected]
Or download from the MindMatters website:
http://www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters
7
How to use this booklet
It is intended that the classroom
program will be taught as part of a
comprehensive whole school approach
to mental health promotion as outlined
in the SchoolMatters and Educating for
Life booklets. As part of a whole school
approach, professional development and
collegial support should be available to
the classroom teacher.
It is recommended that teachers use, or
encompass, the whole unit of work to
enhance student awareness, knowledge
and skills. Using one or two sessions
from the start of each unit is likely to
raise awareness, but allow insufficient
time for skill-development. Teachers
should read the introductory section of
the booklet that outlines some of the
key concepts and research relevant to
the issues covered in the classroom
program.
KEY
SESSION
TEACHER TIPS
A session includes a series of
activities that may extend over a
number of lessons. Time taken to
complete any activity can vary
greatly from class to class. Teachers
may wish to modify activities to
suit the needs of their class.
Assistance and advice is provided
for the teacher in the form of
teacher tips in boxes in the left
column.
INTENTION
The intention identifies the
knowledge and skills to work
towards in the session.
RESOURCES
A list of the resources required for
the session.
HOW TO
In the ‘How to’ section, a step by
step approach is used to model
how the session might be run.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Sample questions are provided as a
guide to class discussion.
8
TEACHER TALK
This text provides information to
be provided to the class or
background information for the
teacher.
Classroom resources:
activity sheets are
provided as masters
information sheets are
provided as masters
overhead transparency masters
Rationale
A whole school
approach to
enhancing resilience
Resilience – the capacity to cope with
change and challenge, and to bounce back
during difficult times.
In recent years there has been a great
deal of interest in the ways young people
cope with the circumstances they
confront in their lives. Schools are very
much aware that just as physical illness
can affect a student’s performance or
capacity to concentrate and engage in
study, so too can a challenging personal
or family situation, relationship problem
or mental health problem.
Schools committed to the welfare and
learning of their students are addressing
the questions:
• How can we provide a safe and
supportive environment in which all
students can maximise their learning?
• How can we remain accessible and
responsive to their needs?
• How can we assist our students to
develop their ability and skills to cope
with challenge and stress?
• How can we identify those students in
particular need of assistance or support?
A whole school approach to enhancing
resilience models some of the processes
schools can use to support students in
developing their ability to cope with
change and challenge.
A whole school approach to enhancing resilience entails:
• a shift from a focus on ‘fixing’ individuals, to that of
creating healthy systems
• a shift from problems-based needs assessment to a
belief in human potential for development, learning
and wellbeing
• an acknowledgment that the ‘health of the helper’ is
critical.*
The conceptual model underpinning
MindMatters is that of the Health
Promoting Schools. This model entails a
focus on the interconnecting domains of
curriculum, school ethos and partnership
(see diagram on page 18). Often when
using schools as a setting for health
promotion or intervention, only the
domain of curriculum is targeted,
forgetting the impact of school ethos
and environment, and the power and
potential support to be generated
through partnerships with parents,
community and service providers. For
further material on a whole school
approach see the SchoolMatters booklet.
The Health Promoting Schools framework
curriculum
teaching and learning
• How can we support students who are
dealing with experiences of trauma or
ethos and
environment
partnerships and
services
dislocation?
*
Benard, ‘A Framework for Practice: Tapping innate Resilience,’ in Resiliency in Action, 1997.
9
Taking a whole school approach to
enhancing resilience acknowledges those
students with particular needs, and seeks
to provide for them. In addition it seeks to
promote and provide a safe and supportive
environment, and an ethos conducive to
mental health and learning. The World
Health Organisation model of a
comprehensive school mental health
program is a useful guide in considering
the place of school-based efforts.
Protective factors
Handling the demands of school
• Young people who feel they can
handle the demands placed on them
by school are less likely to feel
depressed.
Belief in own ability to cope
• Young people who believe in their
own abilities and capacity to deal with
challenging circumstances are better
able to cope. Belief in one’s own
capacity to cope can be learned
from the responses given by
Comprehensive School Mental Health Program
who is involved
level of intervention
others.
entire school
community
create environment conducive to promoting
psycho-social competence and wellbeing
all students
and teachers
mental health education
- knowledge, attitudes and behaviour
20 - 30%
of students
psycho-social interventions
and problems
3 - 12%
of students
professional
treatment
whole school
environment
part of
general curriculum
students needing additional
help in school
students needing additional
mental health intervention
adapted from World Health Organisation, 1994
Understanding
effective coping:
what does the
research say?
‘Coping is what one does: it is the
cognitive and behavioural strategies that
are used to deal with the demands of
everyday living’ *
A number of factors have been
demonstrated to contribute to an
individual’s capacity to cope. Some of
these protective factors are outside the
reach of the school. However, a number
can be enhanced via positive school
programs and by the quality of
relationships and opportunities for
participation provided by the school.
* Frydenberg, E., ‘Adolescent Coping,’ Theoretical and Research
Perspectives, Routeledge, London, 1997.
10
Sense of control
• People who believe they have
some control over important
factors in their lives feel more
able to deal with the challenges
they face. Those who blame
others for their failures and see
themselves as helpless or
powerless tend to cope less
effectively.
Individual disposition
• Factors such as temperament, high
self-esteem, internal locus of control
and autonomy contribute to effective
coping and resilience.
Family circumstances
• The presence or absence of a
supportive family environment,
including warmth, cohesiveness,
closeness, order and organisation
contributes to emotional wellbeing
and capacity to cope.
Support, belonging and role models
• The availability of support systems in
the form of individuals or groups who
provide positive models for
identification can be a significant
factor affecting the young person’s
capacity to deal with challenging
circumstances. A caring teacher may
be a key support or role-model for a
student.
Students at risk of alienation from the school
Research has shown that a sense of connectedness to the school is a protective factor
for young people. An examination of some of the key factors in those experiencing
alienation from the school can give valuable pointers for school-based action.
Dimensions of student alienation*
Pointers for school-based action
Powerlessness:
• provide opportunities to involve students in goal
students experience low expectations of
controlling their lives and of achieving goals
setting
• structure for choice and responsibility within the
classroom and within broader school life
• work with individuals to set high but attainable
goals
• support students in working towards their goals
Meaninglessness:
students experience a lack of connectedness
between present and future, and are unclear
on the connection between what is taught
and their future roles in society
Normlessness:
students perceive a conflict between school
norms and peer roles and believe that
socially disapproved behaviour is required to
achieve goals (the achievable goal in this
instance may be that of belonging to a
distinct sub-group of peers)
• teacher to highlight relevance and purpose of
tasks
• need for practical learning
• involvement in real work and community service
• promotion of optimistic habits of thought
• develop sense of belonging and attachment to
the school via involvement in school activities
• structure opportunities for involvement with key
adult
• generate opportunities to be recognised and
valued
• positive role-models
Social estrangement:
• provide safe environment free of harassment
these students are not integrated into a
friendship network and suffer a lack of
involvement and association with others in a
social context, and experience loneliness or
stigma
• develop opportunities for students to participate
with and develop connections with others
• design classroom activities to promote
participation and support
• provide safe and welcoming places
• run special interest groups
• provide key adult as mentor
• build opportunities for peer support
* Mau R., ‘The Validity and Devolution of a Concept: Student Alienation’, Adolescence, Vol. 27, No. 107, Fall.
11
Gender differences in coping
strategies*
Extensive research work done in the area
of adolescent coping has demonstrated
that boys and girls tend to use different
coping strategies. Boys are more likely to
try to manage by themselves and girls
are more likely to turn to friends for
support.
Adolescent girls are more likely than boys
to report stressful events, and the events
they perceived to be stressful are
associated with interpersonal and family
relationships. Girls show a greater
reliance on the approval of others, are
more likely to expect the worst, to blame
themselves, or to engage in wishful
thinking but also use more strategies for
seeking help and emotional support than
do boys. Girls are also more likely to be
dependent on family and teachers for
emotional support and more likely to
respond to expectations held for them.
Girls tend to feel dissatisfied with their
body shape and perceive themselves
more negatively and pessimistically than
do boys, and their self-image is more
directly related to self-perceived
popularity. Boys are more likely to
ventilate their feelings, act out or use
denial, but are also more likely to use
humour. In addition, boys are overly
represented in the suicide, homicide,
accident, and substance abuse statistics.
Help-seeking
The MindMatters classroom units each
place an emphasis on developing
help-seeking skills and aim to debunk
myths, that asking for help is a sign of
weakness or that referring friends is a
breach of loyalty. A help-seeking focus
also involves raising teachers’ awareness
of the invisible barriers to help-seeking.
Barriers to help-seeking:
• lack of trust in others
• fear of burdening others
• fear that the situation may be made
worse if known
• fear that others can cause worsening
of the problem
• shame
• embarrassment
• guilt
• belief that one should be able to cope
on one’s own
• lack of knowledge about support
available
• lack of access to support services
• culturally inappropriate services.
Given that any or a combination of these
factors may stop a young person from
seeking help, teachers may need to be
vigilant in passing on concerns about
students, and schools should set up clear
pathways for in-house self, peer, parent
or teacher referrals.
These barriers may also be at work in the
staff-room, stopping teachers from
seeking peer support, or, in the parent
community, holding them away from the
school. Whether young people are
encountering bullying, family or financial
problems, substance related problems or
difficulties with school-work or deadlines,
the welfare arm of the school needs to
be proactive in order to build bridges
Extensive use has been made of the research and literature review presented in the following work: Frydenberg, E, (1997) Adolescent Coping.
*Theoretical
and Research Perspectives, Routledge, London.
12
over these barriers. Bridges are built with
powerful invitations, and opportunities
to communicate and build trust.
Key stresses which young
people encounter
Young people are the best source of
information about what causes them stress.
The MindMatters curriculum materials
incorporate activities in which the
participants identify those situations that
they perceive to be challenging or stressful.
Those working in a pastoral capacity with
students can ask about what young people
find stressful or challenging. Some of these
factors can be addressed in a proactive way
by the school, particularly those relating to
transition and assessment.
• decisions about future study and
leaving school or home
• parental unemployment, retrenchment
or work stress
• their future
• financial worries
• earning money.
Those experiencing mental or physical
illness require additional support in
dealing with these challenges.
Using the Health
Promoting Schools
framework
(see diagram page 18)
Some of the key stresses which
young people face include dealing
with:
School ethos and
environment
• transition to secondary school
Enhancing school culture
• leaving school
Research suggests that the success of
best practice strategies associated with
positive learning and developmental
outcomes in students depends on
ongoing opportunities for participation
and the quality of relationships
surrounding them.
• school work, study and competitive
assessment
• juggling demands of work, study,
family and friends
• making friends; uncertainties about
acceptance or belonging
• loss or change in family life due to
splitting or blending of families,
divorce or death
• family conflict
• conflicts with friends
Successful schools enhance a sense of
belonging, connectedness and self-worth
when they:
• build caring relationships
– offering support, compassion, trust
• set high and achievable expectations
• body-image or changes occurring at
puberty
– offering respect, guidance, affirmation
• same or opposite sex relationships
strengths of each person
and acknowledgment, building on the
13
• provide opportunities for participation
and contribution
– responsibilities, real decision-making
power, building ownership.
Positive relationships are promoted both
within the classroom and via
participation in school-wide activities,
which build a sense of community,
identity and belonging.
Classroom climate
The classroom climate is acknowledged
to be a critical part of school culture. In
MindMatters the importance of every
teacher being a teacher for mental health
is emphasised. An anti-bullying program,
for example, can be most effective when
every teacher stands both as a rolemodel and a guardian, protecting and
modelling respect for the rights and
responsibilities of class members. A safe
and supportive learning environment in
each classroom is an integral part of the
Health Promoting School. (See
MindMatters booklet A Whole School
Approach to Dealing with Bullying and
Harassment)
Classroom climate:
advice to the classroom teacher
• be climate-oriented versus task-oriented
(attend to how students learn as well as what
they learn, build in cooperative tasks,
enforce no put-downs rule, promote inclusion
and participation)
• develop rapport
(smile, greet, talk to individuals as well as groups)
• don’t take it personally when students
misbehave
• know you can engage common sense
(be helpful, firm and consistent)
• don’t be a doormat: practice effective discipline
(rules protect students’ right to learn.)
• resist labelling your students
14
School partnerships
A whole school approach to enhancing
mental health entails a partnership with
parents and the local community.
Understanding the challenges and
utilising the strengths and resources of
the community is a critical way to enrich
the school’s offering. Teachers and
school leaders need time to contact and
to collaborate with parents, local ethnic
or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
community groups, health services, and
local leisure, arts, community service and
sporting groups.
Designing opportunities and channels for
consultation and participation will also
include protocols and pathways to
facilitate shared care and school-based
referrals to specialist health services.
Refer to SchoolMatters for further
guidance in this area.
Curriculum materials
The MindMatters curriculum materials
utilise a range of teaching strategies.
Activities structuring talk and teamwork
provide opportunities to develop skills
and confidence in communicating with
others.
Interactive teaching strategies provide
ongoing opportunities for:
• participation
• communication
• building relationships
• fun
• building belonging and connectedness
through teamwork and shared projects.
Philosophy and concepts behind
the practice
A number of components identified in
the research into effective coping have
been utilised in the design of the
classroom activities. The curriculum units
and teaching processes have been
designed to assist in teaching for as well
as about mental health.
Many of the sessions utilise experiential
and interactive teaching strategies to
promote learning and skills development.
These activities can introduce a level of
fun and vitality into the classroom and at
the same time require students to
cooperate and communicate in order to
address the challenges inherent in the
task. The range of kinaesthetic, spatial,
verbal and visual activities allow for a
range of preferred learning styles and
literacy levels.
Guided discussion is used to assist
students to move from an experiential to
a reflective mode. Discussion and
processing of the activity assists students
to develop concepts and language with
which to further examine and share their
experience, and to move to a level of
conceptualisation and awareness which
would be difficult without a concrete or
experiential base.
Activities which employ use of humour
have been incorporated. Structuring
opportunities for fun, engagement and
humour in experiential activities can
assist in reducing the tension
experienced by students contained
within a classroom.
research as factors effective in enhancing
resilience:
• the use of optimism and positive
habits of thought
• the promotion of feelings of mastery
and control
• positivity – feeling good about self
• the use of humour – to energise,
reduce tension, and help heal anxiety
• the use of metaphor – metaphors can
inhibit or promote coping. (There is a
direct relationship between the
representations we carry in our minds
and our actions. Accessing images and
creating new ones is one way to
achieve a transformation in coping
behaviour.)
National curriculum framework
The curriculum units have been
developed to further the appropriate
outcomes of the Health, English and
Studies of Society frameworks.
WWW
Links with curriculum frameworks are made on a stateby-state basis on the website.
www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters
Intentional use has been made of the
following ‘ingredients’ identified in the
15
Professional
development
A number of the resources and activities
in this booklet can be used to assist the
staff to look at the ways in which the
school supports students and equips
them to deal with challenge or adversity.
Many teachers will appreciate
professional development activities that
allow them to sample the interactive
techniques. In addition, the issue of staff
stress should be considered, as a whole
school approach requires consideration
of the mental health of all the key
players.
Importance of school practice
and ethos
• Read introductory materials.
• Conduct audit in SchoolMatters.
• Use check list in introduction to
A Whole School Approach to Dealing
with Bullying and Harassment.
1, 3 and 6 in the Coping unit can assist
staff to explore this issue. Work with
leaders or representatives of your local
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
community or with ethnic groups to gain
a better understanding of the values,
belief systems, strengths and needs of
those groups.
Transition
The development of programs and
processes to support students and their
families at key times of transition
(such as moving into secondary school,
leaving school, choosing future
directions) is critical. Activities provided
in the Creating connections unit in
Enhancing Resilience 1: Communication,
Changes and Challenges can be used
equally well within the staffroom to
promote interaction and communication.
Suicide prevention
Use the introductory material of
Enhancing Resilience and read Educating
for Life and SchoolMatters.
Stress and Coping
Use activities from sessions 1 and 3 in
the Coping unit of Enhancing Resilience 2:
Stress and Coping.
Help-seeking
Use activities from session 4 in the
Coping unit of Enhancing Resilience 2:
Stress and Coping, and Sessions 2 and 5
in the Facing facts unit in A Whole School
Approach to Dealing with Bullying and
Harassment.
Gender and cultural differences
Staff can benefit from an awareness of
common gender and cultural differences
in the way young people cope. Sessions
16
• Chapter 2 provides additional professional
development activities.
•The ‘Action Inventory’ (Appendix 8) is a comprehensive
professional development resource.
WWW
The website provides further professional development
information.
Check list of
strategies to enhance
resilience
In taking a whole school approach,
schools need to acknowledge that
support is not merely the provision of
counselling or referral once the problem
has occurred, and prevention is not only
teaching about mental health or drugs or
developing communication skills.
Enhancing school ethos entails the
greater challenge of building a healthy
community in each school where there is
a meaningful role for all and where
positive relationships are modelled.
The provision of a supportive
environment will entail the capacity to
respond to both individual needs of staff,
parents and students. The check list
provided can be a useful tool to guide
examination of policy and practice as it
impacts on the mental and social
wellbeing of the members of the school
community.
CHECK LIST TO GUIDE A WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACH TO ENHANCING RESILIENCE
Does the school set out to build positive relationships and
partnerships, and enhance school ethos via activities, which:
• value and respect cultural diversity and needs
• incorporate the student voice
• encourage responsibility
• provide opportunities for students to experience and demonstrate autonomy
and real achievement
• are positive and generous in acknowledging effort and achievement in a wide
range of human endeavour
• provide opportunities for young people to extend their own personal repertoire
of skills and abilities
• cater for differences in abilities and coping styles
• address patterns of student participation
• provide supportive management of the key transitions into, and out of,
secondary school
• effectively deal with instances of bullying, harassment and racism
• use inclusive and interactive teaching styles
• involve students in community service
• establish clear referral systems and ensure in-house counselling /welfare staff
available upon student, staff or parent referral
• liaise with the community and its services.
17
18
transition
programs
non-violent
conflict
resolution
peer
support
counselling
services
pastoral
care
parent programs
and involvement
partnerships
partner
ships
and services
ser vices
identification
and referral
family
support
family
support
counselling
services
relationships: teacher / teacher,
teacher / student, and
parent / teacher
community service
mediation and
conflict resolution
private areas
for talking
respect
for differences
ethos and
envir
en
vironment
onment
awareness of
individual needs
access to staff
for help
cultural /
social education
lessons in
specialist health areas
study skills
programs
community
service
stress management
programs
help-seeking
and peer referral
cur riculum
curriculum
teaching and learning
learning
social skills
training
comprehensive
health curriculum
A whole school approach to enhancing resilience
Enhancing Resilience 2
COPING
Stress and Coping
for Middle / Senior Secondary
Health / Personal Development
Contents
Coping Author: Helen Cahill
Activities for the Health or Personal Development class,
middle to upper secondary
Rationale ..................................................................................21
20
Session 1
Making meaning ......................................................23
Session 2
Stressful self-talk........................................................28
Session 3
Mope, hope or cope ................................................33
Session 4
Getting help ............................................................47
Session 5
Getting it said ..........................................................51
Session 6
Is it the same for boys and girls? ..............................57
Session 7
The ‘experts’ speak ....................................................60
Coping
Rationale
In this unit, students identify some of the
stresses and challenges young people
have to deal with, and explore the range
of emotions commonly associated with
feelings of stress. They explore the role
of self-talk and metaphors in our
perceptions of challenge and self. They
learn techniques for using positive selftalk, and explore a range of coping
strategies, addressing, their usefulness in
respect to a range of scenarios. Students
address the challenges inherent in
seeking help, and explore a range of
ways to tell people about their own or a
friends’ needs or concerns.
Students also consider the cultural and
gender-based pressures which affect the
ways they express their needs, and
advise young people how best to deal
with a range of challenging situations in
which a young person may be finding it
difficult to cope.
Small groups, paired work, guided
discussion, role-play, games and
problem-based scenarios are used to
engage students at a practical, skillsbased and reflective level.
What is ‘coping’?
A definition
‘Coping is what one does: it is the
cognitive and behavioural strategies that
are used to deal with the demands of
everyday living. The thoughts, feelings and
actions make up the coping strategies that
are called on to varying extents in
particular circumstances to manage
concerns. Coping skills can be developed
through previous experience, observing
others, perceptions of one’s own biological
disposition, social persuasion ...’
(Frydenberg, Adolescent Coping)
Each of us uses a repertoire of coping
strategies. These are made up of our
thoughts, feelings and actions. We each
use a range of strategies to help us deal
with the challenges of our daily lives.
Example
Two students fear the possibility of
failure in an exam. Student A copes by
working harder, asking for help and
letting off steam by playing sport with
friends. Student B copes by avoiding the
work, denying the fear and letting off
steam by drinking and partying on the
weekends.
Student A finds her coping strategies
have caused people to voice their
encouragement, praise and sympathy.
Student B finds her coping strategies
have caused an increase in criticism from
parents and complaints from teachers.
21
National curriculum
framework
Health and Physical Education
Strand: Human Relations
Level 6
• identify particular values they
consider to be absolute and nonnegotiable
(such as, respect and tolerance for
diversity)
• consider ethical dilemmas such as
whether to breach confidentiality
when a friend is clearly in serious
need.
Learning outcome:
‘Analyses the ways individuals and
groups may seek to influence the
behaviour of others’
Evident when students:
• examine, discuss and practise skills of
negotiation, problem-solving and
help-seeking
• identify social barriers to help-seeking
for self or others when challenged by
stressful personal situations
• examine the influence of others’
expectations on ways in which
members of a class or broader
community group support each other
in dealing with stress or change.
‘Explains how social and cultural factors
influence what people feel and do about
their own personal identity’
Evident when students:
• explain how individuals may be
affected by the fear of failure or
cultural or social notions as to what
are acceptable coping or help-seeking
strategies for a young male or female
• identify the sorts of challenging
personal circumstances which could
jeopardise the mental or physical
health of a young person.
Learning outcome:
State and territory curriculum
frameworks
‘Analyses how different contexts and
situations influence personal values,
attitudes, beliefs and behaviours’
Refer to the MindMatters website for
details of how MindMatters fits with state
or territory curriculum frameworks.
Evident when students:
www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters
• discuss ideas about adapting personal
values, attitudes, beliefs and
behaviour patterns to suit different
group expectations and
circumstances (such as, beliefs that
one must cope on one’s own, or that
stress is a sign of weakness)
22
Learning outcome:
SESSION
1
Making
meaning
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• develop a definition of stress
• identify and give examples of different types of stressors
commonly encountered by young people
• identify some of the images or metaphors by which we
explain or understand stress
• explore the role of images, metaphor and language in
shaping how we cope with or perceive stressful situations
• identify some of the emotions commonly associated with
feelings of stress.
Resources
• Large sheets of paper
• Marker pens
• Class set of photocopies of Activity sheet: Stress
A definition
Coping is what one does:
the thoughts, feelings and
behaviours that are called on
to varying extents in particular
circumstances to manage
concerns. Coping skills can be
developed through previous
experience, observing others,
perceptions of one’s own
biological disposition, and
social persuasion. Coping is
a form of adaptation to the
challenge of the environment
where the individual and the
environment are engaged
in an interactive process.
The individual reacts to the
environment as they perceive
it. The situation affects the
person and the person affects
the situation.
How to
ACTIVITY 1: What do we mean by stress?
1. Ask students to imagine that they are about to explain to an
alien what human beings mean by stress. Ask them to talk
with the person next to them to develop a definition –
‘Stress is when ....’ – and write their ideas down in point
form after they have talked about it.
2. Compare some of the different definitions the pairs have
generated.
3. Collect phrases designed by the class and write them on the
board.
4. Ask what they notice about what stress means to different
people.
23
5. Does the word challenge mean the same thing to you?
Why /why not?
Classroom rules
No put-downs. Have this as a
rule for every class. Act when
you hear infringements on this
rule. Ignoring breaches can
be interpreted as condoning
the action.
6. What can be some of the physical sensations or effects of
stress on the body?
7. Students should write the following down in their
workbooks.
• My definition of stress is...
• My definition of challenge is...
ACTIVITY 2: Stress spotters
Belonging
Point out that for human beings
belonging is very important.
We all fear exclusion and
often think it means there is
something wrong with us if we
aren’t included in something.
1. Divide students into groups of around four or five in size.
(Use a grouping game such as coloured cards, or numbering
off. See Games collection in Enhancing Resilience 1.)
2. Set each group the task of brainstorming around the question:
• What are some of the stresses and challenges people
around your age can face?
Groups
Why do these activities in pairs
or groups? So students find out
that they are not alone in their
fears, and so they get practice
in talking with others, building
the social skills necessary if they
are to effectively use ‘seeking
social support’ as a coping
strategy. Working with others is
also a way to energise a class
and bring some fun into the
learning challenge.
3. As groups report back, have two scribes collect a
comprehensive list on large sheets of paper. (Keep for
display and use in following session.)
4. Use the following questions to assist in development of a
comprehensive list.
Sample questions
• What sorts of stresses in the physical environment can
directly affect how you feel either physically or emotionally?
• What sorts of stresses or challenges can happen in
relationships or between people?
• What sorts of stresses or challenges occur to do with
particular happenings or events (leaving school, family
breakup)?
Chapter 3 (‘Diversity and
wellbeing’) explores how a
person’s social and cultural
context can cause stress.
24
• What are some of the fears, anxieties or thoughts that can
get people feeling stressed?
ACTIVITY 3: Making stressburgers – metaphors for
stress
Nicknames
Don’t use nicknames for
students, unless they are a
preferred abbreviation of their
name. Nicknames are often a
put-down in disguise. Students
do not always feel free to say
they don’t wish to be called by
a nickname. Ask all students
to use regular names when in
class – even if they don’t do
that elsewhere. The classroom
is a public space and hence
rules of courtesy apply.
1. Hand out the Activity sheet: Stress to the class. Ask them to
look at the stressburger image. Sometimes people say their
stress feels like being the meat in the sandwich or pressure
from both sides.
2. There are other images of stress on the page (being
stretched, being trapped in a box, balancing on a tightrope,
jumping out of an aeroplane, juggling balls, negotiating an
obstacle course, tossing pancakes, doing 10 things at once).
These are pictures or metaphors for stress; ways of
describing what it feels like.
3. Which images give the impression that the person has some
control or say in what happens?
4. Ask each student to record in the stressburger image and in
the pancake tosser image some of the key or common
stressors or challenges from the class brainstorm.
Teacher talk
Stress can be seen by some as a challenge or an opportunity, by
others as a nightmare or trap. People who can imagine or
visualise themselves handling their challenges or stresses in a
positive way, with an image of themselves having some power
or control, are able to bounce back better after tough times.
Top athletes often use mind pictures to visualise themselves
conquering a challenge. Regular people can also
work at inventing or imagining pictures of themselves
succeeding, and this can help them to get on with things or to
be their best in a situation where they fear failure,
embarrassment or hard work. Think how easy it is to get
pictures in your mind of yourself failing or stuffing up. It takes
mental muscle for humans to build up the opposite pictures.
Psychological research has shown that people who can learn to
do this are more likely to survive and succeed. It’s not how
brainy you are – it’s how you use what you’ve got!
25
Workbook
• A person who feels there is nothing they can do about the
stresses or challenges they face might picture their stress as
(suggest four different images):
• A person who faces stressful or challenging circumstances
but sees themselves as having some control or playing a big
part in how they turn out might see their stress more like
(suggest four different images):
• Some things which cause stress can be changed by an
individual. These may include things such as:
• Some of the things that cause stress may be outside a
person’s control. These may be things such as:
• What are some of the ways in which people cope with
circumstances they can’t change?
Homework
Practise imagining yourself succeeding at things you find
challenging. Imagine yourself managing with ease situations
you find embarrassing or uncomfortable. Make up a film clip to
play over in your head. If you find it hard to picture yourself
managing or succeeding, but easy to picture yourself failing or
stuffing up, then this is just a sign that you need to practise this
skill and get your positive thinking muscle trained up and
exercised.
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Ensure all staff are aware of how to pass on
concerns about a student’s emotional
or mental health
26
S tr es s
The way we think about
a situation is part of what
makes that situation stressful.
People who can picture
themselves having some
control or power over what
happens or how they handle
a situation bounce back better
in tough times. One person
might see an impossible barrier,
another person might see a
challenge and an obstacle to
be overcome.
S tr es sj u g gle r
S t r e s s b urg er
27
SESSION
2
Stressful
self-talk
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• identify some of the emotions commonly associated with
feelings of stress
• identify the role of self-talk in our perceptions of challenge
and self
• explore the role of self-talk in generating stress
• identify techniques for using positive self-talk as a coping
strategy.
Resources
• Activity sheets: Stress under the surface and Getting into your
head
ACTIVITY 1: Looking under the surface
1. Remind students that in the last session they identified the
sorts of things people can feel stressed about and some of
the challenges people can encounter. In this session they are
going to look at some of the feelings that are often
underneath or part of our stress, or may come up when we
are faced with challenging circumstances.
Referral
If you are concerned about a
student in your class, follow-up
afterwards. Talk to the student.
Refer the matter to the welfare
teacher. Continue to monitor.
2. Look at the image on the Activity sheet: Stress under the
surface showing the happy mask with a person experiencing
other emotions beneath the surface.
3. Brainstorm a list of situations in which a person may feel
stressed about a particular issue (such as, a friendship
breaking up, overdue work).
4. Choose one of the situations from the list. For that particular
situation, ask the class which emotions or feelings could be
below the surface.
28
5. Conduct a group brainstorm with the class. Name the
emotions which the person may really be experiencing.
Feelings could include: afraid, anxious, ashamed, guilty,
angry, used, rejected, disappointed, let-down, powerless,
thwarted, frustrated, unappreciated, lonely, jealous,
betrayed, hurt, powerless, unloved, unwanted, proud,
defiant, determined, relieved, hopeful... Point out that
people can have many emotions at once.
6. Repeat the question, applied to other stressful situations
(overdue work, moving school, talking in front of the whole
school, competing in a big event) until you have developed
a comprehensive list and a sense of shared language.
7. Point out that not everyone has all of these emotions every
time they feel stressed, but that noticing which ones are
there can give us clues about what to do to cope.
8. Ask students to complete their own Under the surface activity
sheet. They can choose a stressful incident from the class
brainstorm list and write in emotions or feelings which may
occur underneath the surface for someone in that situation.
ACTIVITY 2: What is self-talk?
Act it out
Running some ‘Inside the
heads’ competitions, or acting
out self-talk,. is a way to bring
humour into the class. Humour
is a coping strategy associated
with resilience. It is used more
by boys than girls. Girls can
benefit from learning to use
humour to gain perspective,
just as boys can benefit from
learning to use talk or social
support as a way to build trust
and connectedness.
1. Tell the class you are going to be using a term called self-talk
and that what you mean by this is the talk that goes on
inside your head. Self-talk is the things you say to yourself
without necessarily saying them aloud.
2. Give some examples:
• ‘I’m so dumb – everyone else is better than me.’
• ‘Everyone is looking at me.’
• ‘That was so stupid, why did I say that.’
• ‘l’m going to stuff this up.’
3. Explain that the talk we do in our head can have a big
impact on how we cope or perform under challenge. An
athlete who listens to ‘I’m going to come last’ before s /he
starts the race may not run as well. A basketballer who
listens to ‘I’m going to miss this one’ might not shoot so
well for a goal. A student who listens to ‘This is too hard for
me’ before s /he starts a maths session, might not be free to
29
Mandatory reporting
Under mandatory reporting
laws, the teacher is obliged to
report an ongoing situation
which places a student at
serious risk. Be aware of the
procedures for reporting and
referral used in your school.
Reporting back
A group shares their thinking
with the whole class, an activity
to promote peer-led learning.
Promote participation by
sharing the reporting
tasks around.
learn from any mistakes but might only be free to feel upset
about them. A person who listens to ‘No-one will like me’
may not see welcoming signals or friendly looks.
4. If negative self-talk (where you put yourself down or scare
yourself off) comes automatically to someone, they might
have to deliberately make up or learn how to put into their
heads some positive self-talk.
5. Complete a positive and negative self-talk example with the
class. Choose a stressful situation for a fictitious person.
Brainstorm with the class some positive and some negative
self-talk lines for the person. (Refer to examples on the
Activity sheet: Getting into your head.)
6. Ask students to work in pairs or trios to complete the Activity
sheet: Getting into your head. Each group should choose a
situation of interest to them using the class brainstorm list
from the previous session as a source of suggestions.
7. Ask for some students to share their talking heads.
ACTIVITY 3: Picture it
Draw a picture or cartoon, or design a symbol to express
feeling ‘up’ and another to express feeling ‘down’.
Teacher talk
Point out that if it is true that negative thoughts come more
easily to us than positive thoughts – then we as human beings
will have to be alert to the need to debunk these, and look out
for our friends when they are being taken over by negative
thoughts.
Imagine a coach yelling to his team – ‘You’re useless! You’re
going to miss the ball! You’ll never score! Give up!’
To be our own coach or each other’s coach, we have to be able
to yell ‘Go for it! You can do it! Train hard! Practice! Work out!
Losing a game doesn’t mean we give up!’
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Provide accessible counselling services
30
S tr es s
under the surface
When someone is facing a situation of stress or challenge,
they may have a mix of feelings underneath the surface
afraid
ed
anxious
ed
unappreciat
frustrate
m
sha
a
guilty
lonely
The stress
______________
hurt
d
betrayed
______________
d
ove
unl
______________
defiant
proud
sad
mad
let-down
thw
relieved
art
ed
jea
hopeful
lou
s
determined
disapp
ointed
angry
used
ed
erless
unwanted
ct
reje
pow
31
Getting into your head
Self-talk is what you say to yourself in your head. You can send yourself negative and positive
messages. Sending only negative messages to yourself is a way to give yourself a tough time.
People in training to be their best (like at sport) deliberately make up and listen to positive selftalk messages. This helps them cope and perform better when they face a challenge.
Girl getting dressed for a party
Positive thoughts: I’ll have fun, I look okay as I am, my friends like me the way I am
Negative thoughts: I’m too fat, I won’t know what to say, I won’t fit in
Thinking about
______________
______________
Boy having a problem with school work
Positive thoughts: I’ll get this with a bit more work, I can catch up, I can get help
Negative thoughts: I’m dumb, people will laugh at me, I’ll just get told off for being behind
32
SESSION
3
Mope,
hope or cope
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• describe a range of coping strategies available to those
encountering stressful or challenging situations
• identify some of their own preferred coping strategies
• compare different coping strategies in the context of
particular scenarios, identifying those likely to be useful and
those less likely to be useful
• assess some of the possible effects stressful circumstances
can have on the physical, social and mental health of
individuals and groups.
Different people,
different reactions
It is important to normalise
the fact that people react
differently. What one person
finds very stressful may not
concern another. An exam can
worry one person more than
another. Even in a family,
parents separating can affect
one member of the family more
than another.
Paired sharing
A technique for maximising
involvement and participation.
Complete prior to a whole class
discussion so students have
had time to think and speak
before talking in front of the
whole class.
Resources
• Activity sheet: Cope cards – cut into separate cards
• Activity sheet: Bunches of fives
How to
ACTIVITY 1: Identifying coping strategies
1. Remind students that in previous sessions they identified the
sorts of things people can feel stressed about, and some of
the thoughts and feelings they can have when faced with
challenging or stressful circumstances. In this session they
are going to look at the various strategies people use to
cope with situations of challenge, change or stress.
2. Use a paired sharing structure (turn to the person next to
you, or make a trio if the numbers work that way) and ask
students to swap some examples of things they like to do
when they feel stressed or overworked.
33
Culture
Be aware that different cultures
and family groups have
different views about what is
honourable or appropriate as a
response. Be prepared to
acknowledge that different
views exist about what is right
or wrong. Emphasise the school
code of conduct and remind
students that rules govern
schools and work places,
particularly in regard to
violence, sexual harassment
and racial or religious
discrimination. Ask questions
about the effects of actions on
others. Seek opportunities for
inquiry rather than judgement.
Circle
When you sit the class in a
circle, a powerful message is
sent about who are the key
players in the session and in
the discussion – everyone!
3. Ask around the room and record one of the strategies
mentioned in each group (use a scribe to write down one
strategy per slip of paper). Acknowledge the variety. Add
these to the cope cards collection for the next activity.
Teacher talk
Explain that the things people do in response to stress or
challenge are called coping strategies. Point out that you will be
dealing today with a huge breadth and variety of coping
strategies. Looking at the range is important because there is no
one right way of coping – people who cope effectively have a
whole range of things they do, using different responses in
different situations. People learn to cope more effectively as part
of growing up; they can learn a lot about how to cope from
watching what their friends and family do.
ACTIVITY 2: Coping collections
(Use the Activity sheet: Cope cards)
1. Seat the class in a circle. Explain that the cards that are
spread face up on the floor are ‘cope cards’– each one has
on it a coping strategy that people sometimes use to help
them deal with challenge or stress. When they are spread
out, ask all students to choose two cards each (collect and
remove the rest).
2. Ask students to choose one of the cards and to hold this one
up at chest height so it can be read by others.
3. Explain to the class that you will describe a situation of
potential stress or challenge. They will then be asked to
move to a defined place in the room according to whether
they think their coping strategy would be:
• helpful
• not much use
• useless
• harmful.
34
4. Describe a scenario (you may wish to choose from the
brainstorm list generated in session 1):
• faced with a big exam
• dealing with separation of parents
• confronted by a drunk stranger.
Expressing needs,
feelings or wishes
When people say ‘I need…’
or ‘I feel…’ these are called ‘I’
statements. More commonly
people in conflict make ‘You’
statements which sound more
like blame or accusation.
Finding out what the other
person needs or feels can
be a useful strategy, as well
as telling about one’s own
needs or feelings.
‘What can we do about this?’ is
another useful question.
5. When students have grouped, have them compare and
comment on their choices. Then ask them to put their other
coping card on top and regroup if they think this card
belongs to a different category.
6. Play a few rounds of the game to emphasise the point that
different situations may call for different coping strategies.
(Allow humour and dispute to arise. There are no right or
wrong answers here.)
7. Use the following questions to assist in exploring issues
around choice of coping strategies.
Sample questions
• When could a response like ‘work harder’ be an unhealthy
thing to do?
• When can responses like ‘ignoring the problem’ or ‘partying’
be useful?
• Is using only one strategy the best way to handle a
situation?
• Many people feel lonely when they are down – what can be
done at times like this?
Teacher talk
Each of us has a range of different ways to cope, and often we
use a different coping strategy according to what the situation
is. An important thing to aim for is to have a lot of different
coping strategies so that you are not depending on one or two
that are not suited to a particular situation.
It is also important to know when to get support or help for
yourself or someone else.
35
ACTIVITY 3: Bunch of fives
1. Explain to students that in this activity they will be building
a combination or collection of coping strategies as a
recommended response to a challenging situation. Point out
that challenges are often ongoing, and that people often
have to deal with them for long periods of time. Having
more than one coping strategy could be essential to health
or success.
2. Give out the Activity sheet: Bunches of fives. Students will use
this worksheet as a place to design and record a collection
of coping strategies which would be useful in particular
situations.
3. From the brainstorm list generated in session 1, each
student should choose three stressful or challenging
situations. Encourage them to choose ones which they or
their friends are likely to encounter one day.
4. For each of the three situations, students must design five
different coping options which they feel to be a healthy
response (one that won’t hurt yourself or others, or make
the situation worse). They can select from the range seen in
the previous class activity. There are some prompts around
the edge of the page.
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Provide private areas for talk
36
Activity sheet: Cope cards
(copy and cut for distribution)
withdraw
(not talk or mix
with them)
visit a
favourite
person
quit
(the team,
the job)
play
computer
games
eat more
avoid or put
off something
you have to do
37
prioritise
(put the most
important
things first)
fantasise
(daydream
an escape )
plan
(make a plan
of what to do or
how to do it)
start a fight
think positive
about how it
will turn out
worry
go for a run
party /
socialise
38
eat less
run away
get sick
blame
someone
else
blame
yourself
ask for help
?
talk it over
39
40
have a
shower
drink
alcohol
work harder
meditate
pretend
it’s okay
watch
television
smoke
cigarettes
go out
play sport
complain
change
direction
41
42
go to
bed early
exercise
stay up late
sit it out
listen
to music
joke
or laugh
problem-solve
find new
friends
cry
set goals
take risks
see a
counsellor
eat
junk food
43
sleep
more
call friends
write
about it
cook
something
sleep less
walk
the dog
go shopping
44
pray
draw / paint
take a
day off
tidy up
go for
a swim
tell everyone
how bad it is
for you
make
something
45
Bunches of fives
Some challenges last for a long time. When facing a challenging situation, a range of
coping strategies is best. Strategies useful in one situation may not be useful in another.
play computer games
Stressful situation
watch television
talk it over
Coping strategies
go for a run
work harder
problem-solve
ask for help
see a counsellor
visit a favourite person
think positively
Stressful situation
about how
it will turn out
Coping strategies
go for a ride
Stressful situation
Coping strategies
set goals
pray
walk the dog
write about it
joke or laugh
play sport
make something
draw / paint
Stressful situation
Coping strategies
call friends
meditate
go out
exercise
party / socialise
go shopping
have a shower
go for a swim
prioritise (put the most
complain
important things first)
tidy up
take a day off
listen to music
46
For each stressful situation you define,
find five useful coping strategies.
Write them in.
SESSION
4
Getting
help
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• describe a range of scenarios in which it would be important
to tell or refer a problem to an appropriate adult
Read Educating for Life:
a guide for school-based
responses to the prevention of
self-harm and suicide. This
booklet is part of the
MindMatters resource.
• identify a range of help-seeking strategies
• identify barriers and motivators to seeking help for self or for
friends /family.
Resources
• Phonebooks
• Pamphlets from local health services
• Activity sheet: What If… scenarios – cut into separate cards,
one set per group of four to six
• Bottle or pen to spin
• Activity sheet: Support network
How to
ACTIVITY 1: Getting help
What can happen if someone is having difficulty coping?
1. Explain to the students that they will be engaging in a
problem-solving session in which they can speculate about
what possible actions they could take in a range of situations
involving kids in distress. They will play in a game format.
2. Put students into groups of around four to six. Ask them to
sit in a circle (perhaps on the floor).
3. Hand out the set of cards from the Activity sheet: What if...
scenarios. Each group lays out their What if… cards in a
circle with room inside the circle to spin a bottle or a pen.
47
4. In turn, each of the participants spins the bottle and reads
out the card it points to. The person whose turn it is
speculates first about what to do in such a situation, then
others help out by adding their views, questions or
challenges.
Social status
Be sensitive to social status
of those in the class. Discuss
fictitious or general examples
rather than local incidents or
personalities.
5. When the groups finish, ask them to work out:
• Was there any disagreement about what was best to do?
• Which was the scenario most likely to actually happen
out of the ones you spun?
• Which would be the hardest scenario to deal with if it
happened to you or a friend or family member?
• What sorts of fears or concerns would stop people from
seeking help or telling someone else in these situations?
Don’t blame the victim
Be aware that some schoolwide practices may punish
the victim more than the
perpetrator.
• What would be the motivators or concerns that would
have someone seek help or tell someone else in these
situations?
ACTIVITY 2: Support networks
1. Talk about the role that young people are often called upon
to play in hearing their friends’ problems and helping them
to get help. The aim of the next task is for them to be well
prepared to help a friend to get help.
2. Handout the Activity sheet: Support network.
3. Distribute or display phonebooks, pamphlets and local
information to assist students in completing the support
network handout. Encourage them to work in pairs or trios.
4. Have students paste the completed sheet into their
workbook.
Teacher talk: It’s okay to tell
There have been campaigns like ‘It’s okay to tell’ and ‘Tell Tell
Tell’ to encourage young people to seek help for themselves or
for their friends. In serious situations, no-one should be left to
deal with things on their own. When someone is sending
warning signs that things are really bad or that they are having
a tough time, it is important to tell an appropriate adult.
ACTIVITY 3: Help card
1. Organise for students to design, produce and distribute a
wallet-sized card containing a range of helpful phone
numbers. Alternatively, make and display posters.
48
What if… scenarios
Your friend seems really down and
Your friend says s/he’d be better off
talks about dropping out of school.
if s/he ran away. You’ve let your
A classmate who is not really your
friend stay at your house a lot lately.
friend, but is not friends with
Someone in your class has started
anyone else either, has started
smoking marijuana before school
acting really strangely. Other kids
every day. Those friends who
laugh and make fun, but
smoke with this person do it
underneath you think this is a bit
occasionally on the weekends.
scary, and maybe the person is not
People are joking about how s/he is
doing this on purpose.
behaving. This person seems pretty
A friend has been on a long diet, is
down to you.
getting really skinny and never
Your friend has started taking
seems to eat. She thinks she’s fat
medicines and pills at school, and
and won’t wear shorts or bathers.
asks other people for painkillers
Since your Dad left, a brother or
all the time.
sister seems to be smoking, drinking
A kid in your class gets completely
and watching television all the time
ignored or occasionally teased. No-
and never wants to do anything
one will ever be seen talking to this
else. You have not told friends
person. The teachers don’t notice
about your parents splitting up.
as no-one does anything to this kid
There is a situation at school which
when teachers are around.
is really stressing you. Every day
A friend has started skipping a lot
when you wake up, you remember
of school and seems pretty down.
this situation and start to feel sick.
Your friend has a parent with a
You notice bruising on your friend’s
mental illness. From time to time
face and arms. This friend often
when the parent is unwell, your
appears with these sorts of injuries.
friend has to do everything at
There’s usually some reason, like
home. None of your friends know
falling off the bike, or colliding with
this situation. Your friend doesn’t
someone in a sports match. You
even know that you know. Your
think that maybe your friend gets
Mum found out through a
hit at home.
neighbour.
49
Support network
Who could you go to if you or a friend had a problem to
do with:
• money • family conflict • drugs or alcohol • pregnancy or sexuality
questions • study stress • housing • the law or police
• friendship breakups • physical health • mental health
(like feeling really down)
You might seek help from: family • friends • school teacher or
counsellor • doctor • nurse • community health worker
• a phone-in help-line • priest/minister/elder
Fill in contact details in this section:
Family/friends:
At school: a good teacher to talk to
Counsellor/Nurse
or
Local services: Doctor
Nurse
Youth worker
other
Ambulance
To phone a help-line: Kids Help Line:
Lifeline:
Kids Help Line and Lifeline are confidential. That means they won’t tell
anyone. They will believe you. They won’t be shocked, they hear thousands of
calls a week and will have helped people deal with situations like yours before.
They won’t think you’re silly, laugh at you, tell you it is no big deal or tell you
off. They will believe you and help you work out a plan.
Friends: Real friends care. They can help. You can ask them to help you
get help, or to go with you if you have to see someone like a nurse or doctor
or counsellor.
If a kid is finding it too hard to tell their parents something that is really
affecting them, it can be good to get someone to help them tell like a school
teacher or counsellor, friend, doctor, nurse or coach.
Teacher: A teacher you know and like can help you to get help.
School counsellor: The welfare teacher in this school will keep it private,
but sometimes will have to work out with the person who else to tell in order
to get extra help, or to deal with an emergency, or to stop you from getting
seriously hurt, or from seriously hurting yourself.
50
SESSION
5
Getting
it said
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• understand that communicating concerns about coping and
dealing with difficult situations can be challenging
• identify a range of ways to tell people about their needs,
fears or problems
• recognise that asking directly for help is not the same as
sending hints or signals.
Resources
• Whistle
• Activity sheet: Talking heads
How to
Ingredients of an
apology
An effective apology can be
designed around the following
ingredients:
1 acknowledge what was done
2 describe the hurt, harm,
offence or effect of that
action on the other person(s)
3 say what was intended by
the action
4 state what the future
intention is (offer to fix/pay
for damage, promise not to
do it again)
5 say sorry.
1. Explain to the class that they will be engaging with the
challenge of how people can communicate if they are
worried about someone. Sometimes it is easy to think out
what to do, but harder to carry this out. Sometimes getting
things said can be hard or take courage. The class will get to
try out getting things said, find out what it is like, and what
works and what doesn’t work.
Teacher talk
Acknowledge that knowing what to do is one thing but that
actually carrying out the planned action is the real challenge.
Sometimes communicating can be a challenge, requiring
courage and assertion.
51
2. Choose a situation and outline it to the students. For
example:
Simultaneous role-play
If all students in the class
are simultaneously engaged
in role-play, they are protected
from the pressure of an
audience and by the noise
around them. This technique
maximises both participation
and protection. You may need
to use a whistle so students can
hear your commands
to stop and start.
You may wish to intersperse
the simultaneous role-play with
short glimpses of individual
scenes.
If you do not want to run
a simultaneous role-play, ask
for a few volunteers to work
in front of the class.
Option for role-play
Put students in trios with one
person acting as observer
Protection of role
Sometimes young people feel
freer to give a range of advice if
they are ‘playing a role’ or
talking about a fictitious
situation. In presenting their
own personal view they may be
constrained by their social role,
peer expectations or may fear
ridicule or stigma.
Today we’re going to look at the situation where there are two
close friends. Person A’s parents have recently split up. Person A
has told B about this, but made B promise not to tell anyone
else. Since person A’s parent have split up a few weeks ago, B
has noticed that A has started getting into trouble at school,
not doing work or homework, sometimes missing school, often
coming late, and acting stupid around their friends, even
getting into fights and arguments over nothing.
3. Pair the students. Ask them to decide who will role-play
person A – the one whose parents have split up – and person
B – the friend who has promised to keep this a secret.
4. Explain to the students that you are going to ask them to
experiment with a few different conversations to look at the
challenge of getting things said.
5. Option A
Assign students to work in pairs and write starter lines or
dialogue for each situation. Use the Activity sheet: Talking
heads for this.
Option B
Using a role-play format, organise this as a simultaneous role-play
(no audience). Play through the scenarios and rounds suggested
below, stopping after each scenario to observe and discuss. Use
sample questions as a guide.
Scenario 1: Persuading a friend to seek help
Instructions for first round
In this round person A and person B are friends.
• Tell all those playing B: You’ve noticed that your friend is
under a lot of stress. Person A can’t concentrate in class, isn’t
finishing work or homework, is coming to school late, is
getting into more trouble, and being silly a lot in class. You
think your friend should tell teachers and friends so they go
easy on your friend, and because you’re a bit worried about
what might happen to your friend.
• To all those playing person A: Your parents have split up. You
don’t want to tell anyone because it makes you feel
52
embarrassed. You are scared you might even cry if you have
to talk about it. You still hope they might get back together.
Your parents haven’t even told you why this has happened let
alone what will happen to you, where you’ll live, and so on.
• When I blow the whistle [tell you to start]: Person B, you
have to bring up the topic and try to get your friend to
agree to tell a teacher about the problem.
• Do this first time round by hinting.
• Allow the scene to run for around one minute. Stop the
round.
Instructions for second round
Alternative roles
You may wish to redefine the
‘teacher’ role as a counsellor,
trusted adult or adult family
member.
• Now I want you to try that scene again, but this time,
person B, you have to get directly to the point, no hinting –
you have to insist or encourage your friend into telling.
• Allow one minute.
• Discuss, using the following questions.
Sample questions
• What were the reactions to the hinting?
• Was hinting going to get your message across clearly?
• Was hinting going to be powerful enough to get that person
to tell?
• Would this be the same in real life?
Scenario 2: Telling someone you need help
Instructions for first round
• We are going to look now at what might happen if A did
decide to tell a teacher about what was happening at home.
What could person A say? We are going to try this out now.
• To person B: You are now the teacher. In front of you is a
student who has approached you at the end of class.
• To person A: You approach a teacher you like at the end of
class. You want to tell the teacher what is happening and
that you are affected by how you feel.
• Try this first by hinting.
• Allow one minute.
53
Instructions for second round
• Now replay the scene, coming straight out and telling the
teacher.
What if a student seems
upset by this topic?
Acknowledge that some people
have upsets in relation to this
topic. Invite students who wish
to speak to you privately to do
so.
Follow-up with a one-to-one
conversation rather than in
front of the class.
Be prepared to offer referral
according to school protocols,
but maintain a concerned
interest.
Offer a buddy to accompany if
immediate comfort is required.
Be aware of mandatory
reporting requirements.
• Observe, reflect and discuss using the following questions as a
guide.
Sample questions
• What was the difference between hinting and talking
straight about it?
• What was it like to have to start up this conversation?
• What were some of the lines people used to get the
conversation started? (collect some of these on the board)
• What would it take to go through with getting this said?
Scenario 3: Seeking help for a friend
Instructions for first round
• We are going to look now at what might happen if A had
refused to tell anyone, but B was so worried about A that
s /he decided to tell a teacher? How might this conversation
get started?
• To person A: Now you are the teacher. Person B approaches
you at the staff room door during lunchbreak.
• To person B: You have chosen this teacher to tell. You have
to start up the conversation. You want the teacher to know
that you are worried about your friend and that your friend
won’t tell anyone what is going on.
• Try this scene by hinting.
Instructions for second round
• Try this scene again, this time coming out with a direct
approach. Just tell, no hinting.
• Discuss using the following questions.
Sample questions
• Which was easier and which was more effective at getting
the message across – hinting or telling?
• Why do people sometimes hint rather than be more direct?
• What sorts of reactions were given?
54
• Are there any other possible reactions?
• How might a reaction like this make you feel?
• What would it be like to be in this scene in real life?
• How could you tell a teacher that you needed to talk, but
not have to blurt things out in the corridor?
• In real life, what are some of the things that stop people
from choosing these actions or finding solutions?
• In this school or neighbourhood, who can help, who could
you approach, what could you say to get things started?
• What would you recommend to a young person who had to
deal with a situation like this?
Teacher talk
If you need to tell someone something, it can be useful to do
one of the following:
• work out a line or two to get you started
• write a note to the adult asking for a time to talk
• write a note which tells of the situation
• take a friend with you to help you get it said
• ask someone else to tell for you, like a friend, sibling, or
parent.
Workbook
Write down useful lines to get the conversation started when:
• talking to a friend and trying to find out if something is
wrong
• telling a parent or teacher you are worried about a friend
• telling someone that you need help
• ways to ask for help if you think you might lack courage,
feel scared or nervous.
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Liaise with community and health groups
to provide continuity of care
55
Talking heads
Telling a teacher about a problem
Getting help for a friend
Encouraging a friend to seek help
56
SESSION
6
Is it the same
for boys and girls?
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• consider the cultural pressures and expectations placed on
males and females in terms of how they express their needs.
Resources
• Copy of Information sheet: Coping styles
• Butchers’ paper or brainstorm sheets
How to
1. Group males and females in separate groups of around four
in size. Each group is to complete two brainstorms, one
about males and one about females.
• When males face stress or challenge, the sort of
responses it is assumed they will show are:
• When females face stress or challenge, the sort of
responses it is assumed they will show are:
Research on adolescent
coping styles
Extensive Australian research on
adolescent coping has been
conducted by Erica Frydenberg.
Much of this data has been
drawn from her book
Adolescent Coping.
General trends
Point out that the coping styles
chart shows only general
trends.
2. When the groups have completed their brainstorms,
compare them. Did the male and female groups describe
each other and themselves in similar ways?
3. Look at the Information sheet: Coping styles. Point out that
these are general trends, not individual truths. Discuss how
this compares with what the class brainstorms showed.
4. Use the sample questions as a guide in discussions about
‘male’ and ‘female’ coping styles.
5. After the discussion, send students back to their groups.
Ask each group to come up with one sentence of advice
about ‘coping’ for:
a) the opposite sex, and b) their own sex.
6. Ask around the class and have a member of each group read
out these pieces of advice.
57
Sample questions
• In our society, which group appears to be under the most
pressure to cope on their own?
Protective interrupting
Is a teaching strategy designed
to protect:
• the person telling the
story from disclosing in the
public arena, or from
damaging their reputation
• those who the story is
told about; they have a
right to privacy
• the class members
from distress at hearing a
disclosure, or from covert
pressure to be engaged in
social activities or ‘high
status’ risky behaviours
• the course and the
teacher from sidetracking
off the discussion activity,
or from allegations that the
course is an arena for gossip
or intrusion upon the privacy
of others.
• In our society, which group appears to be most likely to
think that things are their fault and to blame themselves?
• In our society, which group is least likely to turn to their
friends for help?
• Why aren’t men supposed to cry?
• Why aren’t women supposed to show their anger?
• If a broad range of coping styles is the healthiest
combination, which would you recommend women pick up
more?
• Which would you recommend men pick up more?
• How could these changes come about?
• Where do we get our ideas from about what is appropriate
or inappropriate for men or women?
Workbook
• Allocate some of the sample questions for a written response
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Increase staff awareness of school’s suicide
prevention guidelines
58
Coping styles
Research with young people has shown that boys and girls use some
coping strategies more than others.*
Preferred coping styles of adolescent males and females
Boys are more likely
than girls to:
Girls are more likely
than boys to:
• use humour or jokes
• talk to others about it –
seek social support
• use physical recreation,
like sports and games
• set out to solve their
problems
• deny anything is wrong
• be fatalistic – think they
can do nothing about it
• be aggressive: hit out
• work hard
• ignore the problem
• cry
• manage by themselves
• worry
• act out
• blame themselves
• abuse substances,
such as alcohol
• seek spiritual support
(pray)
• use distraction
• seek others’ approval
• show strong emotions
• engage in wishful
thinking
Does this fit with what you observe?
Why might this be so?
* Frydenberg, E. (1997) Adolescent Coping. Theoretical and Research Perspectives. Routledge. London.
59
SESSION
7
The ‘experts’
speak
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• summarise their thinking about coping strategies
• use humour and the perspective of role to advise young
people about how to cope and seek help with challenging
situations.
Resources
• A few chairs placed out the front of the class
How to
1. Explain to students that they will be using the knowledge
and awareness raised in the previous sessions to play a game
around the giving of advice.
2. The game will be played in the format of a television chat
show, but with one complication: each of the players will be
made up of two people in the form of expert double figures.
Expert double figures
Using the double figure format
allows for some sense of
humour. If this humour or the
physical contact is not
appropriate, use a regular
role-play format.
3. To form one of the expert double figures, one of the players
sits on the chair with arms pushed behind and out of sight.
This person is the speaking part of the character. The other
player kneels behind the chair putting arms forward to form
the arms and hand movements of the expert double figure.
4. To set up the chat show, select a pair of volunteers to be the
chat show host, and two other pairs to be the first guests.
Brainstorm some questions for the host to use.
5. The theme of the show is How the modern teenager copes
with the stresses of modern life.
6. The first two guests are modern teenagers. Their brief is to
talk about the trials of their existence in response to
questions from their host.
60
7. In the second round of the show, retire the teenagers and
bring on three new pairs to play the ‘experts’ interviewed to
give their advice about what teenagers should do to cope.
These experts could include psychologists, new age or
natural therapists, parents, youth workers, celebrities, and so
on. Their brief is to give advice suited to their role or
profession. They are free to disagree about what is the best
solution to any problem.
Teacher talk
Encourage humour. It is a key ingredient in resilience
and can be a bonding experience for your class. Audience
participation can be maximised by use of cheering and clapping
to start each segment of the show. You may wish to include
questions from the floor. Don’t allow negative humour or
put-downs.
Extension activities
Use the following Stressbusters activities in an episodic way
across the year to provide opportunities for ongoing attention
to the challenges inherent in coping with times of stress.
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Increase opportunities for student leadership
61
62
Enhancing Resilience 2
Stress
BUSTERS
Stress and Coping
for Middle / Senior Secondary
Health / Personal Development
Contents
Stressbusters Author: Helen Cahill
Activities for school camps, leadership training or Personal
Development class, middle to upper secondary
Rationale ..................................................................................65
64
Session 1
Group support ..........................................................67
Session 2
Trust..........................................................................69
Session 3
Relaxation exercises ..................................................72
Session 4
Protective layers ........................................................77
Session 5
Supportive structures ..............................................79
Session 6
Goal setting ..............................................................81
Session 7
Difficult decisions........................................................84
Session 8
Conflict maps ............................................................88
Stressbusters
In this collection a series of stand-alone
sessions is offered; each addressing a key
issue in dealing with stress. The
experiential, activity-based lessons are
ideal for use as booster sessions to follow
Relaxation exercises, games, group
challenges, role-play, discussion and
simulation exercises are used to assist
students to engage with and reflect on
these issues.
the unit on coping and may be spread
across the year. Alternatively, the teacher
may choose to use a particular session at
a relevant time during the school year
National curriculum
framework
(leading up to exam period, just before
transition, in parallel with decisions about
future directions and study programs or
on school camps).
The sessions focus on issues such as
group support, trust, relaxation, goal
Health and Physical Education
Human Relations
Level 6
Learning outcome:
setting, conflict and decision-making.
‘Analyses the ways individuals and groups
may seek to influence the behaviour of
others’
Rationale
Evident when students:
●
These activities are used to assist
students:
• to examine the role and effect of
supportive groups in assisting
●
individuals to deal effectively with
change and challenge
• to identify the role of trust and
courage in help-seeking behaviour
• to discuss the role of hope and
metaphor in coping
• to identify the importance of setting
achievable goals
• to explore options for conflict resolution.
●
examine, discuss and practise skills of
negotiation, problem-solving,
help-seeking, relaxation and conflict
resolution
identify social barriers to help-seeking
for self or providing support for others
when challenged by stressful personal
situations
examine the influence of others’
expectations on ways in which
members of a class or broader
community group support each other
in dealing with stress, change or
challenge.
65
Learning outcome:
Learning outcome:
‘Analyses how different contexts and
situations influence personal values,
attitudes, beliefs and behaviours’
‘Explains how social and cultural factors
influence what people feel and do about
their own personal identity’
Evident when students:
Evident when students:
●
●
●
66
discuss ideas about adapting personal
values, attitudes, beliefs and
behavioural patterns to suit different
group expectations and circumstances
(such as beliefs that one must cope on
one’s own, that stress is a sign of
weakness or that one must not burden
others with one’s own problems)
identify particular values they consider
to be absolute and non-negotiable
(respect of and valuing diversity, or
calling for help when a friend’s mental
health may be at stake)
consider ethical dilemmas such as
whether to breach confidentiality when
a friend is clearly in serious need.
●
explain how individuals may be
affected by the fear of failure or
cultural or social notions as to what are
acceptable relaxation, coping or helpseeking strategies for a young male or
female.
State and territory curriculum
frameworks
Refer to the MindMatters website for
details of how MindMatters fits with state
or territory curriculum frameworks.
www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters
SESSION
1
Group support
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• use a team challenge to examine the role and effect of
supportive groups
• examine the role of leisure and social interaction in coping
with challenging circumstances
• examine the effect on members of negative group
behaviours.
Resources
●
Classroom rules
No put-downs. Have this as a
rule for every class. Act when
you hear infringements on this
rule. Ignoring breaches can be
interpreted as condoning the
action.
Lots of smarties (or use a tub of water /marbles /pebbles /
jellybeans /sand)
●
One container for the smarties (ice-cream tub or lunchbox)
●
Glasses (tumblers, beakers, plastic cups) one for each team
●
Teaspoons of like size (packet of plastic teaspoons) one for
each person in the game
Groups
Why do group or paired
activities?
● students find out that they
are not alone in their fears
● they get practice in talking
with others
● they build the social skills
necessary to effectively use
‘seeking social support’ as a
coping strategy
● working with others is a way
to energise a class
● it brings some fun into the
learning challenge.
How to
Activity 1: Smarties relay
1. Explain to the class they will engage in a team challenge with
built in frustrations and rewards. While the game is to be
played for the fun of it, it will also be the basis of discussion
about what it is like to face frustration, reward,
encouragement and blame.
2. Divide class into teams of about four or five. Use a grouping
game such as families or numbering off. (See Games
collection in Enhancing Resilience 1)
3. Set up the teams with members seated one behind each other.
The teams should be arranged in formation around a central
point at where tub of smarties is located, with the team’s leader
near the tub. Beakers are placed at the rear of each team. Each
person holds a spoon. The task is to transfer as many smarties as
possible from the central tub to the team’s beaker. The smarties
must progress from teaspoon to teaspoon along the line. The
67
smarties must travel along every spoon in the team and may not
be held down or picked up with fingers or other implements.
The team with the most smarties in their beaker at the end of
the race is the winner. At the end of the game the smarties
should be shared within the team and eaten.
4. After the game has been played, assist students to move
from the experiential level to a reflective mode by use of the
sample questions.
Sample questions
●
What forms of support or encouragement went on in the
various teams?
●
What forms of condemnation or blame occurred?
●
How did the winning team manage to score more smarties /
water than the other teams?
●
What were the reactions of others if they suspected cheating
was going on?
●
What did the team do to improve their speed as the game
progressed?
●
Where else in real life does every member of the team make
a difference to meeting the team’s goals?
●
In real life, when do you most need to be supported and
encouraged, for example, by a team, a friendship group,
family, or class?
●
In real life, what effect can it have when you are blamed or
yelled at by your team, family, friends, class?
●
In real life situations, what sometimes stops groups from
showing their support for members?
●
In real life situations, what sometimes stops people from
letting their group know that they want or need support?
●
What place can having fun with others have as part of
coping with life’s challenges? When would you recommend
just doing something for fun?
●
What sorts of things can people around your age do just for
fun or to let off steam when they are by themselves and
when they are with others?
Optimism
Kids can get depressed, but
with help they almost always
get better.
Sometimes people are told
they are lazy or bad when they
are very down for a long time.
Using the group, seeking social
support, having fun, and not
taking winning and losing too
much to heart are all strategies
that people use to help them
cope better.
Workbook
• Allocate some of the sample questions for a written
response.
Homework
• Allocate some of the sample questions for homework.
68
SESSION
2
Trust
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• use experiential games to explore the role of trust in
supportive relationships
• identify the role of trust and courage in help-seeking
behaviour.
Resources
●
One blindfold for every pair of students
How to
Trust
Working with others, having
the courage and trust to ask for
help, trusting yourself that you
can do okay, and trusting that
you won’t overburden others if
you tell them your problems,
are all important ingredients in
helping people to cope with
tough times.
Activity 1: Blindfold walk
1. Explain to students that they will be engaged in some trust
exercises. They will do this to experience the activity for its
own sake, but also to use it as the basis to think and talk
about:
• what it takes to trust other people
• how we feel when people break our trust
• what it can be like if others won’t trust us.
2. Remind students that the normal safety rules apply in this
activity.
Teacher talk: safety
Due to the fact that you will have other people’s safety in your
hands, please be extra considerate. Anyone abusing the
activity will have to be asked to sit out. While the greatest
value is likely to be gained by being properly blindfolded,
those who do not feel they can take a turn at being
blindfolded should try the exercise just with their eyes closed.
That way they can open them if they need to.
69
Play and talk
Research has indicated that
boys tend to trust in peers less
than girls and may be less likely
to seek help.
Girls more frequently report
experiencing stress due to
relationship issues.
Girls are more likely to use talk
to deal with issues that upset
them. Boys are more likely to
‘do’ than ‘talk’. This session
offers a combination of ‘do’
and ‘talk’ to cater to this range
of needs. Ideally the girls may
benefit from the ‘play’ and ‘do’,
and the boys may benefit from
the ‘talk.’ Do not be surprised if
each group resists or devalues
the activity which they do not
normally prefer. Be clear about
the intention of your session.
Be prepared to tell students
why they are doing these
activities and what can be
gained from the ‘play’ and the
‘talk’.
3. Allocate pairs. Set a signal to start and stop the game.
4. Define the territory for the game – are the students to remain
inside the room, or are allowed into certain sections of the
corridor /yard?
5. The challenge in this activity is one of offering and earning
trust. The ‘sighted’ are completely responsible for the
‘blind’. Work out who is person A and person B in your
partnership. First person A wears the blindfold and is taken
for a walk by person B. Upon the signal for round two, the
roles are swapped. (This game can also work in trios with
two sighted and one blind person.)
Rules
A. No injuries.
B. The sighted person must hold the blind person by the
elbow to guide them, and must keep up a commentary
about where they are walking and about obstacles, steps,
and so on.
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Provide mentoring programs
70
Nicknames
Don’t use nicknames for
students, unless they are a
preferred abbreviation of their
name. Nicknames are often a
put-down in disguise. Students
do not always feel free to say
they don’t wish to be called by
a nickname. Ask all students to
use regular names when in
class – even if they don’t do
that elsewhere. The classroom
is a public space and hence
rules of courtesy apply.
6. When the exercise is complete, process the experience using
the sample questions as a guide.
Sample questions
●
What was the most challenging part of this activity?
●
When someone puts their trust in you, what pressure does
that put on you in the game, and in real life?
●
What does it take to trust someone before they’ve proved
they are trustworthy?
●
Where else in life do people have to give their trust before
they get proof it will be lived up to?
●
What sort of trust does it take before you can tell someone
that you or someone else needs help?
●
What do we feel like when someone breaks our trust?
●
What do we feel when we let someone down who has
trusted us?
●
How do you heal a breach in trust or a broken promise?
Workbook
• Use some of the sample questions as a guide to a workbook
activity
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Provide and promote
culturally appropriate services
71
SESSION
3
Relaxation
exercises
Intention
Write your own guided
relaxation script if these
ones are difficult for your
class to relate to.
In this session it is intended that students:
• experience a relaxation technique and discuss the role of
relaxation in coping with stress or challenge
• identify instances in which they could employ such techniques.
Resources
●
●
●
●
Cleared floor space if students are to lie down
Tape or CD
Suitable relaxation music
Information sheets: Guided relaxation – use sample A or sample B
How to
Activity 1: Guided relaxation
Choosing activities
In choosing stressbuster
activities for your class,
consider the time of day,
the space you have to
work in, your own
comfort with the activity,
likely interruptions, your
own tolerance level (for
noise, mess, and so on)
and the dynamics of the
class.
1. Explain to the class that they will be sampling a form of relaxation
exercise today. It will involve them lying on the floor (or you can do this
exercise with them sitting at their desks). As students listen to music, you
will suggest ways in which they can use their minds and their
imaginations to help them relax. The activity requires a high level of
group cooperation in order to work, as all must be both still and silent
during the whole activity. Some people might feel tempted to make a
joke or mess around. That would mean spoiling the activity for everyone.
2. Organise the music and allow the class time to settle and find a space
on the floor.
3. Use one of the information sheets to run a guided relaxation, or use
one of your own.
4. Allow the class time to bring themselves back to the room.
5. Invite them to turn to someone near them if they wish and tell them
what the experience was like. Suggest that they may wish to share
some of the things they saw. Give them permission not to speak if
they do not wish to talk about the experience.
6. Organise for the class to return to their seats.
Workbook
•
72
Describe the relaxation exercise and how it worked for you.
Guided relaxation
SAMPLE A : A journey
Close your eyes. Make sure you are in a comfortable position.
Uncross arms and legs. We’re going to check now to see if we
can let go of any tension we have.
First check for tension in the palms of your hands. Imagine the
palms have been stroked with a velvet cloth. Let any tension
trickle out of the skin.
Now check the insides of your elbows. Imagine the velvet cloth
stroking away any tension from your arms. Now focus behind
your knees. Let yourself imagine a soft cloth brushing the skin
and allowing the tension to seep out of your legs – just as if
they were melting slowly into the floor. Imagine the same
sensation on the soles of your feet. Allow the tension to melt
away.
Imagine now the skin behind your shoulder blades. Let those
muscles melt into the floor. And across the skin under your
chin, imagine a soft stroking touch releasing any tension in your
face, up beside your eyes, across your forehead.
Let your breath fall in and out of your body.
Let go of any last tension held inside.
Imagine now that you are lying on a soft cushion of green grass
beneath a large tree. The sun is filtering through the leaves and
flickers on your skin. A gentle wind brushes the leaves and
whispers past your skin. Not far from your hand is a small
stream of clear, cool water which trickles over a sandy base
softly past you. If you reach out your hands, your fingers could
touch the water.
Imagine now that you stand up beside this stream, and walk
alongside it on a small path. Picture yourself walking beside the
stream to a place where the stream widens and becomes a
73
large pool overhung with ferns and trees. There is a raft in the
shallows. You wade out to it, and lie down.
The raft slowly drifts into the centre of the pool. You let your
fingers trail into the cool water. There is a white bird high in the
sky above you. The raft drifts you across the pool to the other
side. There is another path, stretching into the forest. You leave
the raft and journey down the path, walking over brown earth,
leaves, pebbles, around a turn in the track and into a clearing.
Someone is waiting for you there. Someone you wish to see.
This person has come with a message of encouragement or
praise for you. Choose who this person is. Chose anyone you
like. You can make this person up. You walk towards them, to
hear what it is they have to say, to hear the words of
encouragement designed for you, or perhaps they are words of
thanks or praise. You may have some things you wish to say,
some questions, some thought or fears you wish to tell them.
You have a short time together. Imagine the conversation.
(Leave a silence)
It is nearly time for you to return to your raft. Allow the person
to say goodbye. Arrange to meet again if you wish. Finish up
what you want to say or hear. Say goodbye.
Imagine yourself now turning and retracing your steps along the
path, over the pebbles, over the leaves, along the brown earth –
to the raft.
Lie down on the raft and let it drift you slowly back across the
pool, across the cool clear water to the green grass on the other
side. Leave the raft and return to your cushion of green grass. In
a moment you will return to the classroom.
Move your fingers. Move your toes. Listen to the noises outside
this room. Notice the classroom floor underneath you. In a
moment you can open your eyes and sit up in your own time.
Bring back some of the relaxing or peaceful feelings you had on
your journey. As the music fades out, open your eyes and sit up.
74
Guided relaxation
SAMPLE B : The beach
Close your eyes. Make sure you are in a comfortable position.
Uncross arms and legs. We’re going to check now to see if
there is any tension you can let go of.
First scrunch up your hands into a fist. Hold on as tight as you
can for a few seconds. Now let go. Let any tension out of your
hands.
Now scrunch up both of your arms and your hands. Hold on as
tight as you can. Now let go. Now scrunch up the muscles in
your toes, feet and legs. Scrunch up tight. Now let go. When
you let go, let the breath fall out of your body. Now scrunch up
the whole of your torso and your arms and legs. Hold on tight.
Now let go. This time scrunch up the whole of your body,
including your head. Hold on. Hold on. Now let go.
You are going to use your mind and your imagination now to
help you relax.
Just lie there and let the breath fall in and out of your body.
Listen to the music.
Imagine you are lying on the clean, white sand of a beautiful
beach. It is pleasantly warm, with the sun on your skin making
you feel relaxed all over. Any tension you have is trickling out of
your body into the sand. The waves are crashing on to the
beach. There is a faint breath of wind brushing your skin.
Picture yourself standing up and walking over to the shallows.
Bathe your feet in the cool water. Let the waves break against
your ankles. You look out to sea. It is clear and blue with a
gentle swell. In the distance you can see dolphins swimming
and leaping in the water. You wade out deeper to get closer to
them. The water is making you light and buoyant now. You let
yourself slide into the water, and find you are swimming with
75
long effortless strokes. You find you can glide through the water
as easily as a dolphin. You swim deeper and deeper. When you
dive beneath the water you find you can glide without needing
breath. The water is clear and blue. You see small fish sparkling
in the water. You swim towards the dolphins. As you get close
they twirl and glide around you. They are playing. You swim
with them, as effortlessly as they do. They turn and swim close
to shore. You follow. When you are in the shallows, they leave
and head out to sea. You float in the shallows amongst the
coloured fish. The tide carries you in to the sand. You walk back
to your place on the beach, and lie with your eyes closed, the
sun warming your skin again. You feel relaxed and at peace.
In a moment you will return to the classroom.
Move your fingers. Move your toes. Listen to the noises outside
this room. Notice the classroom floor underneath you. In a
moment you can open your eyes and sit up in your own time.
Bring back some of the relaxing or peaceful feelings you had on
the beach. As the music fades out, open your eyes and sit up.
76
SESSION
4
Protective layers
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• use a team challenge as the basis for an examination of the
role that protective thoughts can have in building resilience
during difficult times
• discuss the role of hope and metaphor in coping.
Resources
●
Piles of newspapers
●
Reels of sticky tape
Staplers
String
●
●
How to
Activity 1: Costume race
Belonging
Point out that for human beings
belonging is very important.
We all fear exclusion and often
think it means there is
something wrong with us if we
aren’t included in something.
1. Divide the class into groups of four. Equip each group with a
pile of newspapers, the sticky tape, string and staplers. The
task is to make four garments or protective layers:
• a hat
• a pair of shoes
• a garment for upper torso
• a garment for lower torso.
2. For each round of the game, a different member of the
group is the model, and the garment is made on them.
3. In round one, each group designs and makes the hat on
model one, using the equipment provided.
4. Ring the bell after five minutes and footwear is made on
model two.
5. After five minutes, the next member has an upper torso
garment built for them, and in the last round, the final
member of the group has a lower torso garment made for
them.
77
6. When time is called, each team presents or models their
creations to the group. Encourage loud applause.
7. Use the following questions as a guide in processing the
activity.
Sample questions
●
What is it like to be the centre of attention?
●
When is being the centre of attention good, and when is it
bad?
●
How is attention distributed in this class?
●
How can you get attention from people when you want or
need it?
●
What sometimes holds us back in asking for our share of
attention?
●
How do we feel when others get more than their ‘fair share’
of attention?
Refer back to the costume exercise and ask:
●
These paper shoes won’t walk you towards your goals, but
what will?
●
These paper hats won’t protect you from negative thoughts
about yourself, but what will?
●
These paper clothes won’t protect you from put-downs or
negative comments, but what will?
●
How can we fashion ‘protective layers’ around ourselves?
Workbook
• Allocate some of the sample questions for written responses.
Teacher talk: in the mind
One technique that people sometimes use when they are
finding it hard to cope is to imagine a protective layer between
themselves and the hurtful things that are happening.
Sometimes people visit a favourite place in their mind to help
themselves to find strength, confidence or courage.
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Challenge all staff to cater for differences
in abilities and coping styles
78
SESSION
5
Supportive structures
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• identify a range of ways to offer support to their peers
• identify barriers to acceptance of support from others.
Resources
●
Furniture cleared to provide room to move
How to
ACTIVITY 1: Five ways to lift
1. Explain to students that they are to engage in a short group
Supportive coaching
Imagine a coach yelling to his
team, ‘You’re useless ! You’re
going to miss the ball ! Give up!’
To be our own coach or each
others’ coach. We have to be
able to yell ‘Go for it! You can do
it! Train hard! Work out! Losing a
game doesn’t mean we give up!’
cooperation exercise.
2. Use a grouping game to organise them into groups of three.
(see Games collection in Enhancing Resilience 1)
3. Remind students that the safety rule applies in this activity.
4. Set each group the task of finding five different ways to lift
one of their members.
5. Allow five or six minutes for this.
6. Ask each group to choose their most artistic lifting structure
to show to the group.
7. Display in two rounds: first with one half of the class
showing their structures, and then the other half.
79
ACTIVITY 2: Designing social support
Culture
Be aware that different cultures
and family groups have
different views about what is
honourable or appropriate as a
response. Be prepared to
acknowledge that different
views exist about what is right
or wrong. Emphasise the
school code of conduct and
remind students that rules
govern schools and work
places, particularly in regard to
violence, sexual harassment,
and racial or religious
discrimination. Ask questions
about the effects of actions on
others. Seek opportunities for
inquiry rather than judgement.
1. Acknowledge the students’ work from activity 1. Explain that
the discussion will centre on how to offer social support, or
offer support for a friend in need. Ask students to continue
working in their trios, this time to design five things to do
for a friend who is down or facing tough times, rather than
five ways to physically support them. Get a few suggestions
from the class to start the ideas flowing, then set them to
finish the tasks in their groups.
2. After they have had time to work out their five ways to
support, collect one suggestion from each group, avoiding
duplicates.
3. Write the class’s suggestions on the board.
4. Use the following questions to guide discussion about the
offering and acceptance of support.
Social status
Be sensitive to the social status
of those in the class. Discuss
fictitious or general examples
rather than local incidents or
personalities.
Sample questions
●
What can we do to offer support in a general way?
●
How can you be supportive to a particular person?
●
What sometimes stops people from accepting offers of
support?
●
How can you deal with the barriers to support that friends
sometimes put up?
Workbook
• Copy the list of supportive actions from the board.
• Assign some of the sample questions for written response.
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Ensure sufficient structures are in place to
support staff and students in times of need
80
SESSION
6
Goal setting
Bullying behaviours
Intention
In this session it is intended that students:
• identify the importance of setting achievable goals
• understand the importance of reviewing and restating goals
and time lines.
Resources
●
Room to move
●
Packet of balloons or
collection of soft toys or
sheets of newspaper
How to
ACTIVITY 1: Hot-air goals
Classroom rules
No put-downs. Have this as a
rule for every class. Act when
you hear infringements on this
rule. Ignoring breaches can be
interpreted as condoning the
action.
1. Explain to the students that they will be playing a game,
partly for the fun of it, but also to use it as a way of thinking
and talking about goal setting, and ‘success’ and ‘failure’.
2. Explain how the game is played. Play a few rounds with
different teams having a turn.
How to play the hot-air goals game
●
Seat the class in a large circle. Ask for a team of around four
to six volunteers to take on a balloon challenge.
●
Have the team collect inside the circle, forming a smaller
circle out of their chairs.
●
Tell them that the challenge is to keep a collection of
balloons in the air for two minutes. The players may not
leave their seats, or hold the balloons, but must keep the
balloons in motion in the air.
81
●
simultaneously or in batches of two or three.
Goal setting
Some people respond to stress
by working harder and harder
(overworking), or setting very
high standards or goals for
themselves, and telling
themselves they are failures if
they don’t meet them. They
may need to set more realistic
goals. Others may respond to
stress by denying the real
challenge, failing to set any
short-term goals and not even
beginning to work towards
achieving them. They may
need help to define their
short-term goals.
If you have a large space, it is possible for teams to play
●
The team must set their goals before they start. They need
to state how many balloons they think they can keep in the
air for that time.
●
Allow them a minute to meet and choose their goal, and
then announce it to the class.
●
Ask for a show of hands for how many of the observers think
the group will meet their goal.
●
Appoint a timer and some assistants.
●
Start the play, using assistants to help you release the
balloons into their circle when the timer calls the start.
●
Stop the game as soon as one of the balloons hits the
ground, or when time is up (whichever occurs first).
●
Record the team’s time, and number of balloons.
●
If they did not meet their goal, ask them if they wish to
revise their goals and try again.
●
If they did meet their goal, ask them if they set too small a
challenge and would like to aim higher in a replay.
3. Play the game a few times over, giving different teams a
chance to play. For variety you may wish different teams to
take on different challenges.
Alternative challenges
●
How many people can you fit on a sheet of newspaper
for two minutes?
●
How many stuffed toys can you catch as a team if all are
thrown to you upon the starting command?
4. Use the sample questions as a guide in processing the
activity.
Sample questions
●
82
How did the teams respond when they failed to meet their
stated goal?
Getting it said
Acknowledge that knowing
what to do is one thing but
that actually carrying out the
planned action is the real
challenge. Sometimes
communicating can be a
challenge, requiring courage
and assertion.
Different people,
different reactions
It is important to normalise the
fact that people react
differently. What one person
finds very stressful may not
concern another. One cries,
another loses their temper.
●
How did the teams respond when they met their goal without
any real effort?
●
How did the teams respond when they met their goals after
significant effort?
●
In real life, what are some of the common responses to
‘failure’ or not meeting a goal, particularly when it is public?
●
In real life, what can help people to cope better if/when they
don’t meet an important goal?
●
In the game, teams of people restated their goals (sometimes
revising them up or down), planned strategies and repeated
attempts to achieve their goals. When could this approach be
used in real life situations?
●
When approaching a big challenge – such as studying for
exams or final years of school, or training for an important
competition – how can the setting of short-term and longterm goals help?
●
Who should know what your short-term and long-term goals
are?
●
How can you use others to support you in reaching your goals
or in defining some manageable goals?
●
In real life, how do people sometimes respond to success?
What about when it is their own success; when it is someone
else’s success?
●
Can succeeding be stressful? How? When?
Workbook
• Choose some of the sample questions for workbook
responses or
• Find out about how an older person went about achieving a
goal or dealing with a challenge. The challenge may be
something like getting a job, raising a family, moving to a
different town or country, starting a business, getting an
education, coping with illness, and so on.
The interview may be with a parent, relative, friend,
neighbour, teacher, older student, coach, or business
person.
83
SESSION
7
Difficult decisions
Intention
Consider adapting this
exercise for your particular
students.
In this session it is intended that students:
• understand that difficult decisions often involve a conflict of
needs or wants
• identify techniques and help-seeking strategies to assist
when faced with a difficult decision.
Resources
●
Room to move
• Activity sheet: SharkMeat cards, cut into six separate cards
How to
Activity 1: SharkMeat role-play
1. Seat the class in a circle.
2. Explain that they will engage as participants or observers in
a game, which they will use as the basis for a discussion
about difficult decisions.
3. Explain how the SharkMeat activity works. Ask for volunteers
to perform in the SharkMeat simulation exercise.
4. Allocate the players a role card and arrange them seated on
chairs as an inner circle.
5. Read out the role cards so both the players and the
observers know who is who.
6. Tell the observers that when time is up on the conversation
between the players, they will be commenting on what they
observed as they watched people dealing with a difficult
decision.
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How to play SharkMeat
Protection of role
Sometimes young people feel
freer to give a range of advice
if they are ‘playing a role’ or
talking about a fictitious
situation. In presenting their
own personal view they may
be constrained by their social
role, peer expectations, or may
fear ridicule or stigma.
The players in the SharkMeat simulation are survivors of a
shipwreck. They are on a small life raft built for four. The life raft
is sinking as presently there are six people aboard. Sharks are
circling. Unless the boat is lifted higher in the water they will be
able to attack any of the six survivors. If two agree to leap over
board, then they will face certain death, but the others will be
clear of the sharks and can hope for rescue. No-one wants to
die.
An agreement must be reached in the next five minutes about
whether all will be attacked, because the boat is too low in the
water, or whether two will leap. Each character must argue
according to the instructions on their role card. These players
will not be playing themselves, but will assume the character on
their card.
7. Allow time for play. Call a stop. Ask players to stand behind
their chairs whilst processing their responses.
Processing questions for each of the players:
• What was it like to have to argue for that person’s life?
• What was it like when other characters said things like
‘blank’ about your character?
• Was your character misunderstood at any time?
• Was your character given a fair hearing?
• In real life, how would that affect someone?
• From playing that part, what did you notice about being
under pressure to make a decision?
8. Thank players and ask them to return to their seats in the
outer circle after their interview is complete.
9. Direct processing questions towards the observers. Use the
sample questions as a guide.
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Sample questions
●
What did you notice were some of the responses people
made when they were put under pressure to make a
decision?
●
Were any of the characters treated with less consideration
than others?
●
Why did they get unequal treatment? Were some people
given higher status?
●
What happens when there is a conflict of loyalties?
●
What is it like when you face a situation where it is hard to
stick by your beliefs?
●
In real life, people don’t often have to make these sorts of
decisions, but sometimes they are faced with on the spot
decisions which involve doing something they feel to be
wrong or which goes against their standards of fair play of
right and wrong. What are some examples of these
situations? For example:
• friends involved in a prank which will hurt or scare
someone
• friends involved in cheating or stealing
• lying to someone you respect, love or trust
• breaking a promise.
• Being in situations like this can put people under a lot of
stress – especially when they are going against their own
beliefs. Feeling guilty can be a type of stress. What do
people need to do if they are stuck in a cycle of guilt, lies or
actions that make them feel bad about themselves?
Workbook
• Allocate some of the questions for written responses.
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SharkMeat cards
Design your own cards to highlight a particular issue
Doctor
Believes s/he has
developed a cure for
AIDS, but has yet to
prove this
Musician
Millionaire
Earned most of his/her
money through the drug
trade
War veteran
(75-years-old)
Thought to be the
greatest living composer
and also pregnant
(seven months)
A hero in last war, saving
many from death
Human rights
activist
Environmental
leader
Important leader in
fighting for the rights of
his/her people
Important in speaking
out about threat to
environment and
animal rights
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SESSION
8
Conflict maps
Intention
In this session it is intended that the students:
• identify the varying needs and wants of those in a situation
of conflict
• explore options for conflict resolution
• practice conflict resolution techniques around common
scenarios.
Resources
●
Activity sheet: Conflict map
How to
Brainstorming
A way to generate thinking
and collect as many ideas or
responses as possible. Do not
judge or evaluate offerings
during the brainstorm; just
gather as many as possible.
Return to the list later to
complete these other tasks.
Activity 1: Dealing with conflict
1. Divide students into three groups.
2. Allocate each group one of the brainstorm and record tasks.
Brainstorm and record:
• the sorts of things friends /classmates get into conflict
about
It’s okay to tell
In serious situations, no-one
should be left to deal with
things on their own. When
someone is sending warning
signs that things are really bad
or that they are having a
tough time, it is important to
tell an appropriate adult.
• the sorts of things families get into conflict about
• the sorts of things teachers and students get into conflict
about.
3. Collect and compare the lists. Acknowledge that conflict is a
part of daily life and we all need strategies to deal with it in
healthy and useful ways.
4. Explain that a conflict map can be useful when looking to
see what the issues are within the conflict. Often an
argument can sound like it is over one little thing, but in fact
there are bigger issues at stake.
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Expressing needs,
feelings or wishes
When people say ‘I need...’ or
‘I feel...’ these are called ‘I’
statements. More commonly
people in conflict make ‘You’
statements which sound more
like blame or accusation.
Finding out what the other
person needs or feels can be a
useful strategy, as well as
telling about one’s own needs
or feelings.
‘What can we do about this?’
is another useful question.
5. Use the model provided on the Activity sheet: Conflict map to
draw up a blank conflict map on the board.
Choose an example from the brainstorm list to use with the
class to model the technique of making a conflict map. You
will need to expand the item and make it into a little story.
Example: family conflict about choice of friends.
Jo’s parents don’t want Jo to hang out with his /her current
group of friends. They think this group is the wrong sort. Jo
thinks they are fun to socialise with even if they do get a bit
wild. Jo’s parents have refused to let Jo go out with those
friends today. A fight occurred.
What if a student
seems upset by this
topic?
Acknowledge that some
people have upsets in relation
to this topic. Invite students
who wish to speak to you
privately to do so.
Follow-up with a one-to-one
conversation rather than in
front of the class.
Be prepared to offer referral
according to school protocols,
but maintain a concerned
interest.
Offer a buddy to accompany if
immediate comfort is required.
Be aware of mandatory
reporting requirements.
Work with the class to fill in the conflict map on the board
for this situation.
6. Use an additional example if you feel this would assist
students to better understand the process.
7. Ask students to choose and develop a conflict scenario,
using input from those next to them. They should then
‘map the conflict’ using the activity sheet provided.
8. Use the following questions to guide discussion.
9. Explain to students the distinction between ‘I’ statements
and ‘You’ statements. Give examples.
10.Ask the students to complete the advice section in the
conflict map activity sheet.
A Mental Health Promotion strategy
Structure schools in such a way that each
student can feel known and valued
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Ingredients of an
apology
An effective apology can be
designed around the following
ingredients:
• acknowledge what was done
• describe the hurt, harm,
offence or effect of that
action on the other person(s)
• say what was intended by
the action
• state what the future
intention is (offer to fix /pay
for damage, promise not to
do it again)
• say sorry.
Sample questions
●
What happens when you have to work out the needs and
fears for those on both sides of the conflict?
●
What are common behaviours or responses that people use
when they are involved in a conflict with family members /
friends /teachers?
●
Do these actions help the two (or more) parties to
understand each others’ needs?
●
What would some examples of ‘I’ statements sound like as
opposed to ‘You’ statements? (Use conflict maps to help
generate these.)
Protective interrupting
Is a teaching strategy designed
to protect:
• the person telling the
story from disclosing in the
public arena, or from
damaging their reputation
• those who the story is
told about; they have a
right to privacy
• the class members
from distress at hearing a
disclosure, or from covert
pressure to be engaged in
social activities or ‘high
status’ risky behaviours
• the course and the
teacher from sidetracking
off the discussion activity,
or from allegations that the
course is an arena for gossip
or intrusion upon the privacy
of others.
Referral
If you are concerned about a
student in your class, follow-up
afterwards. Talk to the student.
Refer the matter to the welfare
teacher. Continue to monitor.
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Workbook
Ask students to give a piece of advice to each of the players on
their conflict map. Challenge them to include the wording of
an ‘I’ statement in that advice.
Conflict map
WHAT is the conflict about?
WHO does it affect?
What are their NEEDS?
What are their FEARS?
What do they WANT?
What are the possible OPTIONS?
What is your choice or recommendation?
What should each of the players say to each other?
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