Why is this group called Brain Power?
Teaching children who worry about their brains is an important step in helping them understand why they feel the way they do (stomachaches, headaches, etc.), encourages them to take control, and provides them with tools to help regulate thoughts and feelings. Instead of teaching children to seek external reassurance, we're empowering children with the knowledge that they are STRONG enough and SMART enough to handle worry!
We use several resources throughout this group. I've included links to recommended books for children and adults, below.
Session 1: What is Worry?
During their first group, students will be welcomed to group, learn group norms and expectations, and take a pre-group survey to help them track their growth.
Session Objectives:
Students will define and understand group norms
Students will become acquainted with each other
Students will verbally demonstrate understanding of what worry is
Students will differentiate between helpful worry and unhelpful worry
Students will understand their relationship with worry
Vocabulary:
group norms - rules about how group members should interact
confidentiality - keeping someone else's information private unless they give you permission to share
worry - a feeling we have when we're not sure what is going to happen; can be experienced as thoughts, emotions, and sensations. Normal, temporary, manageable, and short-term.
anxiety - an intense feeling of concern or fear about the future; can be experienced as thoughts, emotions, and sensations; excessive, persistent, interferes with what you have to and want to do, and long-term.
helpful worry - encourages you to prepare, persist, and problem solve.
unhelpful worry - stop you from doing things you want to or have to do; lasts a long time.
Students learned that worry often appears as "what if" thoughts in their brains. These what if thoughts often spiral "what if that" to "what if this" and so on. Have your student think about which what if thoughts pop into their brains the most at home and at school.
🎬Watch Inside Out 2. Ask the following quesitons - how does Anxiety’s focus on future planning both help and hinder Riley? Reflect on times in your life where anxiety has been both a motivator and a challenge.
📖Worry Says What by Allison Edwards
📖The Whatifs by Emily Kilgore
📖 Adults - Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents by Lynn Lyons
Sessions 2 & 3: Your Brain Team
Session Objectives:
Students will learn about three parts of their brain - the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex
Students will understand that there is a thinking (upstairs) part of the brain and a feeling (downstairs) part of the brain
Students will be able to identify where each part of the brain is located
Students will understand that each part has a different job as part of the brain team
Students will identify which part of the brain is responsible for which thought, feeling, or behavior
Vocabulary:
amygdala - the guard dog/warrior of the brain team; alerts you to possible danger
hippocampus - the "memory keeper"; helps with learning and memory
prefrontal cortex - the leader/wise owl; helps problem solve and make decisions
thought - words or pictures in our brains; can include memories
feeling - how you experience emotion; we use words like happy, frustrated, excited, etc.
behavior - things that we do or say in response to different situations
Students learned the jobs of their Brain Team members - the PFC (prefrontal cortex) or wise leader of their Brain Team, the amygdala or brave warrior/guard dog, the hippocampus or memory saver.
For the second activity, have your child consider one common worry they might have. Then have them consider what each part of their brain might say to them in response to that worry.
🎬Watch this video by Kids Want to Know with your child. This can be a super helpful tool to explaining how big emotions can cause us to act in BIG ways.
Read:
📖 Ups and Downs by Karen Young
📖Poppy and the Overactive Amygdala by Holly Provan
📖 Adults - Flooded: A Brain-Based Guide to Help Children Regulate Emotions by Lynn Lyons
Session 4: Listening to My Body, Part 1
Session Objectives:
Students will describe different roles of the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex
Students will be able to identify where each part of the brain is located
Students will understand that each part has a different job as part of the brain team
Students will identify how worry feels in their body
Vocabulary:
amygdala - the guard dog/warrior of the brain team; alerts you to possible danger
hippocampus - the "memory keeper"; helps with learning and memory
prefrontal cortex - the leader/wise owl; helps problem solve and make decisions
physical sensations/body signals - a feeling or experience in their body, like a tummy ache, a tingling feeling, or a heart beating fast, that can be linked to their emotions
Students reviewed the jobs of their Brain Team members - the PFC (prefrontal cortex) or wise leader of their Brain Team, the amygdala or brave warrior/guard dog, the hippocampus or memory saver.
They also talked about how worry feels in different parts of their bodies - heart, lungs, muscles, body temperature, head, eyes, and so on. They also explained how this might come out in words or behaviors. Consider having your child watch this video about "listening to your body".
Read - For Kids:
📖 Kids -
Listening to My Body by Gabi Garica
Talking About Feelings by Jayneen Sanders
📖 Adults
Session 5: Listening to My Body, Part 2
Session Objectives:
Students will learn about their adrenal glands and stress response system
Students will understand how the amygdala and stress response system cause physical reactions in their bodies
Students will relate the stress response to their physical sensations or body signals
Vocabulary:
amygdala - the guard dog/warrior of the brain team; alerts you to possible danger
prefrontal cortex - the leader/wise owl; helps problem solve and make decisions
adrenal glands - two triangle shaped glands or "party hats" that sit on top of the kidneys; they receive messages from the amygdala to activate and release adrenaline/epinephrine (i.e. they spray "super juice" to power your body to fight, flight or flee.
Students created a visual to show their amygdala responding to worry, sending signals to their adrenal glands ("party hats") and the adrenaline coursing through their body. Students were encouraged to think of their amygdala as characters (either nervous "guard dogs", angry "guard dogs", or "brave warriors"). They were encouraged to think of their adrenal glands as "party hats" that spray ("super juice" or "silly string" or "confetti") through their body to get their bodies ready to fight, flight, or freeze .
Ask your child to explain their "stress response" to you. I will message each adult with a picture of their student's activity.
Read - For Kids:
📖 Kids -
Hey Warrior by Karen Young
Specifically pages these pages
📖 Adults
Understanding the Stress Response by Howard E. LeWine
Session 6: My Triggers
Session Objectives:
Students will identify stressors in their lives
Students will differentiate between situations that feel stressful versus those that don't
Students will try to identify commonalities between situations that cause stress and those that don't
Vocabulary:
stressor - an event or situation that causes a stress reaction in the body (fight, flight or freeze response)
Using the list to the right:
Ask your child to identify which stressors are most stressful for them (on a scale of 1 (none) to 5 (overwhelming))
Have your child identify how it feels in their body when they are stressed
Ask your child how it effects their friendships and schoolwork when they are stressed
Going to the doctor or dentist
Storms or bad weather
Changes to pick up or drop off routines
Falling asleep alone
Loud noises
Something happening to a loved one
Getting or being sick
Being away from family
Friendships
Making someone upset
📖 Adults
What Makes Stress "Good" or "Bad"? by Devon Frye, Psychology Today
Stress Makes it Harder to Recognize Danger by Lydia Denworth, Psychology Today
Session 7: Circle of Control
Session Objectives:
Students will identify the difference between problems in their control and problems out of their control
Students will begin to think about coping strategies/problem solving skills
ASCA Mindsets/Behaviors:
Demonstrate effective coping skills when faced with a problem
CASEL Domains: Self-Management, Responsible Decision Making
Vocabulary:
Control mean being in charge of something
Influence is the power you have to change the way someone else thinks, feels, or acts
When your child expresses a worry, use the worksheet to the right to process:
Name the worry.
Ask your child to write or draw four things that are in their control and four things that are outside their control.
Help your child focuses on/problem solve for the things they CAN control (changing their thoughts, breathing, preparing a plan, etc.)
Watch this video with your child to help them understand the circle of control. This helps students feel more capable to manage their own worries. They can use this tool independently to seek internal reassurance instead of relying on external reassurance from adults.
Session 8: What is CBT?
Session Objectives:
Students will learn the connection between thoughts, feelings and actions
Students will practice identifying the thought-feeling-action cycle in given situations
Students will reflect on helpful and unhelpful thoughts
CASEL Domains: Self-Management, Self-Awareness
Vocabulary:
Thought are silent words and pictures inside our brains
Feelings can refer to physical sensation ("body signals") or emotions inside our bodies
Actions are what we do or say with our body or our voice/communication
Cognitive refers to how we think and learn
Behavior is the way a person acts or behaves
When your child expresses a worry, use the worksheet to the right to process:
Name the worry.
Ask your child to write their thought in the the thought bubble. To help children understand thoughts, I ask them to pretend their brain has a voice (i.e. "Hey Mrs. T! They all laughed at you!)
Ask your child to identify their emotion AND their physical sensations/body signals
Ask your child to identify what they did (how they acted in the moment or how they wanted to act)
On the reverse side is how they could change their thoughts or feelings to change their actions/reactions.
Session 9: Chain Reactions
Session Objectives:
Students will identify the difference between problems in their control and problems out of their control
Students will begin to think about coping strategies/problem solving skills
ASCA Mindsets/Behaviors:
Demonstrate effective coping skills when faced with a problem
CASEL Domains: Self-Management, Responsible Decision Making
Vocabulary:
Control mean being in charge of something
Influence is the power you have to change the way someone else thinks, feels, or acts
When your child expresses a worry, use the worksheet to the right to process:
Name the worry.
Ask your child to write their thought in the the thought bubble. To help children understand thoughts, I ask them to pretend their brain has a voice (i.e. "Hey Mrs. T! They all laughed at you!)
Ask your child to identify their emotion AND their physical sensations/body signals
Ask your child to identify what they did (how they acted in the moment or how they wanted to act)
On the reverse side is how they could change their thoughts or feelings to change their actions/reactions.