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Effective stress management techniques can offset the negative effects of stress in your life. Try these proven, fast, and reliable stress remedies.
You can't avoid all stress, nor would you want to.

Some stress is actually a good thing.

It temporarily boosts motivation and concentration, and helps to keep your mental and physical resilience high. ( 1)

But when stress becomes chronic, it can leave you feeling overwhelmed, anxious, forgetful, and exhausted.

And that can make you sick. In fact ...

90% of all doctor visits are stress-related. ( 2)

Stress can make you unhappy, increasing your risk for anxiety and depression.

There are many stress reduction techniques, but some, like counseling or biofeedback, require a long-term commitment and you might not feel the effects for weeks.

This article is a summary of 15 top stress management techniques that not only give immediate benefit, but also are so effective that making them a habit can reduce your stress levels permanently.

We give you instructions and scripts you can use right away, as well as guidance for finding digital downloads (mostly free), to make it easy to implement each stress reduction technique.

1. Diaphragmatic Breathing

Every day you take tens of thousands of breaths, so you might be surprised to learn that you probably aren't doing it right!

If you've ever watched a baby or a pet sleeping, you'll notice that their stomach rises and falls more than their chest when they breathe.

Children naturally breathe from their abdomen until the constant stress of modern life retrains them to breathe from their chest.

Diaphragmatic breathing - also called abdominal breathing or belly breathing - is the way we are meant to breathe, but few of us do.

When you're under stress, your chest tightens and your breathing becomes shallow and rapid.

This rapid, shallow breathing (called chest or thoracic breathing) is a hardwired response that helps you respond to danger.

Chest breathing elicits the "flight or fight response" which starts a cascade of biological events.

Your heart rate and blood pressure increase, blood gets directed away from your brain and to your muscles, and a flood of stress hormones is released.

Ideally, after a perceived danger has passed, your breathing returns to normal.

The problem for most of us is that chest breathing has become our normal way of breathing!

But you can change that.

Breathing is both autonomic and voluntary - meaning it happens on its own and we can learn to control it.

Diaphragmatic breathing is one of the simplest yet most important stress management techniques you can master.

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2. Meditation

Meditation is undoubtedly one of the best and most popular stress management techniques.

Meditation makes you more resilient and less reactive to stress by decreasing the number of neurons in your amygdala, the area of the brain associated with fear, anxiety, and stress. ( 3)

It increases levels of the calming neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid).

GABA puts the brakes on brain activity, letting you relax.

Meditation helps you quiet your mind and master negative thought patterns which are often the root cause of stress. ( 4)

It keeps you focused on the present so you spend less time worrying about the future and ruminating about the past.

Until you're experienced at traditional meditation, I recommend listening to guided meditations or audio files that incorporate binaural beats or brainwave entrainment.

These approaches will help induce a relaxed state very quickly.

You can download a free meditation audio file at Zen12 or check out the selection at Binaural Beats Meditation.

3. Mindfulness Meditation

There are many kinds of meditation, and one that stands out for stress relief is mindfulness meditation. ( 5)

It's the meditation of choice among those facing unusual levels of on-the-job stress such as Wall Street brokers, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, and US military personnel. ( 6, 7, 8)

Mindfulness actually builds a bigger and better brain.

It increases the amount of gray matter, the volume of the hippocampus, and the thickness of the cortex while it decreases the size of the amygdala, the fear center of your brain. ( 9, 10)

It also improves connectivity between various regions of the brain. ( 11)

Sit quietly with your eyes closed.

Many people think that if they've had thoughts while meditating that they've failed.

But the goal of meditation is NOT to have no thoughts.

Thinking thoughts is what your brain does incessantly.

The goal is to simply notice them when they come up and gently push them aside.

4. Yoga

It's estimated that 37 million Americans practice yoga regularly. ( 12)

One key reason for the explosion in interest in this ancient practice is that people are looking for a way to de-stress.

Any kind of physical exercise will reduce stress, but yoga excels at it.

Yoga slows your breathing and heart rates, lowers blood pressure, and increases heart rate variability. ( 13)

Just a single one-hour session of yoga can increase GABA by 27%. ( 14)

If you're concerned you aren't flexible enough, give the ancient martial arts tai chi or qi gong a try instead.

They offer similar relaxation benefits but you won't have to get on the floor and flexibility is not a prerequisite.

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Yoga Breathing Techniques

Besides yoga poses, there are many yoga-based breathing techniques.

One technique is Sudarshan Kriya yoga.

The breathing exercises in this type of yoga have been extensively studied and proven beneficial for: ( 15)

anxiety

depression

insomnia

post-traumatic stress disorder

stress and stress-related illnesses

substance abuse

These breathing exercises have been proven in dozens of studies to enhance brain function, increase resilience to stress, alter brainwave activity, and increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that stimulates brain cell production.

These exercises can impact you down to the level of your DNA!

Alternate nostril breathing is a yoga breathing technique that goes by the Sanskrit name of Nadi Shodhana Pranayama which means "energy purification breathing technique."

Did you know that during much of the day you breathe through just one nostril at a time?

Every hour or so you change dominant nostrils.

Research shows that consciously controlling the breath through each nostril reduces stress and anxiety, reduces high blood pressure, while improving attention and other cognitive skills. ( 16, 17, 18)

This breathing exercise looks a little weird so you might want to skip doing it in public!

5. Guided Imagery

Guided imagery is a powerful technique that uses your innate power of visualization to achieve goals and improve performance.

It's most commonly used for stress reduction, healing, and changing behaviors.

It's so beneficial, it's even covered by some insurance plans! ( 19)

Over 200 studies have proven its many health benefits. ( 20)

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According to the Cleveland Clinic, a renowned nonprofit academic medical center, guided imagery is beneficial for:

anxiety

depression

enhanced immunity

high blood pressure

pain management

self-confidence

sleep

stress management

Another popular use for guided imagery is personal development and performance enhancement.

Guided visualization can be used to release limiting thoughts and emotions, increase self-esteem, gain mental clarity, and meet both personal and business goals.

Some of the most successful people in the world use guided imagery.

It's a particularly valuable training tool for many world-class athletes. ( 21)

The most competitive Olympic teams now travel with an entourage of sports psychologists who use guided visualization and related mind-body tools such as meditation, self-hypnosis, and autogenic training to help athletes achieve peak performance.

Legendary sports figures like Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Muhammad Ali have all used visualization. ( 22, 23)

If you want to reduce stress or increase your focus, there are many sources for free guided imagery audio files.

Several university websites offer them as part of their stress management services to their students.

Most of these are created under the guidance of mental health professionals.
You can download free guided imagery MP3s here:
University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center recommends using guided imagery along with conventional medical treatments to reduce stress, improve sleep, boost immune function, and ease pain.

The Center has a guided imagery library for cancer patients that's available free to the public.

6. Self-Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a trance-like state characterized by extreme relaxation, increased suggestibility, and heightened imagination.

With self-hypnosis you intentionally put yourself in this state without the help of a hypnotherapist.

If you've ever found yourself entranced by a crackling fire or ocean waves, you've experienced self-hypnosis.

A huge volume of research confirms the benefits of hypnosis for anxiety and other disorders with a stress-related component. ( 24)

There are self-hypnosis scripts that you can perform from memory or record and follow along to your own voice.

You'll find a simple self-hypnosis script here.

There are also prerecorded self-hypnosis MP3s and apps.

For maximum benefits, be sure to use audio files developed by a professional with hypnosis training and accreditation like those found at HypnosisLive.com.

7. Autogenic Training

Autogenic training is a little known but highly effective type of self-hypnosis that teaches you to regulate functions that are normally under subconscious control, such as heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure.

It works by calming down your overactive stress response.

It puts you in a relaxed brainwave state similar to meditation.

More than 60 studies have found autogenic training beneficial for stress-related disorders including anxiety, insomnia, and high blood pressure. ( 25)

It has been used by military personnel, pilots, and NASA astronauts to enhance performance and minimize the extreme environmental and psychological stress experienced in space. ( 26)

Give it a try with one of the free autogenic training MP3s offered by the University of Melbourne or McMaster University.

8. Personal Biofeedback

Biofeedback is a powerful technique that teaches you how to manage your breathing, heart rate, and blood flow to stop the stress response.

It enables you to monitor what your body is doing in real-time by measuring functions like heart rate, blood pressure, brainwave state, skin temperature, and muscle tension.

Besides stress relief, biofeedback can be used to treat a wide variety of mental health and brain-related disorders including anxiety, ADHD, memory loss, and depression. ( 27)

Traditional biofeedback is expensive and time-consuming, but now there are effective personal biofeedback devices that work by measuring various functions such as blood pressure ( RESPeRATE) or heart rate variability ( HeartMath emWave2).

Biofeedback devices that measure brainwave patterns are called neurofeedback devices and require you to wear a headset.

These are exploding in popularity - some brand name products include Muse, NeuroSky, and Thync.

With the assistance of a personal biofeedback or neurofeedback device, you can learn to relax on command anytime, anywhere.

9. Progressive Muscle Relaxation

It's no secret that when you get stressed, your muscles get tight.

You may be feeling it in your back, neck, or shoulders as you read this.

And these tight muscles are not only caused by stress, they contribute to stress.

Progressive muscle relaxation is a simple technique that involves tensing and relaxing specific groups of muscles in a systematic way to break the vicious cycle of stress and muscle tension. ( 28)

If you suffer from tight muscles, you'll find a free progressive muscle relaxation session along with many other kinds of relaxation recordings on the websites of many universities including Dartmouth College, University of Illinois, Brigham Young University, and University of Houston.

10. Tapping (Emotional Freedom Technique)

Emotional Freedom Technique, generally known as tapping or EFT, is a form of acupressure that works by stimulating meridian points with your fingertips.

Tapping can be used for pretty much anything that ails you, physically or emotionally, including stress and stress related issues.

One session of tapping can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol by an impressive 50%. ( 29)

Related on Be Brain Fit -
11 Benefits of Tapping for Anxiety Relief

Here's a video that guides you through a tapping session specifically for stress relief.

Once you learn this simple routine, you no longer have to follow the video.

You can tap away stress anytime you want.

11. Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a healing and relaxation technique that makes use of the scent of essential oils.

The US National Library of Medicine lists thousands of scientific research studies involving the use of essential oils. ( 30)

Dozens of essential oils deliver stress relief, but you can't go wrong with lavender ( Lavandula angustifolia).

Lavender is the most studied and possibly the most versatile of all essential oils. ( 31)

Put a few drops on your wrists, dab some under your nose, or diffuse it into the air for instant stress relief.

Besides being generally relaxing, lavender shows anti-anxiety, antidepressant, and mood stabilizing properties. ( 32)

Other essential oils that deliver stress relief include Roman chamomile ( Chamaemelum nobile), neroli ( Citrus aurantium), and rosemary ( Rosmarinus officinalis). ( 33, 34)

Bergamot essential oil, which provides the unique flavoring in Earl Grey tea, has the capacity to increase GABA, the neurotransmitter of relaxation. ( 35)

12. Enjoyable Pastimes

You almost certainly already have your own favorite stress reduction strategy.

I'm not talking about passively binge watching your favorite Netflix show.

What is it you love to do in your spare time that gets you in the zone and makes time fade away?

Creating art, listening to music, or getting absorbed in your favorite hobby are all legitimate stress management techniques.

Hobbies as diverse as knitting, woodworking, gardening, or home repair reduce stress and put you in a relaxed state. ( 36)

Adult coloring books - a recent trend - can significantly reduce stress and depression. ( 37)

Engaging in these activities before going to bed can help you relax and fall asleep faster than using your laptop or tablet which emit sleep-disruptive blue light. ( 38)

13. Nature

Go outside and spend some time in nature.

It will lower your cortisol, blood pressure, and pulse rate while increasing heart rate variability. ( 39)

It doesn't have to be a major outing - simply spending a few minutes at a park on your lunch break can help.

And when you go, leave your smartphone behind or at least turned off.

Research has confirmed what most of us suspect anyway - that trying to do more than one thing at once is stressful. ( 40)

Heart rate and cortisol levels go up when you constantly check your email. ( 41)

And if you can't get outdoors, take a few minutes to just look at pictures of nature.

Even that can help reduce your stress levels and put you in a better mood. ( 42)

14. Gratitude

Expressing gratitude creates a surge of feel-good brain chemicals that will make you feel happier and more relaxed.

A common way of expressing gratitude is by journaling - writing about things you are grateful for - but I find sharing grateful thoughts with others even better.

This benefits both you and the recipient.

You can thank a friend by phone, text, email, or put pen to paper (gasp!) and write a thank-you note for words of encouragement, act of kindness, or any other "gift" you've received.

(Can you guess which kind of "thank you" your friend will treasure the most?)

Feeling and expressing gratitude reduces stress and increases emotional resilience. ( 43)

And it will help you relax and sleep better if you do it right before you go to bed.

15. Green Tea (Instead of Coffee)

This one is a little different than all the other stress reduction techniques listed here.

But caffeine is such an integral part of our always-on-the-go society, its role deserves special consideration.

Millions of people get through the day not on naturally generated energy but on the artificial boost they get from caffeine.

While caffeine can be part of a healthy lifestyle, it also increases stress hormones and reduces calming brain chemicals, while restricting blood flow to the brain. ( 44)

Caffeine is even linked to four recognized psychiatric disorders. ( 45)

So if you are feeling stressed, grabbing a caffeine-laden cup of coffee, a soda, or an energy drink is the wrong thing to do!

Instead, make your next drink a cup of green tea.

Green tea contains a little caffeine - about 25 mg per 8-ounce serving - which should be enough to keep you from full-blown caffeine withdrawal.

But green tea provides focus and energy while it relaxes you, thanks to l-theanine and EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate).

L-theanine is an amino acid that increases your resilience to stress. ( 46)

It causes an increase in alpha brainwave activity that's similar to that experienced during meditation. ( 47, 48)

EGCG is a flavonoid, a phytonutrient with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

EGCG normalizes activity of the calming neurotransmitter GABA. ( 49)

Like theanine, EGCG also changes brainwave patterns to put you in a "relaxed yet attentive state." ( 50)

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Stress Management Techniques That Work (in-depth review) | Be Brain Fit

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Effective stress management techniques can offset the negative effects of stress in your life. Try these proven, fast, and reliable stress remedies. You can't avoid all stress, nor would you want to. Some stress is actually a good thing. It temporarily boosts motivation and concentration, and helps to keep your mental and physical resilience high.

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We have all felt stress and its effects. After all, the experience of feeling threatened and unable to manage stress can significantly impact how we think, feel, and behave.

Short-term, manageable stress levels can help us grow our resilience to future challenges and motivate and energize us to act. And yet, chronic, ongoing stress can harm us physically and mentally, impacting our relationships with ourselves and those around us (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019).

This article explores stress, its impact, and the risk of burnout. We then explore techniques, exercises, and tips to help us reduce its harmful effects and reframe how we see pressure while regaining our sense of control.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises (PDF) for free. These science-based exercises will equip you and those you work with, with tools to manage stress better and find a healthier balance in your life.

Understanding Stress Levels

While stress in small, infrequent doses may not be harmful, "prolonged stressful living can cause havoc on our physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing" (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019, p. 132).

Indeed, some day-to-day stress is normal, but it is essential to spot when stress levels are too high, too often. Better awareness can be helpful, including watching out for the following physical indicators (WebMD, 2020):

Tense or painful muscles
Possibly experienced in the shoulders, back, chest, stomach, or head.

Digestive issues
Including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation.

Sexual health and wellbeing
Lowered sex drive, impotence in men, and irregular periods in women.

Heart and blood pressure
Increased release of stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) putting us infight-or-flight mode can impact heart rate and blood pressure.

Each physical indicator can become part of our self-awareness and may suggest when stress is getting out of hand.

Some stress counselors use biofeedback technology to assess stress levels, potentially using (modified from Blackett, n.d.):

Resting heart rate
Heart rate taken at rest is often used to indicate overall fitness, but can suggest a change in stress levels.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
HRV is the shift in time between heartbeats. Changes in pattern may indicate the impact of stress levels on our underlying autonomic nervous system.

EEG or brainwaves
Electroencephalograms (EEG) record brain activity. Specific markers can indicate stress.

Breathing assessment
Feeling stressed can be associated with overbreathing (breathing more than is needed to meet the body's needs) or faster, chest-based breathing.

Adrenal assessment
Blood and urine samples can be taken to measure stress hormone levels, such as cortisol and adrenaline.

Skin conductance and skin temperature
Changes to the sympathetic nervous system can be measured in the skin.

Sleep tracking
Quality and quantity of sleep are often impacted by increased stress and are easily monitored through trackers.

Whatever form self-monitoring takes, noticing the early warning signs of burnout and stress can prove helpful in managing our self-care and wellbeing (Bush, 2015).

What is Stress and What is Burnout?

Small experiences of stressors can result in temporary stress, while helping us face future frustrations, challenges, disappointments, and angst.

And yet, while such 'stress inoculation' is associated with resilience, in excess or too frequent, stress can be damaging to both mind and body (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019).

Indeed, whether a single event or ongoing, stress can result in several 'thinking traps,' including (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019):

Jumping to conclusions
These are often unhelpful or unfounded.

Tunnel vision
Limiting our ability to problem solve and move forward.

Catastrophizing
Maximizing the negatives and minimizing the positives.

Casting blame
External or internal assignment of blame.

Overgeneralizing
Minor setbacks specific to one event are applied more widely.

Unhelpful emotional reasoning
We may become more upset than the situation suggests or demands, leaving us anxious and overwhelmed.

Research shows that work can be an extreme source of stress, particularly in high-pressure environments such as healthcare. A 2016 study exploring stress and coping in oncology, suggested that stress levels could be reduced in response to more support from management and better staffing levels (Ko & Kiser-Larson, 2016).

Preventing burnout within the workplace has received much more attention in recent years. And while a unified definition has proven challenging, in 2019, the World Health Organization categorized it as an occupational phenomenon that results from unsuccessfully managed chronic workplace stress (HBR guide to beating burnout, 2021).

Most importantly, they recognized the organization's role in causing it and their subsequent duty to protect their employees (HBR guide to beating burnout, 2021).

How To Reduce Psychological Stress

While resilience is often described as the ability to bounce back from difficult times, research suggests there may be more to it than that. Successfully coping with stress typically involves one, or a combination, of the following (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019):

Recovery
Our ability to return to and restore normal life at pre-stressor levels of functioning.

Resistance
When we show little or no impact in response to a stressor or stressful event.

Reconfiguration
A return to a new normal. A significant event may change who we are and how we live - positively or negatively.

Unlike recovery and resistance, reconfiguration suggests transformation; rather than returning to pre-stressor function, we travel beyond maintaining or sustaining our old lives.

Accepting a 'new normal' can help us reduce psychological stress and move forward.

Attempts to understand why we differ in our response to stress suggest that our sense of coherence (SOC) may also be important in lowering our suffering and experience of difficult emotions (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019).

Indeed, research suggests that the "extent to which one is confident that internal and external environments are predictable and that there is a high probability that life situations will work out as well as can be expected" is influenced by our (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019, p. 137):

Comprehensibility
Our degree of insight into our achievements and difficulties and our awareness of our resources.

Manageability
Our belief that things will work out as we expect and that our resources are adequate and appropriate.

Meaningfulness
Our motivation surrounding our wish to cope and move on.

Additionally, according to Martin Seligman, hope and optimism about future outcomes are vital factors in our overall wellbeing and ability to overcome life's difficulties. They belong to a "family of strengths that represent a positive stance toward the future." (Seligman, 2011, p. 260).

7 Effective Stress Management Techniques

Our ability to manage stress, and create more resilience in our lives, can be helped in several different ways, including:

Recognizing how we currently deal with stress and anxiety

Stress and anxiety are a part of life. The difference between those that handle such unpleasant feelings well and those that don't may depend on how they make sense of them (Forsyth & Eifert, 2016).

Understanding how we react and behave when confronted by stressful situations and anxiety can help us recognize how to better manage stress going forward.

Existing stress responses

Ask your client to consider which of the following applies to them (Forsyth & Eifert, 2016):

Do you run away from or avoid stressful and anxiety-inducing situations?

Do you suppress or push out feelings that are upsetting?

Do you distract yourself from stress (keeping busy, eating, drinking alcohol)?

Do you replace 'bad' thoughts with 'good' thoughts?

Do you talk yourself out of feeling anxious, stressed, or worried?

Do you seek help (therapy, stress-relief books, chatting with friends)?

This list is not exhaustive or judgmental. It is simply a list of some ‌responses-positive and negative-people have to stress and anxiety.

Ask the client to consider which one's offer short-term relief and which provides long-term support.

Now ask them to consider what they may be missing out on in life. The answers will either lead them to accept that they are successfully managing stress or provide valuable insights for the changes needed.

Changing how we see stressful situations

We may not be able to change our circumstances, but we can see them differently (Forsyth & Eifert, 2016).

Accept - Choose - Take action

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has proven valuable for clients learning to manage anxiety and stress; it encourages (Forsyth & Eifert, 2016):

Letting go of the struggles that keep them stuck

Cultivating peace of mind

Accepting what is, and doing what works

Rather than struggle to reduce stress and anxiety, the client accepts what they are already experiencing and then chooses the direction they would like their life to take. The third step is to take that action and realize their valued life goals (Forsyth & Eifert, 2016).

The following techniques should help the client see and make such changes:

Radical acceptance

Radical acceptance is often practiced within Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). This worksheet teaches the client that they cannot control every aspect of their experience (Linehan, 2015).

Setting goals for radical acceptance helps the client understand how it will help them in their lives.

Challenging core beliefs

Our core beliefs can shape how we face up to the difficult times and how we react to stress (Beck, 2011).

The Core Beliefs Worksheet encourages the client to reflect on how they see themselves and what experiences shape the beliefs they hold. Interpreting stressful experiences through a new belief set can change how they impact the client.

Acceptance of our thoughts and feelings

The goal of ACT is to encourage clients to accept what lies beyond their control and commit to life-enhancing actions instead. The Thoughts and Feelings: Struggle or Acceptance? worksheet helps the client gain more insight into how much control they have over their feelings and thoughts (Harris, 2008).

How we manage our sense of calm

Grounding, meditation, and breathing exercises help manage our general anxiety and stress levels and prepare us for difficult situations (Williams & Penman, 2016; Forsyth & Eifert, 2016).

Meditation for acceptance

Meditation is a powerful tool for accepting stressful situations and difficult emotions. Leaves on a Stream uses a simple mental image to let go of such feelings, our need for control, and difficult issues from the past (Williams & Penman, 2016).

Grounding and centering

This grounding and centering technique helps regulate the body's responses and avert overriding the nervous system. Purposefully concentrating on self-soothing behaviors can induce comfort during stress and anxiety (Levine, 2008).

13 Skills & Tips to Manage Stress Better

It is essential to consider what skills and tips we can use to manage stress and ultimately improve our wellbeing inside and outside work:

Self-care tips

Life, and particularly work, can be stressful. Self-care is not a nice-to-have but essential to keep us functioning well and improving our overall wellbeing (Bush, 2015).

The following aspects of our health are vital to our wellbeing and crucial for managing stress better. Encourage clients to consider the following questions (Bush, 2015):

1. Without sleep, we cannot think clearly - are you getting sufficient sleep?

2. Exercise is one of the best cures for stress - are you prioritizing physical activity?

3. Our brain is maintained by the food we eat - are you eating a balanced and varied diet?

4. Healthy relationships are vital for our wellbeing - are you making time for the people you care about?

5. Self-expression enriches who we are and how we live - are you giving the focus you would like to the things you are passionate about?

6. Community and spirituality ground who we are and how we live - how can you make yourself more open to both?

Ask the client to consider their answers and reflect on whether their lives are in balance. Doing so will help them react and rebound from stress more positively (Boniwell & Tunariu, 2019).

Managing stress in the workplace

Stress is a significant factor in many workplaces, resulting in countless hours lost due to time off or non-productive hours. The onus must be on workplaces to create environments that reduce stress and help their staff manage it better (HBR guide to beating burnout, 2021).

Putting in place each of the following will help (modified from HBR guide to beating burnout, 2021):

1. Increase psychological safety
Trust and collaboration will reduce the perception that the workplace is a threat.

2. Build regular break times
We cannot focus for beyond 120 minutes without appropriate rest breaks. Build them into the day and encourage people to use them.

3. Encourage the use of private workspaces
Open offices often have many distractions that can frustrate staff when unable to concentrate. Supply private workplaces where staff can focus without interruption.

4. Set boundaries around time outside of work
The borders between work and personal life are often blurred, especially if working remotely. Set clear expectations and stick to them.

5. Create flexible work policies
Juggling work and family life is not easy. Flexibility can remove or reduce that stress without feelings of guilt.

6. Make sure people are in the right roles
When staff are doing jobs they enjoy and are well supported they thrive and take challenges in their stride.

7. Encourage autonomy
Micromanaging is stressful for everyone. Give teams the autonomy to manage their own projects and staff their individual tasks.

3 Further Stress Relief Activities

Positive emotions such as joy, awe, hope, and optimism are essential to living the good life and are known stress-relief techniques.

And not only that, according to the broaden and build theory, they strengthen our psychological resources for overcoming tough, stressful times (Seligman, 2011).

Boosting positive emotions

Ask the client to Build An Emotions Portfolio to encourage positive emotions such as gratitude, joy, interest, and inspiration (Fredrickson, 2010).

Building hope

Hope is a positive, optimistic frame of mind in which we expect good events and scenarios to occur. The ability to remain hopeful can help you bounce back more effectively from life's difficulties when they crop up (Seligman, 2011).

Completing the What is Hope? worksheet will offer the client further insight into their relationship with hope and hopelessness (Fredrickson, 2010; Seligman, 2011).

Improving self-awareness

Mindful reflection can leave us grounded and better aware of ourselves and our situation. The Who Am I Beyond My Anxiety? activity helps clients focus on what is right with them rather than wrong.

Once centered by their breathing, ask them to consider (Forsyth & Eifert, 2016):

Mindful awareness will help those that struggle with their fears and are having a difficult time with stress.

Stress Management Worksheets from PositivePsychology.com

We have many resources available for helping individuals better manage their stress levels, regain their lives following stressful events, and remain in control at times of pressure.

Why not download our free stress and burnout prevention exercises pack and try out the powerful tools contained within, including:

Strengthening The Work-Private Life Barrier
This exercise helps clients identify the behaviors, beliefs, and conditions that create 'holes' in the barrier between work and private life.

The Stress-Related Growth Scale
The questionnaire is designed to assess perceived positive outcomes of a stressful or traumatic event.

Other free resources include:

'STOP' - Distress Tolerance
Theacronym 'STOP' can help you develop the skills to handle strong emotions, tolerate painful events, and manage difficult situations.

Reactions to Stress
This table can be used as homework to capture stressful events, our reactions, and recognize repeating patterns of behavior.

Stress as a Stimulus for Change
Stress is often a good indication that something in our lives needs to change. We can usethis worksheet to begin the transformation process.

More extensive versions of the following tools are available with a subscription to the Positive Psychology Toolkit©, but they are described briefly below:

The 5-4-3-2-1 Stress Reduction Technique
The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise is a simple yet powerful sensory awareness exercise. This method engages the five senses to help calm the person and orient their attention to the present space.

The premise of this method is simple. In stressful situations, look for five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can touch, two things you smell, and one thing you can taste.

Valued Living During Challenging Times
Living in line with one's values-also known as valued living-has been proposed by theorists in the positive psychology movement as the key to sustainable happiness.

This tool helps people learn to live in alignment with personal values during stressful life events.

Step one - describe the challenging life event

Step two - identify values with which you've lost touch

Step three - consider what actions you could take to reconnect with your lost values

Step four - take actions to reconnect

If you're looking for more science-based ways to help others manage stress without spending hours on research and session prep, this collection contains 17 validated stress management tools for practitioners. Use them to help others identify signs of burnout and create more balance in their lives.

A Take-Home Message

It's perhaps no surprise when we experience stress. It's a natural physical, cognitive, and emotional response to feeling threatened or under pressure and affects how we think, feel, and behave.

Stress can take many forms and occur in various situations. However, most of us have experienced it, or even burnout, in our professional lives (HBR guide to beating burnout, 2021).

And yet, while we may react by trying to ignore stress, distance ourselves from it, or even fight it, our best approach may be one of acceptance. In doing so, we remove the contributory stress related to unwanted feelings, freeing us to move forward toward our goals and meaningful living.

Changing how we relate to our feelings of stress can also save us from becoming trapped in unhealthy coping behaviors, such as an overreliance on alcohol or avoiding situations that temporarily worsen how we feel. In time, stress can help us build resilience and motivate and energize us to make decisions and stop repeating the same mistakes.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises (PDF) for free.

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10 Techniques to Manage Stress & 13 Quick Tips

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What is stress management? This article features top stress management techniques, tips to avoid burn out, and stress relief activities.

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Psycom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986

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Suicide might not feel like a family-friendly dinner conversation topic, but perhaps it should be. According to the latest data from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 24. Suicide does affect children and adolescents, and avoiding the topic won't help them learn how to get help if they need it.

One of the misconceptions about the discussion of suicide is that talking about it causes kids and teens to think about it. The truth is that parents can never know for certain whether or not a child experiences suicidal thinking if they are too afraid to ask the question.

Suicidal behavior in children is complicated. It can be impulsive and associated with feelings of confusion, sadness, or anger. The so-called "red flags" people are cautioned to look for can be subtle in young children. While a young adult might say something like, "You'll be better off when I'm gone," for example, a child might say some something like, "No one cares if I'm here."

Studies on suicide and suicidal ideation among elementary school age children are limited and tend to have small sample sizes. This makes it difficult to draw direct correlations between specific triggers and suicidal behavior. One study published in Pediatrics, however, compared characteristics and precipitating factors for suicide between elementary school children (5-11 years old) and early adolescents (12-14 years old). Results indicated that children who died by suicide more often experienced relationship issues with family and friends (compared to relationship issues with boyfriends or girlfriends for adolescents.) Both groups were likely to suffer from mental health disorders. While adolescents were more likely to experience depression or dysthymia, children were more likely to experience attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity.

Subtle Warning Signs in Children

While the warning signs in children can be subtle, learning potential red flags plays a crucial role in intervention.

Changes in baseline behavior:
Trust your gut. If you notice behavioral changes that aren't a one-time issue, take note. While suicidal behavior is often associated with symptoms of depression, you might also notice the following changes in your child:

Changes in sleeping habits (too much, too little, insomnia, or night wakings)

Changes in eating habits (overeating or eating too little)

Withdrawing from family and friends (social isolation)

Psychosomatic symptoms: headaches, stomachaches, other aches and pains that can't be explained

Changes at school:
It's perfectly normal for kids to experience ups and downs during the learning process, but a pattern of negative change can be a red flag that a child needs help. Make a note of the following:

Drop in academic performance

Decreased interaction with teachers and kids at school

Lack of interest in school

School refusal

Loss of interest in normal daily activities (playing, sports, extracurricular activities)

Preoccupation with death:
It's natural for kids to think about death at times, particularly when they are coping with loss or hear about tragic events in the news. Preoccupation with death, researching ways to die, and/or talking about their own death can be red flags. Watch for the following warning signs that involve thoughts about death:

Frequent questions about or looking up ways to die

Statements about dying or what will happen if the child dies (ex: "You won't miss me when I die, I wish I was dead, I won't bother you anymore when I'm gone.")

Take all suicidal statements seriously by seeking an evaluation for your child.

Feelings of hopelessness:
Children who have suicidal thoughts might communicate feelings of hopelessness for the future. They might also make statements about helplessness. These kinds of statements indicate that the child feels as if there is nothing to be done to improve their outcome, and no one who can help.

Child-sized will:
Some children give away their favorite possessions or tell parents, siblings, or friends who should get their favorite possessions. While talk of divvying up possessions might seem like fantasy play to parents, it can signal thoughts of suicide when combined with other changes in demeanor.

Writing or drawing about death or suicide:
Young children often struggle to verbalize intense emotions, but they are likely to write or draw about them. Poems, stories, or artwork that depicts suicide or frequent writings and drawings about death should be evaluated.

Significant changes in mood:
Kids experience changes in mood as they grow and work through stressors, but significant changes in mood signal a problem. You know your child best. If your child suddenly shifts from calm and relatively happy to aggressive, completely withdrawn, or very anxious, it's important to get help.

In addition to the warning signs that a child might experience suicidal ideation, there are also certain factors that can elevate the risk.

Previous suicide attempt (regardless of how serious)

Experiencing a loss (this can include grief and the loss of a relationship due to divorce or family discord)

Chronic bullying

Family history of suicide or suicide attempts

Violence or witnessing violence

Access to firearms

Impulsivity

Acute rejection

Feelings of hopelessness

Feeling like a burden

Any signs of suicidal ideation or behavior should be taken seriously. Parents should ask specific questions about suicidal thoughts, "Are you thinking about hurting or killing yourself?" Parents should also talk openly about depression by asking questions like, "Are you feeling depressed or very sad lately?" These questions show your child that you understand and that you care. Conveying empathy in a time of emotional crisis is crucial.

Regardless of how your child answers these questions, it's essential to seek an evaluation by a licensed mental health practitioner who specializes in working with children. If you're not sure where to access help, schedule an immediate appointment with your child's pediatrician, and indicate that you have concerns about your child's mental health and potentially suicidal behavior.

With proper support in place, children can work through the feelings and triggers that result in suicidal thinking and learn effective coping skills to deal with difficult life situations.

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Children and Suicide: What are The Warning Signs?

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Suicide might not feel like a family-friendly dinner conversation topic, but perhaps it should be. According to the latest data from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 24.

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Eight-year-old Brian was raging. Something small had set him off, and he was trashing his room, breaking toys, ripping pictures off walls, turning over furniture and throwing the wreckage at his parents, Jeff Warner and Holly Sabara. Warner put their other sons, ages two and five, in the couple's bedroom and told them not to come out.

"I don't want to be here," Brian wailed. "I want to die."

Sabara left the room and called her local mental health crisis line in Guelph, Ont., to get advice on how to handle the situation with Brian, who had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression. The woman on the other line could hear the chaos in the background; she said they needed to get to the ER right away and called them an ambulance.

Meanwhile, Brian tried to kill himself. (Because reporting on suicide methods can lead to contagion, we are choosing not to share how.) Fortunately, Warner was able to stop him and keep him safe until the police and paramedics arrived.

"I felt like I was in a movie, thinking this can't be happening to my family," says Sabara. "We can't be going to the hospital for a suicide attempt-he's only eight. It was absolutely overwhelming."

Does 13 Reasons Why trivialize suicide? We asked a psychiatristBetween 2000 and 2017, only three children under the age of nine died by suicide in Canada. In March 2019, Amal Alshteiwi, a nine-year-old Syrian refugee who was living in Calgary, was added to this number. While suicide deaths among children in elementary school are rare, new research shows that suicidal thoughts and attempts are becoming increasingly common, though it's not known why. Making a suicide attempt is the strongest predictor of dying by suicide in the future, and suicide is the second leading cause of death in children ages 10 to 14 in Canada, so there's an urgent need to identify and address the causes.

In April 2019, JAMA Pediatrics published a study that found that the number of children under the age of 18 who had gone to emergency departments across the United States for suicide attempts and suicidal ideation each year had nearly doubled between 2007 and 2015, from 580,000 to 1.2 million. Even more troubling, 43 percent of visits were made by children between the ages of five and 11. "What's alarming about this data is that it shows a very rapid, accelerating rise in ER visits for suicidal behaviour by younger children than previously identified," says Brett Burstein, a paediatric emergency physician at Montreal Children's Hospital and lead author of the study.

Unlike the U.S., Canada doesn't have a national system for reporting medical services, but Burstein believes that the same trend can be seen here. He points out that there was a 55 percent rise in emergency department visits at Montreal Children's Hospital for suicidal behaviour between 2015 and 2018 and a 53 percent increase in visits to CHEO, the paediatric hospital in Ottawa, between 2014 and 2018.

"When we see children at a very young age, their suicidal thoughts and gestures are less well formulated and may not even be potentially fatal or dangerous," says Burstein. "But fairly quickly, after living with a problem for years, they become adolescents and young adults who have much more concrete ideas and ways to kill themselves."

In 2017, the last year for which Statistics Canada data is available, 36 children ages 10 to 14 died by suicide. While the rate of boys dying by suicide in this age group has held steady since 2000, the rate of girls has been rising. Today, 10 to 14 is the only age category in which more females die by suicide than males. The same trend can be seen in the U.S., where suicide in this group tripled between 1999 and 2014.

"Something's happening in younger girls that we need to pay attention to," says Tyler Black, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver. "Whatever's happening, it's worrisome."

Why are more young children displaying suicidal behaviour?

There are several theories on why more young children are contemplating suicide and acting on their thoughts. But there are no definite answers, as the increase has only recently been identified and suicidal behaviour among elementary school kids is an understudied area.

Mara Grunau, executive director of the Centre for Suicide Prevention in Calgary, says people are becoming more comfortable with the idea that children can have suicidal behaviour, but there are still a lot of deniers. When her organization launched Tattered Teddies, a workshop that helps people who work with children identify signs of suicide and understand how to help vulnerable kids, in 2008, people questioned why such a program was necessary. "Many people don't believe that children are capable of suicide because they don't necessarily have a mature understanding of death and the permanence of death, but we don't believe that to be true," she says. "When children engage in high-risk behaviour that edges toward suicidal behaviour, it needs to be taken seriously. Whether they understand the bigger picture or not is irrelevant."

Just like a number of interacting factors typically contribute to each individual suicide, such as genetics, mental illness, loss of a loved one and lack of social support, there are probably many factors at play in the overall increase in suicidal behaviour among children.
Bullying
"When we talk about suicide attempts among youth, the first questions that come up are 'Is this bullying?' and 'Did Instagram do this?'" says Burstein. "The bottom line is, the causes are almost certainly multifactorial. It's not always the obvious things that are necessarily the primary causes."

Still, Burstein says there's interest in identifying the role that social media, bullying and other youth-specific phenomenon might be playing. Children who are bullied and bullies themselves are at higher risk of suicide, and they may share other risk factors for suicide, such as experiencing trauma, living in poverty and having depression or anxiety. According to PREVNet, a Canadian network of bullying researchers, between 10 and 15 percent of children are chronically bullied and the same number are persistent bullies, though rates of bullying have remained relatively stable for decades.

Amal Alshteiwi's parents say that bullying is what drove their daughter to suicide. "The kids were bullying my daughter and even asking her to kill herself," Amal's dad, Aref Alshteiwi, told CTV News through a translator, adding that they also called her "stupid" and "ugly."

Amal's parents moved her to a different school to avoid the bullying, but her tormenters told her she would be bullied there, too. After a few days at her new school, Amal died. "She was so afraid and intimidated by what happened before," Amal's mom, Nasra Abdulrahman, told the Calgary Herald through a translator.

Black says some children who consider suicide are enduring challenging situations from which they feel they can't escape. "These kids believe their only possible ending is to die," he says.
Cyberbullying and social media
While bullying has been around forever, cyberbullying is a relatively new and growing problem. Research shows that girls ages 12 to 14 are more likely to be victimized than any other demographic, potentially contributing to the high rate of suicide in this group. One study found that children who are cyberbullied are twice as likely to attempt suicide.

A JAMA Psychiatry commentary in May on the increased suicide rate among girls ages 10 to 14 in the U.S. urges more research into the role of social media, which some studies suggest may be associated with suicidality. "The fact that social media has become a primary forum for interpersonal engagement in adolescence-a developmental period when social contact is rising rapidly and becoming increasingly important to well-being-makes this an area of great potential influence and importance," according to the authors.

As for why social media may affect girls more than boys, the authors have some ideas. Girls are more likely to use social media, and their online experiences are more likely to lead to bullying, interpersonal stress and depression.

Research by MediaSmarts found that about one-quarter of Canadian kids in grade four own mobile phones and nearly one-third of students in grades four to six have Facebook accounts, which means that many children take their bullies home in their backpacks and rarely get a break from the abuse.
Racism
Indigenous kids are still being taken from their parents. I'm one of themSuicide rates among Indigenous youth are five to six times higher than those of non-Indigenous youth and have remained unchanged over the past three decades. Indigenous youth continue to be affected by intergenerational trauma and systemic discrimination, which contribute to the sustained high rate of suicide, according to a 2017 report by the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

In the U.S., a 2018 study in JAMA Pediatrics found that suicide rates are increasing among black children ages five to 11 and decreasing among white children of the same age. In fact, rates are twice as high among black children, but more research is needed to determine the reasons for the racial disparity, says lead author Jeffrey Bridges.
Stress
Stress among children has increased dramatically over the past few decades, and stress leads to distress, which precedes most suicide attempts, says Black. "We need to work really hard as a society to make life less stressful for kids," he says. "We're filling children's time with activities and skills development and forgetting that resting, playing, exploring and being given opportunities to fail are experiences that children need to develop a sense of who they are and who they want to be."

Helicopter parenting can also have devastating consequences. "We want to create opportunities for our kids to fail because we want them to build resilience," says Grunau. "We don't want to do everything for them. We want them to struggle and wrestle because that's how they build resilience."
Mental illness
Mental illness is the most important risk factor for suicide in the general population, and about half of children who die by suicide have a mental health diagnosis. Between 10 and 20 percent of Canadian children develop a mental health disorder, but its prevalence has remained the same since 2006, so it's unlikely to explain the increase in suicidal behaviour.
Conflict
A 2015 review of studies on suicide among children under the age of 14 found that they were less likely than adolescents to have mental illness and that parent-child conflict was the most common contributing factor to their deaths. Another study, published in Pediatrics in 2016, found that relationship problems with friends or family members factored into 60 percent of suicide deaths for children ages five to 11.

"The younger the child, the less likely the suicide is due to a noticeable mental illness and the more likely it's due to stress caused by conflict," says Black.

This is particularly heartbreaking because children often perceive conflict in very inaccurate ways. "Children have excellent antennas but very broken receivers," says Black. "When there's conflict in the home, children can perceive themselves as the cause of the conflict or misinterpret the reason for the conflict, even if it doesn't involve them. Families need to work hard to make sure that children are explicitly told 'If I ever upset you, please tell me. It's never my intention. I care about you so much.'"

Grunau adds that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as being abused or neglected or witnessing intimate partner violence, are correlated with suicidal behaviour.
Impulsivity
The 2016 Pediatrics study also found that, among those with a mental health diagnosis, children were more likely to have attention deficit disorder and less likely to have depression than early adolescents. The authors suggest that impulsivity may play a role in the suicide deaths of children.

Black agrees and says that one of the most common drivers of suicidal behaviour among young children is an uncontrolled response to distress. "A child is told something they didn't want to hear or asked for something they didn't get and they become so overloaded with distress and can't handle it that they quickly decide that they want to hurt themselves or die," he explains.

Sabara believes that this may have played a role in Brian's suicidal behaviour, which continued after the earlier incident. "Whenever we would say 'no' or he would have to do something he didn't want to do, it would trigger an emotional response," she says. "Sometimes he would just sob on the floor for an hour or two after an incident and, over and over again, say 'I want to die. I don't want to be here. I want to go away. I gotta get outta here.' When Brian got upset, he would try to escape the chaos in his head and sensory overload, and I think that was a lot of what would drive him to want to hurt himself."

Warning signs
Changes in behaviour
Young children aren't very good at hiding their feelings, so when they're thinking about suicide, there are often easy-to-spot signs. One of the biggest indicators is a change in behaviour that goes beyond normal highs and lows. "If your child has always been peaceful and easygoing and all of a sudden has bouts of anger or frustration, that's a red flag," says Grunau. "It can go the other way, too, like if they have always been larger than life and suddenly become quiet."

If your child seems particularly difficult and defiant, that could also be a sign. "An increase in conflict is a harbinger," says Black. "If it feels like the child is always fighting with you about everything, it's unlikely that their intention is to be a jerk; it's more likely that their ability to tolerate stress is decreasing."
Disengagement
Withdrawing from friends and activities is another big indicator. If swimming is their favourite activity and they no longer want to go to lessons or ask for play dates with their best friend anymore, it could be a sign that something is going on. Complaints of boredom can also be cause for concern. While it's normal to complain that there's nothing to do every once in a while, if your child does so more often than not, it's worth looking into. "Boredom isn't a natural state for a child," says Black. "In child psychiatry, it's considered a symptom of sadness."
Risk-taking
High-risk behaviour, like biking in traffic or climbing out a window onto the roof, can also suggest suicidal behaviour. In addition to his suicide attempts, Brian would self-harm by punching himself and banging his head on the floor and hurt his brothers by charging at and choking them, all of which are violent acts that may be indicative of suicidal ideation.
Talk of death
Talking about death, as Brian did, can also be a sign of suicidal thoughts. "Children will say things referencing their own deaths, and any threats of killing themselves or dying need to be taken seriously," says Grunau.

Even saying things like "You'd be better off without me" or "I hate my life" or drawing pictures with dark or violent imagery should be addressed. "It's always worth probing," says Grunau. "Try to get them to talk about how they're feeling."

How to help a suicidal child

If your child is showing signs of suicidal behaviour, it's important to talk to them about it and seek professional help for them. If your child is in immediate danger of hurting themselves, call 911. If you're unsure what to do, talk to your family doctor or call your local crisis line, nursing line or Canadian Mental Health Association branch.

"Early intervention is key," says Grunau. "Reach out and get the help you need. Don't allow your own sense of 'Oh, this is all my fault' to get in the way of moving things forward. It's not your fault-all parents want the best for their children."

Depression is on the rise in kids-but the signs are hard to recognizeSometimes children talk about suicide and have no intention to die, but it still suggests an underlying issue. For example, Black says a child who tells you that they're going to kill themselves may be trying to express seriousness of thought or demonstrate power. "It's definitely a suicidal thought, but there's also a rescuing thought that comes with it because you wouldn't tell your parents about it unless you wanted help," he says. "'I want to die' is almost saying 'I'm really in distress. I'm really hurting. I really need help.'"

Before the age of 10, Black suggests regularly asking your kids about stress and distress. Your questions can be as simple as "How have things been going for you?" or "Is anything stressing you out right now?" He suggests following that up with questions about hopelessness.

When kids are over the age of 10, Black says parents should start asking them about suicidal thoughts once in a while to make sure they're OK and help normalize the conversation. He suggests opening the discussion with something like "Every now and then, people have sad thoughts. Have you had any negative thoughts about death or dying?"

Parents may worry that talking about suicide will upset their children, but the opposite is true. In fact, a study found that asking about suicidal thinking significantly reduces distress in children who are thinking about it and has no effect on those who are not. "When you say it's OK to talk about this or people can have these thoughts, you reduce the child's distress that there's something wrong with them," says Black.

Suicide prevention is also making its way into the classroom. As part of a pilot study, Manitoba children in grades four through six are now receiving Thrival Kits, which encourage mental health promotion activities such as personal reflection, mindfulness meditation, stress reduction and coping strategies.

When you're supporting a child with suicidal behaviour, it's important to get some support for yourself, whether it's speaking with a counsellor, enlisting the help of family members or getting respite care for your child so that you can catch your breath. "When a child is sick with anything, it's very, very stressful on the whole family," says Grunau. "You can only help your child if you stay well yourself. You need to be supported as a parent. If your child had cancer, you wouldn't think you could do it on your own."

Sabara agrees. She and her husband now help other families navigate the system and find the support they need. "You can't hide this because you need the support of everyone else around you," she says. "Find someone else who understands what's going on because it can be very isolating."

Brian, who is almost 14 now, has learned to pause before reacting and remove himself from stressful situations thanks to the support he received in a private residential treatment facility. He hasn't mentioned suicide in a long time, but Sabara suspects that it will come up again.

"Brian still has many hurdles ahead of him," she says. "He has puberty and the teen years. He has his 20s and experimenting with substances. I know what kind of journey we're in for and expect that we'll encounter suicide again, but we're going to be there to support him."
If you are thinking about or affected by suicide, call the Canada Suicide Prevention Service anytime at 1-833-456-4566 or text 45645 between 4 p.m. and 12 a.m. ET. Children who are thinking about or affected by suicide can call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868, text 686868 or visit kidshelpphone.ca/live-chat for a live chat. Read more:
School makes five-year-old sign anti-suicide contract
5 strategies for talking to your child about their mental health

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Why is suicide in kids increasing among elementary school children?

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Eight-year-old Brian was raging. Something small had set him off, and he was trashing his room, breaking toys, ripping pictures off walls, turning over furniture and throwing the wreckage at his parents, Jeff Warner and Holly Sabara. Warner put their other sons, ages two and five, in the couple's bedroom and told them not to come out.

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Foster Care & Student Success, housed in Texas Education Agency's Division of Federal and State Education Policy maintains resources and information to advance the education of student's impacted by foster care. The resources and materials provide guidance related to the unique circumstances surrounding students who are in the foster care system and attend Texas public schools. In Texas, nearly 16,000 school-age students are in foster care at any given time.

The Foster Care & Student Success web content is divided into the following areas:

Foster Care & Student Success Resource Guide

TEA developed a premiere resource to support Texas schools in addressing the education of students in foster care: Texas Foster Care & Student Success Resource Guide (PDF). This guide is the product of collaboration with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, the Supreme Court of Texas, and the Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families (Children's Commission). This e-guide and training manual contains a variety of key researched-based topics and calls attention to important matters related to the education of students in foster care. The guide promotes best practices and contains numerous tips, tools, resources and links to more information.

TEA desires that the guide be widely used and distributed! Please share with your districts, schools and networks. The guide is available in a variety of formats.

Guide Formats

You can download the complete resource guide below:

Individual chapter downloads are also available:

Foster Care & Student Success Resource Guide - Content Sections

The School Experience: Providing Student Support, Implementing Academic
Supports and Interventions & Promoting High School Completion

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Foster Care & Student Success, housed in Texas Education Agency's Division of Federal and State Education Policy maintains resources and information to advance the education of student's impacted by foster care. The resources and materials provide guidance related to the unique circumstances surrounding students who are in the foster care system and attend Texas public schools.

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As a result of school closures and remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been at higher risk of exposure due to adverse childhood experiences and first hand exposure to the effects of COVID-19. We also know that many educators have themselves experienced a prolonged state of stress over the course of the pandemic and share many of the concerns regarding loss of safety, health and predictability as students upon the return to school.

That's why TEA has launched Project Restore and this trauma-informed training video series, which is designed to address these extraordinary and unprecedented needs and connect you to relevant science and strategies that can help you address your own emotional needs as well the needs of your students and colleagues. This series will help educators create an environment that jump starts teaching and learning and drives student achievement.

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Skip to main content As a result of school closures and remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been at higher risk of exposure due to adverse childhood experiences and first hand exposure to the effects of COVID-19.

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Human Trafficking of School-Aged Children

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Human Trafficking of School-Aged Children

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Prevention and Awareness: Human Trafficking of School-Aged Children

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The Texas Education Agency (TEA) amended its child abuse prevention, mandatory reporting, and training requirements to include human trafficking in alignment with updates to state law concerning the definition of child abuse and neglect (TAC § 61.1051, Subchapter EE, Commissioner's Rules on Reporting Child Abuse or Neglect, including Trafficking of a Child).

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The research-based Second Step® Elementary program can help develop the whole child through a holistic approach to social-emotional learning (SEL).

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Child Find, Evaluation, and ARD Supports Network

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Child Find is legally required, and is an important first step to finding children with disabilities and getting them the support and services they require to be successful in school. The full and individual initial evaluation (FIIE) is a critical component when determining the eligibility and needs…

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When To Refer a Student

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The recent reported outbreaks and fatalities of the COVID-19 disease may impact mental health by elevating anxiety worldwide. COVID-19 is the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A quick query on Google for COVID-19 returns well over half a billion results.

Before the emergence of COVID-19, anxiety disorders already rank as one of the most common mental health problems globally. According to University of Oxford research, anxiety disorders, the most widespread of mental health disorders, impacted an estimated 284 million people in 2017 worldwide. In the U.S. alone, anxiety disorders affect an estimated 40 million adults according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Environmental factors that may increase the risk of anxiety disorders include early childhood trauma and life experiences. There may be a genetic component to anxiety disorders. A research study published in Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience in 2015, attributes 30 to 50 percent to heritability for anxiety disorders.

The neuroanatomy of fear many involve many regions of the brain, including the amygdala, ventromedial hypothalamus, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, BNST (bed nucleus of stria terminalis), the inframlimic cortex (among various parts of the prefrontal cortex), insular cortex, and other brain regions based on various neuroscience research with animal models.

The amygdala (named after the Greek word for almond-"amygdale"), an almond-shaped set of neurons in the medial temporal lobe, is part of the limbic system. It is the neural network that mediates emotional learning and behavior. It plays a major role in mediating fear and other emotions.

Anxiety disorders impact children and adults and may be manifested by excessive fear and avoidance. Examples of anxiety disorders include panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, substance or medication-induced anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, anxiety disorder due to medical condition, specific phobia, agoraphobia, and selective mutism, according to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder ( OCD) are closely related to anxiety disorders but have different DSM-5 categories.

According to the Mayo Clinic, common symptoms of anxiety include sleep issues, challenges on thinking or focusing on topics other than what is triggering the worrying, sweating, trembling, restlessness, tension, nervousness, hyperventilation, challenges controlling worrying, avoiding anxiety triggers, increased heart rate, gastrointestinal issues, and a sense of impending doom, danger or panic.

To manage normal anxiety, there are many steps that people can take such as getting adequate sleep, proper nutrition, and regular exercise. Make time for fun and relaxation, such as hobbies, meditation, yoga, or even listening to music to redirect the mind and calm the body. Above all, it is important to identify what is triggering the feelings of apprehension and create a plan.

If COVID-19 is elevating anxiety, create a plan, do not panic. Practice good hygiene by washing hands often for at least 20 seconds with soap, avoiding touching the face with hands (especially the eyes, nose, and mouth), covering coughs with the elbow or tissue, and staying at home if sick. Stock supplies (food, medications, hygiene products, etc.) in the case of a 14-day or longer quarantine. Get a seasonal flu shot. Postpone nonessential travel, especially to areas with active outbreaks. Employers and education institutions can set up virtual classrooms, use remote (video, Web, telecommunications) conferencing for meetings, allow working from home, postpone large gatherings, and encourage staying at home if sick.

Mental health professionals such as psychiatrists and psychologists may assist in determining anxiety disorders that are not due to medical conditions. Anxiety disorders are treatable. Depending on the anxiety disorder, treatment may include medications (e. g. anti-anxiety, antidepressants, and beta-blockers), managing the symptoms, cognitive behavioral therapy, and psychotherapy.

Experiencing anxiety now and then is a normal part of life. It is not unusual to temporarily feel anxious when facing stressful situations, uncertainty, or extreme challenges. The emotions of anxiety and fear in confronting a real threat are part of the survival instinct.

Anxiety might become problematic when it becomes persistent or impairs day-to-day tasks, performing at work or school, rational decision-making, and maintaining healthy relationships. In those cases, there is no stigma in seeking out professional assistance-mental health is as important as physical health.
Copyright © 2020 Cami Rosso All rights reserved.

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The recent reported outbreaks and fatalities of the COVID-19 disease may impact mental health by elevating anxiety worldwide. COVID-19 is the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A quick query on Google for COVID-19 returns well over half a billion results.

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What is Anonymous Alerts?

Anonymous Alerts® student anti-bullying and safety reporting mobile app helps combat bullying other negative activity in schools by empowering students to come forward to help themselves and other students. Social and peer pressures are some of the hardest obstacles for students to overcome, now they can report bullying and safety issues quickly using our Anonymous Alerts® mobile app to report it®.

How do students anonymously report concerns?

Students or parents in the school community can anonymously submit alerts about suspicious activity, safety threats, bullying, alcohol or drug use, depression, harassment, family issues, school shooter, campus safety concerns and self-harm issues to school administrators or counselors. Students can establish anonymous 2-way communications® with a school official about an incident. The Anonymous Alerts® mobile app is available for free to download from the Apple Store, Google Play store, and the Chrome store.

Students who See Something, Do Something ™ anonymously using our patented mobile applications and Web-based reporting system.

CLIENT TESTIMONY

"We have seen a significant drop in both bad behavior and safety concerns, creating a more positive school climate."

- Mark Pompano, Director of Security, Newtown Public Schools, Connecticut

"Giving students a mobile way to communicate with principals, counselors and school safety personnel is vital to the safe, secure and productive learning climate we want to have in our schools."

"With Anonymous Alerts®, students can maintain their anonymity and feel confident that someone will help to resolve any problems quickly."

- Mario De La Rosa, Director of Safety and Security, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Texas

"We've been using the Anonymous Alerts program for nearly a year. Our school is a safer place now that students have a better way of reporting campus concerns, including bullying and cyberbullying. During the year we implemented Anonymous Alerts, our suspension rate reduced over 50 percent."

- Mark Burroughs, Assistant Principal, San Pasqual Union School District, California

STUDENT QUOTE

"Anonymous Alerts is an actual tool that can be used to save lives. I think Anonymous Alerts is something that will be longstanding at GHS and something that will have benefits, no matter who the students are."

- Blake Reinken, Student Government President, Greenwich High School, Connecticut

Texas David's Law Compliance

Anonymous Alerts® brings Texas school districts into 100% compliance with the new David's Law (S.B. No. 179).

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Anonymous Alerts - Bully Reporting App and Incident Management

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Anonymous Alerts® student anti-bullying and safety reporting mobile app helps combat bullying other negative activity in schools by empowering students to come forward to help themselves and other students. Social and peer pressures are some of the hardest obstacles for students to overcome, now they can report bullying and safety issues quickly using our Anonymous Alerts® mobile app to report it®.

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No school district is immune to bullying and threats of violence. In fact, every 7 minutes a child is bullied at school and 1 in 3 teens report being bullied in their lifetime, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Dan Olweus, one of the international pioneers in bullying prevention defined that a person is bullied when they are exposed repeatedly to negative actions on the part of one or more persons. The bullying may be physical or verbal and the pattern is repeated over time and involves an imbalance of power.

Bullying prevention has become a major focal point for school districts, staff, and parents over the last few years, and many states have even created laws to help stop bullying. But many school districts are still seeking solutions to help prevent bullying within their district.

Dr. Scott Poland, internationally recognized expert on school psychology issues and expert K-12 SafeSchools Training author offers the following recommendations educators can implement to improve their prevention efforts:

Implement a school-wide program where all staff cooperates towards the common goal of reducing bullying.

Survey students to determine the extent and nature of the problem and to solicit student recommendations to reduce bullying.

Recognize that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth are often the target of bullying and increase support for those students. Excellent resources are available from the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network at www.glsen.org

Implement programs designed to reach bystanders and to gain a commitment from them to take action to stop the bullying instead of standing by and allowing bullying to take place. Research has found that the more bystanders are present then the less likely it is that someone will intervene. It has also been suggested that the term bystander is too passive and it should be replaced with the term witness as that term implies a responsibility to at least document what you observed.

Cyberbullying is a new phenomenon and a challenge for schools and families. Schools have been reluctant to get involved but the key question is did the cyberbullying disrupt learning? The answer is almost always yes and the administration needs to investigate the messaging, involve parents and maybe even law enforcement. The investigation will include interviewing the victim, perpetrator and any witnesses and will likely result in consequences for the perpetrator.

Teach staff to recognize bullying and to take immediate action to stop bullying when it occurs. Ensure that staff members do not try to make the bully and victim work it out. Ideally bully and victim should be separated and the bully given consequences and the victim given support. School staff should emphasize to the victim that it is not your fault and you do not deserve to be treated this way and we are going to get the bullying stopped.

Increase staff supervision in areas where bullying occurs the most. The survey of students will let schools know not only the scope of the problem but the area where it most occurs. Survey results have often found that bathrooms, hallways and buses are the places where the most bullying occurs.

For more in-depth instructions, review evidenced-based bullying prevention programs listed on the U.S. Department of Education website at www.stopbullying.gov

How SafeSchools Can Help
Here at SafeSchools, we're dedicated to making your district an even safer place to work and learn. No child should go to school in fear and we believe that technology can be an important part of the solution.

The SafeSchools Online Staff Training System includes a variety of expert-authored courses dedicated to helping your staff prevent incidents of bullying, including:

* State-specific versions of this course are available for AZ, IN, NJ, OH, OR, and WA.

We also offer our SafeSchools Alert Bullying/Tip Reporting System that allows students, staff and parents to confidentially report safety concerns to your administration 24/7/365 via text, phone, email, and website. Studies show that 57% of students would not report an incident if they could not do it anonymously. Track bullying incidents, see important trends, monitor repeat offenders and keep an eye on at-risk students through one online system.

Together we can all make a difference to help end bullying and its devastating consequences!

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No school district is immune to bullying and threats of violence. Bullying prevention has become a major focal point for school districts, staff, and parents over the last few years, and many states have even created laws to help stop bullying. But many school districts are still seeking solutions to help prevent bullying within their district.

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Stop Bullying on the Spot

When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time.

Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy.

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StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on bullying, cyberbullying, prevention and response.

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Don't know where to start?

Select an option below to start browsing by audience

Parents
Start here for information pertaining to Parents of military-connected children.

Students
Start here for information, resources, and programs for military-connected Students.

Professionals
Start here for information pertaining to Professionals of military-connected children.

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Military Child Education Coalition | MCEC

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The Military Child Education Coalition provides programs and resources to address the unique educational challenges that face military-connected children.

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Store / Courses / Educational / Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools

Description

FREE FOR LIMITED TIME ONLY!

Pre-Requisite Courses: None

Course Overview: Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools teaches school professionals how to create trauma-informed schools and classrooms. The training focuses on resilience, exploring the core values and beliefs of educators and places an emphasis on understanding how trauma impacts children and their school experience. Lastly, proactive strategies such as fostering connections, prioritizing social and emotional skills, establishing safety, and promoting play are presented. This course provides detailed information and concrete actions that answer not just the "why" but also the "how" to create the best classroom and school supports for traumatized students and the school professionals who serve them.

This course covers the first 6 steps of the 10 Steps to Create a Trauma-Informed Resilient School (if you have taken the previous version of the course: Trauma-Informed Schools)
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

Identify at least five questions to ask to promote a trauma-informed and resilience-focused mindset when working with students in the school setting.

Identify the four main protective factors of resilient youth.

Discuss the four universal needs and provide examples to support each.

Name three differences between grief and trauma reactions.

Identify the three main functions of the deep brain.

Identify at least three functions of the outer brain.

Describe how trauma impacts the deep and outer brain functions specifically in the school setting.

Identify at least five ways trauma and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms may overlap.

Identify at least five proactive strategies for every classroom.

Name at least three of the top fears of school-age children.

Included with Purchase:

A downloadable PDF of the Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools Guidebook and Presentation

CE Certificate of Completion (through approved providers)

Additional Details:

This course takes approximately 6-hours to complete and you do not have to complete it in one sitting.

Starr eLearning courses can be completed on laptops, tablets, or mobile devices - allowing the content to be accessed whenever and wherever convenient.

Once you purchase this course, you will have access to it for 1-year (365 days).

Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools is the first of five courses required to achieve Certified Trauma & Resilience Practitioner certification on Starr's education track. Click here to learn more!

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Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools - Starr Commonwealth

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Store / Courses / Educational / Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools FREE FOR LIMITED TIME ONLY! Pre-Requisite Courses: None Course Overview: Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools teaches school professionals how to create trauma-informed schools and classrooms. The training focuses on resilience, exploring the core values and beliefs of educators and places an emphasis on understanding how trauma impacts children and their school experience.

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Skip to main content

We can all help prevent suicide. The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.

988

¡Los servicios de texto y chat de 988 Lifeline ya están disponibles en español!
Haga clic aquí para obtener información sobre cómo acceder a todos los servicios en español.

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Stock photo by iStock.

The 988 Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States. We're committed to improving crisis services and advancing suicide prevention by empowering individuals, advancing professional best practices, and building awareness.

About The Lifeline

Anyone could be struggling with suicide. Find more specific resources below.

I'm Struggling With Individuals with Neurodivergence

We understand that every struggle is different. Experience the stories of people like you, and how they overcame crisis to find hope and recovery.
read stories of hope & recovery

First, you'll hear an automated message featuring additional options while your call is routed to your local 988 Lifeline network crisis center.

We'll play you a little music while we connect you to a skilled, trained crisis worker.

A trained crisis worker at your local center will answer the phone.

This person will listen to you, understand how your problem is affecting you, provide support, and get you the help you need.

988 Lifeline Center calls are free and confidential, and we're available 24/7.

Show What Happens When You Call The Lifeline

Everyone Plays A Role In Suicide Prevention

Get in touch

Call the Lifeline

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Skip to main content We can all help prevent suicide. The 988 Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States. 988 ¡Los servicios de texto y chat de 988 Lifeline ya están disponibles en español!

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The Suicide Prevention Resource Center at EDC is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), under Grant No. 5U79SM062297.

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Report Child Abuse-CPS

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State of Texas, DFPS, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, HHSC

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Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)

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DFPS protects the unprotected - children, elderly, and people with disabilities - from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.