Managing Anxiety for Teens ─ A Toolbox of Reproducible Assessments and Activities for Facilitators

Teens experience stress about a great number of situations and circumstances, and anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. For teens, such circumstances as speaking in public, moving to a new neighborhood, dating issues, taking tests, making good grades, and competing in athletic events may all cause stress. For some teens various circumstances or events can cause more than the usual amount of stress. This leads to anxiety.Anxiety has been defined as a state of intense apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting mainly from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation, often to a degree that disrupts normal, everyday physical and psychological functioning. Fear is an emotional response to a real or perceived threat.Anxiety is anticipation of a future threat. Anxiety is normal in the everyday life of all people and can actually be a good thing. Anxiety motivates one to accomplish goals and warns a person of a dangerous situation. However, intense anxiety can involve debilitating symptoms and affect performance in school, athletics, and interpersonal interactions. Some teens persistently experience excessive amounts of worry and fear about everyday situations and this may lead to depression. Persistent anxiety and fear can interfere with daily activities. Often, these symptoms are difficult to control. This workbook provides facilitators who work with teens who may be experiencing intense anxiety issues with a series of reproducible activities that can be used to supplement their work with teens. Because these activity pages are reproducible, they can be photocopied as is, or you may adapt them by whiting out and writing in your own changes to suit the needs of each group, using that page as your master-copy to be photocopied for each participant.The Awareness Modules The reproducible awareness modules contained in this workbook will help you identify and select assessments and activities easily and quickly: Module I: Signs of Stress Symptoms This module will help participants explore the signs of stress in their lives, recognize the symptoms of anxiety, and learn tools to begin to help decrease the anxiety.Module II: Need for Control This module will help participants explore the various ways they need to be in control of their lives.Module III: Social Approval This module will help participants explore the various ways that their need for the approval of others affects their functioning in social situations.Module IV: Perfectionism This module will help participants explore ways that their need to be perfect and mistake-free and their determination to achieve unrealistic standards can cause anxiety.Module V: Erasing the Stigma of Mental Health Issues This module will help participants explore the stigma of having intense anxiety and the impact that the stigma has on them.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Ester R.A. Leutenberg has worked in the mental health field for many years as a publisher, author, and advocate for those suffering from loss. She personally experienced a devastating loss when her son Mitchell, after struggling with a mental illness for eight years, died by suicide in 1986. Soon after, as a way of both healing and helping others, Ester co-founded Wellness Reproductions & Publishing with her daughter Kathy Khalsa and began developing therapeutic products that help facilitators help their clients.With Whole Person Associates, Ester has co-written several books and corresponding card decks including: GriefWork ~ Healing from Loss, Breaking Up is Hard to Do, Creating a Healthy Balanced Life, The Complete Caregiver Support Guide, Life Skills to Help Teens Balance Way Too Much, Motivation, and Veterans - Surviving and Thriving after Trauma, Transitional Life Skills for Teens series, and the Optimal Well-Being for Senior Adults series. Visit WholePerson.com for a complete list.Ester, a breast cancer survivor since 2003, counsels other survivors in overcoming body and loss issues. Ester is a board member of SOS (Survivors of Suicide) in Tucson AZ.John J. Liptak, EdD has many years of experience in providing counseling services to individuals and groups in a variety of settings including job training programs, correctional institutions, colleges, and universities. In addition, John has years of teaching experience as an adjunct professor at Radford University. John frequently conducts workshops on assessment-related topics. He has written three books on career-related topics. His books have been featured in numerous newspapers including The Washington Post, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His work has also been featured on MSNBC, CNN Radio, and on the PAX/ION television series, “Success without a College Degree.” With Ester and Kathy, he has written three other comprehensive books for teachers and counselors to use with their students and clients: The Self-Esteem Program, The Social Skills Program and The Stress Management Program: Inventories, Activities & Educational Handouts.Ester and John continue to co-write workbooks and corresponding card decks in each of these series that help facilitators help their teen and adult participants: Coping, Erasing the Stigma of Mental Health Issues through Awareness, Working With Families, Mental Health & Life Skills, Mind-Body Wellness, and Teen Mental Health & Life Skills, all published by Whole Person Associates. Visit WholePerson.com for a complete list.