National Institute of Drug Abuse
Nurturing My Mental and Emotional Health
One exercise does not necessarily work for all! A resource from the National Institutes of Health provides tweens and teens with exercises to help them cope with anxiety and stress. Participants note their stress levels before and after...
Florida Department of Health
Understanding the Risk of Substance Abuse Unit
Teenage brains are different! Understanding that the teenage brain is still developing and thus more impacted by substance abuse is the key concept in a three-lesson high school health unit. Participants learn about how the brain and...
Florida Department of Health
Nutrition: Developing Healthy Habits Unit
The focus of the fourth unit in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey Curriculum is on healthy eating and exercise. Class members examine healthy habits data from the YRBD Youth Online Tool, learn about the importance of a healthy diet and...
Florida Department of Health
Safe and Happy: Safety for All at School and Online Unit
Bystander or upstander and advocate? Three lessons have high schoolers investigating data about bullying and school safety. Participants then learn how to take a stand against bullying and use what they have learned to create a PSA to...
Florida Department of Health
Mental and Emotional Health Education Unit
Stressed out? To begin a mental and emotional health unit, participants take a stress test to determine their level of stress. They study the effects of stress, identify sources of stress in their lives, and learn different ways to...
Scholastic
Stressed Out?
Provide tweens and teens with information they need to know about stress with an article that details how stress affects various organs in the body. The article also offers tips for healthy ways to cope with stress.
Canadian Mental Health Association
Busting Stress: Stress Management Lesson Plans
Feeling stressed? Who are you going to call? Why stress busters, of course! A 15-page booklet includes activities designed for tweens and teens. Participants first take a stress test to determine their level of stress. They then learn...
Inner Health Studio
Stress Management
Learners practice identifying their individual causes of stress, as well as finding healthy coping skills to deal with stress, in a series of short-answer response worksheets.
University of Maine
Don’t Fall Into the Thinking Trap
The final lesson in a three-part healthy living series has class members examine five thinking traps that distort how they perceive themselves and/or situations. They also learn strategies that help stop the downward spiral and get them...
University of Maine
Stress Less — Teen Stress Management
The second lesson plan in the Healthy Living series looks at stress management and provides teens with tools and coping strategies.
PBS
Race and Vaccine Hesitancy in the US
What does race have to do with COVID vaccine hesitancy? That is the question young scholars pursue in a video lesson that looks at the impacts of such things as the Tuskegee Experiment, the unauthorized use of Henrietta Lacks's cancer...
Health Smart Virginia
Mental Health PowerPoint and Notes
A 15-slide presentation summarizes key concepts from the Mental Health unit designed for freshmen. Viewers record the information on the provided worksheets. The notes prepare learners for a game of jeopardy.
Health Smart Virginia
Mental Health Stress
Improve circulation! Strengthen muscles! Reduce hypertension! Research has shown that stress balls provide these and many other benefits. Freshmen create their own stress balls in a fun, engaging activity.
Health Smart Virginia
What's Up with Mindfulness
Mindfulness is all about paying attention to the present. Introduce freshmen to a stress-reducing tool that helps them pay close attention to what is happening, choose their behavior, and respond. Learners use a timeline to track their...
Health Smart Virginia
Ending the Silence on Mental Illness
To end the silence on mental illness, groups research a mental illness. They then create a scene-by-scene script, cast parts, and record a video that details the symptoms, causes, and treatment of the disorder. They also include what...
Health Smart Virginia
"SuperBetter" Stress Management
The goal of this Health Smart lesson is for freshmen to develop a personal system for coping with stress. They create a power-up list of things that make them feel happier, healthier, or better connected, identify people in their lives...
Health Smart Virginia
Suicide Prevention - Finding the Words
Acknowledge, Care, Tell! Freshmen learn how to ACT to help a friend demonstrating warning signs for depression and suicide in a carefully scaffolded, scripted lesson. Scholars also learn positive coping skills, information about support...
Health Smart Virginia
What Is Mindfulness?
Stop. Breathe. Think. A richly detailed instructional activity on mindfulness introduces freshmen to meditation as a coping strategy to deal with stress.
Health Smart Virginia
Social Networking and You
The positive and negative impacts of social networking are the focus of a powerful lesson for high school freshmen. Class members explore the risks of oversharing online and watch a video of one girl's experience. The lesson ends with...
Health Smart Virginia
So Stressed, Now Stress Less
Carrot, egg, or tea? A parable gets teens thinking about how, when faced with the same adversity, people respond differently. As the lesson progresses, class members learn about how stress is regulated by the sympathetic and...
Health Smart Virginia
I Hope I Can Cope
Teach your freshmen stress management techniques that help them cope with distress and stress. Class members create a Relaxation Station where they practice the C.O.P.E strategy for dealing with stress. They then choose from a menu of...
Health Smart Virginia
Networking
Sometimes it really is about who you know. High School freshmen engage in a series of activities to learn about the importance of networking.
Health Smart Virginia
Parachute Stress
Stress isn't necessarily a bad thing. The key, however, is learning how to appreciate eustress and manage distress. "Parachute Stress," a instructional activity designed for high school freshmen, has them identify 10 major stressors as...
Health Smart Virginia
Face of Mental Illness
To develop an understanding of the stigma surrounding mental health problems and the impact stigma and discrimination have on those who would seek help, groups investigate the symptoms of and risk factors associated with eight different...