"How can young people 'Self Regulate' if they have lost the ability to connect or listen to the self? " Lauara Kinsler, Sure Start
As mentioned earlier, this tool kit is for Primary School Children. That said, I do believe some of the activities can be introduced to younger High School students in S1 or S2. In any case, please find below some resources specifically for teenagers you may find useful:
cavuhb.nhs.wales/files/resilience-project/resilience-project-logo-adjustments/mindfulness-guide-pdf/
There are some great books for teens:
Mindfulness for Teens in 10 Minutes a Day: Exercises to Feel Calm, Stay Focused & Be Your Best Self
The Little Book of Mindfulness by Patrizia Collard
The Mindfulness Journal for Teens: Prompts and Practices to Help You Stay Cool, Calm, and Present by Jennie Battistin
There are lots of Mindfulness colouring in books which can be a great way to process a day.
I would encourage having arts and crafts available in some quiet spaces. Again, origami is a great way to ‘fold inwards’, no pun intended! I know PlayDoh is for younger children but I also think it’s a great way to process feelings.
Music is another great way in to contribute to a calm space/environment/atmosphere. Is there a room in your school, you can have some calming music playing?
The body scan is a simple and great practice to lean into for teens.
I recently read about an Australian study on adolescents and the impact of poor sleep on mental health(1). In the study of more than 500 young people aged 11 to 16 years old, poor sleep predicted increases in generalised anxiety, social anxiety, depression and eating disorders. While a number of factors are at play, and there are a number of strategies that can help (no devices at least an hour before bed, repeated bed rituals), what I had also read in another study, was that ‘listening to a 15-minute mindfulness body scan a night halved the time taken (for adolescents) to fall asleep’ contributing to more sleep across an average night. If you start to give your kids some tools now that support good sleep, then they may be more likely to lean into them as they get older.
•There are LOTS of you tube and tik tok videos for teenagers with guided meditations. Here is an example: 5-Minute Body Scan for Kids & Teens (ref: Dr Ashley DeLuccia).
•Lots of different apps also offer Body Scans. My go to app at the moment is Insight Timer. Insight Timer — #1 Free Meditation App
References
(1) Richardson, C., Magson, N. R., Oar E., Fardouly, J., Johnco, C., Freeman, J., & Rapee, R. M., (2024) Repetitive Negative Thinking Mediates the Relationship Between Sleep Disturbance and Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Depression, and Eating Disorders in Adolescence: Findings From a 5-Year Longitudinal Study. Clinical Psychological Science, 1-24.
(2) Gradisar, M., Kahn, M., Micic, G. et al. (2022) Sleep’s role in the development and resolution of adolescent depression. Nature Reviews Psychology v1, 512–523.