Session 1

Stress Management Group

School Counselor: Brandon Turner _________________________Date: 5/17/2015

Activity: The Truth about Stress (Introduction, Expectations, & SelfAssessment)
Grade(s): 9th
ASCA Student Standards (Domain/Standard/Competencies):
Personal/Social Development:
A. Students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to
help them understand and respect self and others. Student will learn Stress
managements techniques and learn the nature of their own personal
stressors
Learning Objective(s):
- Students will get acquainted with group members and work with group
- Students will establish group guidelines
- Students will identify stressors for themselves and others
Materials:
- Stress Management folder for each participant
- Small Group Counseling Guidelines
- Pre-Group Stress Management Self Assessment form
- Stress: Myth or Not (Activity Sheet) & Stress: Myth or Not: Answer Sheet
Myth Busters (Activity Sheet)
- Tracking Stress and Stressors: Part I (Activity Sheet)
- Session 1 Classroom Teacher/Parent/ Guardian Follow-Up Suggestions
Procedure:
1. To begin group leader will ask the question, What are your personal
stressors? The Leader will then elicit the group members to tell about a time
when they were stressed and what happened as a consequence of that
stress.

2. After completing this, the counselor will welcome members and give a brief
description of the group; emphasize stress as an emotion everyone
experiences. Go over the Small Group Counseling Guidelines slide show and
give each group member a printed copy to keep in his or her personal Stress
Management folder.
3. Ask group members for any additional guidelines or rules they want to add
4. Give each student a folder labeled with his or her name. Explain that
folders are for important papers related to the Stress Management group; ask
students to write the name of the group on the folders and put their copies of
the Small Group Guidelines inside.
5. Give each student a Stress Management Self Assessment form and have
the students complete the form being as honest as possible.
6. Distribute to students Stress: Myth or Not Student Activity Sheet; have
students complete the sheet.
7. Distribute the myth-buster answers to Myth or Not. Ask students to
compare their answers to the correct answers. Then, lead a discussion
about the answers.
Attempt to provide examples of how the activities and support of the group
members can help them have more control of their lives and control of their
stress.
8. Have students review their stress self-assessment. Ask students to share
results and encourage all students to participate.
9. Compare responses on their stress self-assessment to the situations they
related during the in the beginning of the session. Ask students to discuss the
examples of when they were stress and their perception of how/if they could
have controlled it.
10. Help students identify and develop stress management goals they want
to set due to the results of their assessment and the discussion. Students
should write their personal stress management goals on the Self-Assessment
Form and in their notebooks/planners. Students should be reminded to
remember to track their progress toward their goals throughout the next
week.
11. Formative Assessment: Ask the students about their understanding of
their feelings of stress. What circumstances bring up feelings of stress? What

are major sources of their stress? What other feelings did the circumstance
create? Emphasize the times students kept cool and gave a positive and
acceptable reaction.
12. Group Assignment: Ask students to write down when they have feelings
of stress throughout the week to review during the next session. Students
have a stress log they can use in their stress folders. This should include the
date, the source of their stress and how they dealt with the stressors they
were presented with. Remind them about tracking their progress toward their
personal goals.
13. Distribute & Explain Session 1 Classroom Teacher/Parent/ Guardian
Follow-Up Suggestions.
Process Data:
Minimum of 5, Maximum of 10 students. The group is invitation or referral only
_________________________________________________________________________________
Perception Data:
Stress Management Self-Assessment. Teacher/Parent/Guardian Follow-up
suggestions.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Outcome Data:
Week one data from group assignment.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Follow Up:
Counselor should reach out to classroom teachers and parents and provide them
with follow-up suggestions for this session. Teacher and parents can help monitor
students discipline/referral charts as well as look out for positive signs/results.
Encourage teachers to support students efforts by asking them to share their
new understanding of their stress and their personal stress management goals.
Remind and assist them in writing down when they have feelings of stress.