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 Strongly Agree Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree 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 decisionmaking (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 Check-ins Goals & Music 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- mindfulnessbenefits-students-learning/ Brigman, G., Campbell, C., & Webb, L. (2006). 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