Stress Strategies: Creative Interventions in Group Work By Mary Ann Thompson, MA, NCC March 20, 2014 VSCA Conference Richmond, VA.

Stress Strategies: Creative

Interventions in Group Work

By Mary Ann Thompson, MA, NCC

March 20, 2014

VSCA Conference

Richmond, VA

Focus

Strategies in group work that combat negative stress

Background: The scoop on stress Packets: Icebreakers, meditations,

games, resources An alternate method: Narrative

therapy is explored as a creative group counseling option

Icebreakers Energize a Group

Break the ice!

Likert-style

Statement:

Music is helpful in alleviating stress.

Perspectives: How do we think about stress?

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom” – Soren Kierkegaard

Not all stress is negative; we all have positive and negative stress in our lives.

Students tend to think of stress as negative.

Advertisements and other media tend to associate stress as a powerful, destructive force solved by medication.

Are we stressing about stress? Minimizing the negative stress aids in

academic, career, social, and of course the personal lives of our students

Around the World: Multicultural Perspectives on Student Stress Multicultural competency – Implicit in tone

and acceptance of student strategies Awareness of sources of stress and varied

experiences Unique stressors of new students,

immigrant students navigating an unfamiliar landscape, language barriers, acculturation stress

Awareness of dominant cultural narratives that place an emphasis on putting others first and silencing personal concerns, identified as “forbearance coping” (Wei & Liao, Heppner, Chao, & Ku, 2012)

Why Stress?

Possible causal factors: Chronic over-scheduling

High stakes testing

Financial concern at home

Change (moving, family system, friends)

Technology, lack of person-to-person contact

Medication

Genetics, cortisol levels

Diet

Sleep problems

Stress Outcomes:Non-Violence Frank, Bose, & Shrobenhauser-Clonan (2014) utilized

a yoga-infused Transformative Life Skills program in an alternative school

The program correlated with student nonviolent attitudes, reduced hostility

Diminished anxiety and depression levels in participants

A teacher founded the Mindful Life Project to reduce violence and teach self-regulation techniques to students with similar findings

Reduced violence

More respectful rather than argumentative responses

Reduced detentions, suspensions, absenteeism

Reported “calmer” feeling and strategy to sleep

(Schwartz, 2014)

Stress Outcomes: Learning

Optimal learning when a student is not negatively stressed or perceiving a lack of connection with peers and school Social-emotional learning (SEL) is

important Changes in school policies, Illinois

and New York investigating SEL standards

(Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011)

Stress Outcomes: Mind-Body Connections Mindfulness stimulates

activity in the

Pre-frontal Cortex

Associated with abstract thinking and decision-making (Schwartz, 2014)

Also emotional-regulation (Broderick, 2013)

Holistic Health

“The operation of the brain is more like an orchestra than a number of soloists” (Broderick)

http://themindfulclassroom.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/brain-poster.jpg

Group Work as a Stress Intervention

A counseling group is social; students learn from one another.

Much of the stress students face is social

Other stress is academic and students in the same grade level are likely to identify some of the same stressors (i.e. specific projects, written homework, class dynamics)

Students learn firsthand that they are not alone

Multicultural Merits of Group Counseling

Establishing systems of support minimizes acculturative stress

Group counseling fosters “relational engagement” (Orozco, 2010, p18)

Feeling of belonging, mentorship, learning social behaviors

Carries over to academic success, familiarizes the student with the school and classmates in a comfortable setting

Setting the Scene

Creating an atmosphere of calm Confidential space Ideally space apart from tables and chairs Not bright, florescent light during

meditations Free from outward distractions as feasible Activboard or meditation bell Introductory music

Enya song clip (20 seconds)

Icebreakers & Introductions Group Rules & Confidentiality

Encourage creativity: “Don‘t interrupt students when meditating”

Pre-test Student Buy In

Write the rules & sign “What do you most want to get out of our Stress

Strategies group?” Offer many opportunities for students to learn

stress strategies from each other Students Select: Meditation, Art, Game Day

Chocolate-Covered Strategies

Red: What does it mean to be successful? Orange: If you could create anything, what would

it be? Yellow: What is your favorite thing to do when you

are stressed? Green: If you could go anywhere, where would you

go? Blue: What is one quality in a friend that is most

important to you? Brown: What is your favorite story/book/movie?

Stick Your Stress on the Stress-o-meter

Ask students to identify the stressor and rate the stress level

Meditation Teaches

Being in the moment Mindful of your body Awareness of thoughts Freedom from judgment Focus

The same strategies are helpful test-taking strategies, listening skills, and steps to self-control Carries over to the classroom, knowing how to calm

self and be ready for sleep, routine, self-awareness

Teach Deep Breathing in Group

Simple practice: Hands on your sides to feel diaphragmatic breathing: Push out

Bring your arms up with your hands into fists that you raise high above your head as you breathe in, relax and let your hands fall loosely to your sides as you breathe out

Visualization Imagine you are a balloon filling up with air and expanding…

Think of your favorite place to be quietly by yourself… Go there.

Evoke the senses Meditation bell or music; breathing in deeply to the tune of the waves

Imagining the sight, smells of a space; bring it back to feeling now

Simple Muscle Tensing Focus on head, neck, shoulders… Or focus on tense areas

Teach Deep Breathing in Group

1. Gently Introduce – Be aware of tone

2. Count 3. Model 4. Teach

Distinguish deep breathing from hyper ventilating

Ask students about their understanding

Positive Self-Talk: It Can Be Taught!

“It is impossible to be happy without developing a positive outlook, and the inner feeling of a positive space that is ultimately impervious to outside events… We can train ourselves in the skills of being happy…We can liberate the positive force within us by dropping our negative self-perceptions and our inappropriate goals.”

– Richard Laynard, Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, 2005, p188-189

Teach Positive Self-Talk in Group

“I am” exercises Ice breaker question: “What do

you say to yourself when you are feeling really stressed?”

Practice replacing negative thoughts

Games that Stress Strategies 4 Corners Likert-Scale: Strongly Disagree,

Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree

Ex. “Sometimes when I’m stressed, I draw”

Yogi Says & other yoga card games

Train Wreck as a Stress Crash Course

Tables in a circle and one person in the

center

Find another seat if the statement applies to you

Ex. “I listen to music when I’m really stressed”

Discuss Strategies

Identify stress: “I know I’m stressed when. . .”

Ways to cope with stress Energy Out Relaxing: Sleeping patterns Being with others Deep breathing Meditation & Music

Check-ins Goals

Student Feedback from Stress Strategies Group

Qualitative (post-test): What is something you learned in

group? “Meditation” “How to calm down” “How other people handle stress” “I can tell other people things without

getting embarrassed”

Student Narratives

The empowerment in finding one’s voice

Arranging or rearranging an individual’s personal story

Shifts can be made: Perspectives on self and situation Some control Life changes

Just as an author writes a work, a student can discover the authorship of his or her story

A Case for Narrative Counseling Despite the fact that narrative counseling is not

a popular approach in American schools, there is international support for this approach (Winslade & Monk, 2007)

Relevant to group practice Nonjudgmental approach Culturally relevant Writing can be therapeutic Interdisciplinary offerings for schools at a time

when writing has been identified as a particularly weak area for American students (Teach Thought, 2011)

A Narrative Group Counseling Model

Nancy Paulsen’s Model: To build confidence and improve student focus on schoolwork

Remind students to “challenge a challenge”

Introduce format and sharing standards

Counselor notetaking and sharing Emphasis on crafting an alternative story

Plan an End of Group Celebration early

Use of cum folders, teacher comments, group feedback

Creative activities personify a character in the story

Follow-up questions for art or writing Ex. “How big are you compared to Anger?”

(Winslade & Monk)

A Narrative Stress Strategies Group

Both creativity and journaling are identified as helpful ways to cope with stress

A narrative group approach to stress will involve an individual focus on goals and stress as well as a sharing of ways to cope and learn from one another

A Narrative, Stress Strategies Group Emphasis on the personal story

Sample Exercises:

Draw your stress as a character in your story. Is it male or female? Person? Creature? A force?

Write about an extremely stressful experience. How did you get through it? What did you learn? (Free-writing exercise)

Embark on a “mindful walkabout” (Broderick, 2013). Write about something you observed in nature. What is it that stands out to you?

Write a simple meditation for group. What are we saying to Stress?

Discuss: What helps stress to be less present in our lives?

Thank You

Thank You for Your Attention!

Enjoy a Stress-Free & Optimal-Learning

Day

References Barseghian, T. (2013, September 12). Why teaching mindfulness benefits

students’ learning. In P. Broderick’s, Learning to breathe: A Mindfulness curriculum for adolescents to cultivate emotional regulation, attention, and performance. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/09/why-teaching-mindfulness- benefits-students-learning/

Brigman, G., Campbell, C., & Webb, L. (2006). Student success skills: Helping students develop the academic social and self-management skills they need to succeed. Group manual. Boca Raton, FL: Atlantic Education Consultants.

Condon, L. (2009). The Warm up ring: Keys to energizing your group. Clearwater, FL: L. Conlon.

Duncan, S. (2003). Present moment awareness: A simple, step-by-step guide to living in the now. Novado, CA: New World Library.

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta‐analysis of school‐based universal interventions. Child development,

82(1), 405- 432.

Enya. (2000). Who can say. On A day without rain. Access date: March 13, 2014. Retrieved from iTunes Store: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store

Frank, J., Bose, B., & Schrobenhauser-Clonan, A. (2014). Effectiveness of a school-based yoga program on adolescent mental health, stress coping strategies, and attitudes towards violence: Findings from a high-risk sample. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 30(1), 29-49.

References Global Young Leaders Conference. (2013). Faculty instructions.

Congressional Youth Leadership Council.

Kierkegaard, S. (2014). The concept of anxiety: A simple psychologically oriented deliberation in view of the dogmatic problem of hereditary sin. (A. Hanay, Trans). New York, NY: Liveright Publishing Corp.

Laynard, R. (2005). Happiness: Lessons from a new science. New York, NY: The Penguin Press.

Marino, G. (2012, March 17). The Danish doctor of dread. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/the-danish-doctor-of- dread/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

The Mindful Classroom: Taking a Mindful Approach to Teaching, Learning, & Life. (2012, October 13). Teaching the Brain. Retrieved from http://themindfulclassroom.wordpress.com

Olsen , K. (2013, October). Strategies and school counseling programs to address students’ mental health and wellness. Session presented at the Virginia School Counselor Association Fall Institute, Richmond, VA.

Schwartz, K. (2014, January 17). Low-income schools see big benefits in teaching mindfulness. MindShift. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/01/low-income-schools-see-big-

benefits-in-teaching-mindfulness/

References Suarez-Orozco, C. (2010). Promoting academic engagement

among immigrant adolescents through social-family-community collaboration. Professional School Counseling, 14(1), 15-26.

Teach Thought. (2012, November 6). 12 data points detailing the problem of poor writing in America. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/industry/12-data-points-detailing-the- crisis-of-poor-writing-in-america/

Ward, K. (2010). Worried sick: break free from chronic worry to achieve mental & physical health. New York, NY: Berkley Books.

Wei, M., Laio, K.Y., Heppner, P.P., Chao, R.C., & Ku, T. (2012). Forbearance coping, identification with heritage culture,

acculturative stress, and psychological distress among Chinese international students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59(1), 97, 106.

Winslade, J.M. & Monk, G.D. (2007). Narrative counseling in schools: Powerful & brief. (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.