Life Skills and Coping Skills for Teens
A Reproducible Workbook for Groups and Individuals
Teen life is full of opportunities, challenges, demands, desires, obligations, and surprises. As teens attempt to negotiate this array of responsibilities, they also encounter profound physical, psychological, and cultural changes. These multiple transitional periods require teens to face WAY TOO MUCH, and they often find themselves overwhelmed. Some teens meet challenges head-on with innate resiliency, while others struggle to find meaning. Regardless of the teens’ location along the spectrum, all teens will benefit from learning life skills and coping skills for teens. Acquiring insight, building and maintaining relationships, learning stress management skills, and strengthening self-reliance and wellness skills will support teens as they strive to become well-balanced individuals.
The ultimate goal of Life Skills to Help Teens Balance WAY TOO MUCH! is to provide the therapist, group facilitator, or lay leader resources they can implement in individual or group experiences. Multifaceted activity techniques teach teens the essential life skills necessary to balance the diversity of demands placed on them and the demands they place on themselves.
The six chapters include these excellent coping skills for teens:
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Insight Skills – Insight is the ability to understand oneself, others, and the surrounding events or situations, to intuitively sense what is occurring, and to be able to reflect and discuss with deeper meaning. Developing skills that improve teens’ insight will assist teens in understanding themselves and their approach to life while acquiring the competence to make change when necessary.
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Relationship Skills – Building and maintaining positive, healthy, and nurturing relationships is a significant part of teen life. Relationships allow individuals to facilitate their expressions, reflections, and intimacy. Developing relationship skills will assist teens in building and maintaining their healthy social network.
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Stress Management Skills –The goal of balancing life demands is not to eliminate stress but to learn how to manage the stress. Stress is a part of life; individuals experience and cope using their preferred techniques. Developing stress management skills will assist the teens in identifying their stressors, stress symptoms, and various coping strategies. They must be equipped with an array of stress management skills.
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Self-Reliance Skills – To be one’s own person and to function independently is the aspiration of most teens, but the demands during this transitional phase are confusing. Developing self-reliant skills will assist the teen in learning to be responsible and accountable, regulating emotions, and developing trust. These skills contribute to a strong personal sense of Self, established by feeling independent and self-reliant.
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Wellness Skills – Healthy living and creating a sense of wellness is a lifelong endeavor. Engaging in wellness behaviors is essential to feel good and live a long, healthy life. Developing wellness skills will assist the teens in establishing good physical and mental health and promote an active lifestyle now and throughout their life span.
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Reflecting on Skills that Create Balance – This chapter is uniquely designed to enhance reflection, process the skills used throughout the workbook, and evaluate the teen’s understanding of insight, relationship, stress management, self-reliance, and wellness skills. Developing reflection and processing skills will assist the teen in continuous growth of the multitude of skills necessary TO BALANCE WAY TOO MUCH!
This workbook is also available in PDF eBook format, making it simple to store on your computer or mobile device and to access with a PDF viewer. The PDF format allows you to easily print copies of the activities and worksheets during therapy and counseling sessions.
Life Skills to Help Teens Balance Way Too Much Card Deck
Need a creative way to start your session? Use the Life Skills to Help Teens Balance Way Too Much Card Deck. The open-ended questions will break the ice and stimulate conversation. Use them alone or in conjunction with the corresponding page in the book.
Sample Questions:
What does it mean to have “insight"?
What does it mean to procrastinate? Share something you procrastinate about.
What coping technique could you use when you feel overwhelmed with sadness?
