Reducing anxiety & building resilience thinking skills

Lesson 1
“I FEEL ANXIOUS.” What does that mean?
 Manage regular

stress with a
minimum of

anxiety.
• Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension,
worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood
pressure.
• Sometimes recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns.
• Sometimes people may avoid certain situations out of
worry. (www.apa.org/topics/anxiety)
• Anxiety is the feeling of worry, apprehension or dread that something bad is going to
happen or that you can’t cope with a situation.
• It’s also the physical reactions that go with the feeling, like ‘butterflies in the stomach’,
tension, shakiness, nausea and sweatiness.
• And it’s behaviour like avoiding what’s causing the anxiety or wanting a lot of reassurance.
• Anxiety can happen in response to a specific situation or event, but it continues after the
situation has passed. It can happen without a specific situation or event too. Anxiety is a
common and natural part of life.
• Everyone feels anxious sometimes.
(raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/mental-health-physical-health/stress-anxiety-depression/anxiety )
“What do we worry about? What do we become anxious about?”
 Growing Up in Australia – Tweens and teens: What do they worry about? - www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3cdltKR8yM

8
“WHY WOULD TWEENS AND TEENS WORRY ABOUT THESE THINGS?”
• Tweens and teens worried most about issues affecting their families.
• Two in three 10–11 year-olds were worried about a family member becoming seriously ill or injured and over
half were worried about fighting in their family.
• Just over two in five 10–11 and 12–13 year-olds were worried about terrorism or war, and around a third were
worried about the environment.
• Family-related issues were particularly concerning for children from less advantaged and culturally and
linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
• Children from CALD backgrounds were more likely to be concerned about global issues, and alcohol and drug
use.
• Anxiety about changing schools was higher among 10–11 year-olds, while 12–13 year-olds were more likely to
worry about not doing well at school.
• Girls worried more when it came to their appearance and fitting in with friends.
 The Neuroscience of Anxiety - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wCbwpnIJsA

10
Buckets and Taps
 Stress Bucket - www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KYC5SsJjx8

12
Building optimism
 The Adolescent Brain - www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O1u5OEc5eY

14
 Things People With Anxiety Want Their Friends to Know - www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBwa4Mphf08&t

15
 Lesson 2
Bottom-up thinking
A Hand-Model of the Brain
 Dan Siegel’s Hand Model of the Brain - www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTnCMxEnnv8

19
5 Cutler, H. C., Dalai Lama 2014, The Essence of
Happiness – A GUIDEBOOK FOR LIVING, p. 79
Hand Model of the Brain

SMART PART
LIMBIC SYSTEM
TENSE MUSCLES
RELAX
FLIGHT
PRE-FRONTAL
FALSE ALARM
HAND MODEL
FLIP YOUR LID
FIGHT
AMYGDALA
SAVE YOUR LIFE
DANGER
BRAIN
FREEZE
BELLY
CORTEX
BREATHE

Appendix 1 – Word Search

Understanding the Brain Hand Brain Model, Dr. Dan Siegal

Appendix 2 - Understanding the Brain – Hand Brain Model, Dr Dan Siegel - www.adventurousschoolcounselor.com/adventures-in-counseling/a-model-for-mindfulness
 Lesson 3
Understanding top-down &
how to manage it
I
will….
.
 Teenage Brain and Decisions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trAs25Ls1ts

29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTczn5RUgnk
• planning • checking (monitoring) where
• organisation we are up to
• decision-making • reasoning
• problem-solving • comprehension
• impulse control • creativity
• goal-setting • perseverance.
• plan-making
• orchestra conducting
Helping the PFC to ‘get it right’)
 Cognitive Distortions - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Niy54VJWPFE

33
 What are cognitive distortions? - www.youtube.com/watch?v=otFrNM7PnME

34
 planning,
organisation,
…. …. decision-making,
problem-solving,
impulse control,
goal-setting,
plan-making,
orchestra conducting,
checking (monitoring) where
we are up to,
reasoning,
comprehension,
creativity,
perseverance.
 I can’t
stand the
tension!
 Cookie Monster Practices Self-Regulation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0YDE8_jsHk&t=118s

37
38
 Cognitive distortion checksheet 1-5

40
 Cognitive distortion checksheet 6-10

41
 Lesson 4
Understanding bottom-up & how to manage it
Resources
• Video - Anita part 1 – 1 min 34 sec - Anita describes her anxiety over bees and wasps: www.anxietycanada.com/articles/anitas-story/?
_ga=2.126825163.773264130.1642333434-1517418795.1642333434
• Video - Anita part 2 – 2 min 56 sec - experiencing bees and wasps – virtual and then real. Anita describing her exposure ladder: www.anxietycanada.com/articles/anita-
learning-to-manage-fears-exposure/
• Anita’s Exposure Ladder – This ladder is appended at the end of this lesson: www.anxietycanada.com/articles/anitas-fear-ladder/
• Video – Rob – approx. 15 years – 1 min 53 sec – Rob explains his anxiety about talking with girls. Shows first step on Exposure Ladder:
www.anxietycanada.com/articles/rob-making-steps-to-social-success-exposure/
• Exposure Ladder blank worksheet – appended at the end of this lesson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTczn5RUgnk
 Anita's exposure ladder

https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/anitas-fear-ladder/
 Lesson 5
Understanding top-down &
how to manage it
 I
will….

I…
.
• pre-frontal cortex,
• amygdala,
• brain cells,
• neurons,
• synapses,
• pruning,
• cortisol,
• melatonin and
• the brain’s reward centre – the www.recoveryanswers.org/recovery-101/brain-in-recovery/

nucleus accumbens.
www.pinterest.co.kr/pin/334814553543260521/?d=t&mt=login
 Click to add text

55 The Teenage Brain Explained - www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiduiTq1ei8&t=548s

 Lesson 6
Understanding top-down &
how to manage it
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 Lesson 7
Drawing everything together
Mohamed's story

Mohamed is 15 and in Year 10. His one of five children who emigrated with his parents as Afghani refugees in 2021.
Mohamed’s English is fine for casual talk with the class, but he finds lessons in English to be difficult. Although he
hasn’t told anyone, the teacher speaks too quickly for Mohamed to understand. Mohamed has trouble with the
teachers’ accents because he has much more familiar with Americans’ accents. (In Afghanistan, his father was an
interpreter and so Mohamed spoke with many American service people.)

When Mohamed enters the school grounds his chest starts to feel tight, and he has some trouble breathing. He
hyperventilates and feels just a little dizzy – not enough to faint but just enough to feel uncomfortable. When he is
in class, he sits at the back hoping that the teacher will not call upon him to answer questions. He keeps his head
down pretending to be looking at his book when the teacher is talking to the class. When the teacher circulates
around the room Mohamed feels worried that the teacher will stop at his desk and so he often asks if he can go
outside to get a drink because he feels thirsty.
Yesterday Mohamed skipped school because there was a test coming up and he was worried that he wouldn’t do well.
Elise's story
Elise is 13 and has been placed in a Year 9 class with students who are 12 months older than she. She was placed in
this class because she was handling Year 7 work so well that the school decided she could skip Year 8. In Year 7 she
was confident and always willing to give every challenge a hot shot but now, in Year 9, she has changed. She is
hardly paying attention in class and often says that she has forgotten to bring her necessary textbook or exercise
book. Secretly she knows that she has deliberately left her textbooks or exercise books at home under her bed.

On test days she has been faking feeling unwell and her mother, believing Elise, has allowed her to stay at home.
The last time this happened the teacher was absent on test day and, when Elise returned to school on the following
day, the absent teacher was back and proceeded to hand out the test papers. Elise freaked out, pushed her seat
back, and ran out of the classroom crying.
Jordan's story
Jordan is 14 and thinks he is not ‘smart’. He’s just waiting for the day that he turns 15 and is no longer compelled to be at school.
Years ago – when he was about 7 or 8 – he remembers someone who said that some kids are just “not cut out for book learning.
They’re okay with their hands but that’s all.” That’s what Jordan thinks about himself.

He’s very good with numbers and does maths in a flash. He reads electronics magazines and has built a metal detector and an
electric beam ‘security system’ for his bedroom. He watches scientific YouTube videos and can talk about all sorts of scientific
things but, when it comes to English, History, Geography, Art & Design – he hardly ever does his homework, and he usually gets E
on his report. When it’s time for those subjects he’ll go missing for 50 minutes or tell his teacher some story to get out of class.
The problem seems to be that he can’t be bothered with writing. He says it’s a waste of time. Why can’t he just tell people what he
knows? He doesn’t tell his parents or his teachers or other kids that he thinks it’s just too hard for him and that he must be just
dumb. “I can’t stand it! It’s the worst thing out just having to write stuff”.

Unfortunately, he’s not only frustrated for about half the time he’s at school; he’s making it really hard to become the scientist that
he’d really like to be.
Jazmina's story
Jazmina (Jaz) becomes upset when her girlfriends don’t fall in with what she wants. The other day they were trying
to work out what they would do on the last day of the holidays. They could go window-shopping at the local
Westfield. They could go to the swimming pool for the day. They could go to the movies. They could catch buses
and trains for a Mystery Tour. Jaz wanted to go window-shopping but the other three thought it would be a great
idea to map out a Mystery Tour. Rather typically – for Jaz – there was a blow up. Three girls went on the Mystery
Tour and Jaz stayed home.
She complained to her mother, “They make me so mad! I can’t stand them! I hope I never see them again!” She
meant the last bit about never seeing them again BUT next Monday was the first day of school and 3 of the 4,
including Jaz, were in the same home class. Jaz thought that was poison!
On Monday morning Jaz refused to get dressed for school. “It’s not my fault! I’m not the problem! It’s them! They’d
make anyone mad and angry, and they make me mad and angry, too. I can’t go to school if they’re there. I feel sick
in the stomach just thinking about it! And I’ve got a headache, too! See what they do to me?”
This isn’t the first time that Jaz has been like this.