Stress Busters Leadership Group

Today’s teens are grappling with high levels of stress and anxiety and are being bombarded with far too many choices. They also have learned from various forms of the media and from peers to pursue quick fix solutions to get immediate relief from emotional distress and/or major stressors in their lives. These quick fix solutions can take the following forms: cutting, self-starvation, bingeing and purging, binge eating, alcohol and substance abuse, and excessive Internet and video game usage. Although these behaviors may produce short-term pleasurable sensations, numb out bad thoughts and feelings, promote weight loss or gain, or offer places to escape to, in the long run, there will be psychological, physical, family, social, and academic performance costs over time.

The Stress-Busters’ Leadership Group is a 9-session skill-based, secondary prevention group specifically designed for adolescents plagued by self-destructive behavioral difficulties. Group participants learn how to cultivate positive virtuous habits and life skills that will eventually replace their self-destructive habits. Each hour-long group session combines a short presentation by the leaders on a specific coping and problem-solving skill set, in-session skill-building exercises, and weekly therapeutic experiments to do to further enhance skill development and promote change. Participants learn the following skills:

• Identify key strengths and resources and use in personal goal target areas
• Mindfulness meditation and practices skills
• Visualization skills
• Relationship effectiveness skills
• Mood management skills
• Finding more meaning, purpose, and harmony in one’s life
• Family therapy skills: Changing role behavior and target relationships in one’s family
• Altruism skills: Reaching out with loving-kindness and compassion to others
• Effective tools and strategies for managing school stress
• Leadership skills: Becoming expert stress-busting consultants and change agents in the school

The Stress-Busters’ Group will be offered throughout the school year at our 360 Wellness and Coaching . Each group is limited to 8 teens. The group will be offered on Monday evenings. Each group session is $75 and it is expected that participants commit to the entire group.