Sandra VineSchool Counsellor

Mosman High School February 2015

Separate or interconnected?

1. A healthy sleep routine.

2. A healthy diet – eating regularly, breakfast, a balanced diet, staying hydrated, avoiding caffeinated and sugary drinks.

3. Regular exercise – being active helps lift our mood (releases endorphins), decreases stress and anxiety, improves physical health and gives us more energy.

The amygdala, located in the mid-brain, is the seat of our emotions.

During adolescence it increases in size. This causes the young person’s emotional centres to be in hyper-drive and means that adolescents have trouble regulating their emotions.

MindfulnessMindfulness is about making what you are doing right now the most important thing in the world.

Studies have shown mindfulness can:Improve our wellbeingIncrease our ability to deal with stressIncrease our levels of attention and concentrationHelp with anxiety, depression and addictive behavioursBoost our immune response, helping to defend against illness

Smiling Mind (Web and App-based program)

Relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxationDeep breathingYogaCreative visualisation

(Different things work for different people.)

Benefits:Increases our sense of belonging and purposeBoosts our happinessDecreases our stressImproves our self-confidence and self-worth

Actively plan for time with friends and family each week

The more people do, and the more pleasant activities they get involved in, the better they feel.

Help your young person identify activities they enjoy and those that give them a sense of purpose and achievement.

They then build these activities into their week.

Procrastination avoids but also creates anxiety.

When we avoid something we fear, our fear grows.

Help your young person develop an ‘escape plan’ against procrastination – e.g. talking to someone, rewarding themselves for taking the first step, joining with a peer or mentor to start the task.

We all have bad days.

Encourage your young person to be kind to themselves when things go wrong rather than being self-critical.

Suggest to them that they treat themselves the same way they would treat a friend in the same situation.