Stress Management Group

Session 3
School Counselor: Brandon Turner ________________________Date: 5/22/2015
Activity: Creating Your Stress Level Gauge
Grade(s): 9th
ASCA Student Standards (Domain/Standard/Competencies):
PS:A2 Acquire Interpersonal Skills;
A:C1 Relate School to Life Experiences;
Learning Objective(s):
- Students will have a clear understanding of different degrees of their
personal stress.
- Student will increase quality relationship building and coping skills.
Materials:
Stress Management folders including Session 1&2 Handouts
Completed Tracking and Taming My Stress: Part II (group assignment from
Session 2)
Emotional Thermometer I (Student Activity/Worksheet Page)
Emotional Thermometer II (Student Activity/Worksheet Page)
Stress Management Styles Handout/Poster
Procedure:
Distribute students stress management folders.
1. Have students share their journal (Tracking and Taming My Stress: Part I)
from last week. Introduce Session 3 by telling students that this session
furthers their understanding of stress and adds to their ability to be in control
and in charge of themselves. The activities teach them to identify their level
of stress in order to understand that the degree of ones stress varies
depending upon the situationand that anyone can learn to respond to
stress in safe and healthy ways no matter what the situation.

3. Ask the Vital Question: How stressed can a person get? Distribute the
Student Activity Page Emotional Thermometer I. Instruct students to record
the highest degree of stress they experienced during the past week including
the trigger and consequence(s) of that situation.
4. Lead a conversation with students about the situations that seemed to
cause them to be the angriest.
5. Introduce the Stress Management Styles Handout. Explain that
understanding the three styles of stress management will help them
understand the varying degrees of stress experienced in different situations.
Ask students to think about times stress attempted to take their personal
power away from them. Help students identify the stress management style
they use the most often.
6. Assessment: On the Emotional Thermometer I, students add the degree of
personal stress they experienced in the each of the situations they tracked
last week. Reflect on students understanding of the relationship between
their degree of stress and their bodys reaction to stress.
7. Guide students in revisiting their personal goals and reviewing what they
learned during this session. Help students revise/refine their personal goals
and decide on their actions for the coming week.
8. Group Homework Assignment: Distribute copies of the Student Activity
Page Emotional Thermometer II. Explain to students how to use the activity
page to journal/record the degree of their stress each day during the coming
week.
9. Close this session by asking students to do a quick go around the group
with each student responding to a sentence stem(s) about in response to the
following question: In regard to expressing my stress, I learned I use the
________style most. In the future I respond _________ by ____________. Listen

for each students understanding of his or her style of responding to feelings

of stress.
10. Distribute & Explain Session 3 Classroom Teacher/Parent/ Guardian
Follow-Up Suggestions. Send a copy home with each student and provide a
copy to classroom teacher(s) of students in group.
Process Data:
Minimum of 5, Maximum of 10 students. The group is invitation or referral
only
______________________________________________________________________________
Perception Data:
Students demonstrate their understanding of their personal stress by: rating
the degree of their personal stress; relating the degree of their personal
stress to trigger situations;
______________________________________________________________________________
Outcome Data:
The increase or decrease in counselor referrals, attendance rate, and incident
rate for students in the group.
______________________________________________________________________________
Follow Up:
Counselor should reach out to classroom teachers and parents and provide
them with follow-up suggestions for this session. Encourage teachers to
support students efforts by asking them to share their new understanding of
their stress and their personal stress management goals.