Health: Mental Health
Understanding emotions, stress, coping skills, and support
Health: Mental Health
Understanding emotions, stress, coping skills, and support
Health - Grade 6-8
- 1
Define mental health in your own words. Include at least two parts of life that mental health can affect.
Think about feelings, thoughts, relationships, and choices.
Mental health is a person's emotional, social, and thinking well-being. It can affect how someone handles stress, makes decisions, learns in school, builds friendships, and takes care of daily responsibilities. - 2
Sort each item as a feeling, a thought, or a behavior: feeling nervous before a test, thinking "I can study one section at a time," taking three deep breaths, feeling angry after an argument, avoiding homework.
Feeling nervous before a test is a feeling. Thinking "I can study one section at a time" is a thought. Taking three deep breaths is a behavior. Feeling angry after an argument is a feeling. Avoiding homework is a behavior. - 3
A student has a big project due tomorrow and feels their heart beating fast, their stomach hurting, and their thoughts racing. Name the likely emotion or condition the student is experiencing and list two healthy coping strategies.
Look for body clues and think of safe ways to calm the body and mind.
The student is likely experiencing stress or anxiety. Two healthy coping strategies are breaking the project into smaller steps and taking slow deep breaths or a short movement break before starting. - 4
Explain the difference between everyday stress and stress that may need extra support.
Consider how long it lasts and how much it affects daily life.
Everyday stress is usually temporary and can often be managed with rest, planning, talking with someone, or healthy coping skills. Stress may need extra support when it lasts a long time, feels overwhelming, affects sleep or eating, causes someone to avoid normal activities, or includes thoughts of self-harm. - 5
Read the situation: Maya feels left out because her friends made plans without her. Write one unhelpful thought Maya might have and one more balanced thought she could try instead.
An unhelpful thought could be, "Nobody likes me." A more balanced thought could be, "I feel hurt, but I do not know the whole story. I can ask calmly or make plans with someone else." - 6
List three healthy coping skills a person could use when they feel overwhelmed. For each one, explain why it might help.
Healthy coping skills should be safe and should not harm the person or others.
One healthy coping skill is deep breathing because it can calm the body's stress response. Another is talking to a trusted person because support can help someone feel less alone. A third is making a step-by-step plan because it can make a large problem feel more manageable. - 7
Use the stress scale from 1 to 5. A 1 means calm, a 3 means stressed but able to cope, and a 5 means overwhelmed and needing help. Give one example of what a student might do at level 2, level 4, and level 5.
Higher numbers should include more support from other people.
At level 2, a student might keep working while taking a short break or drinking water. At level 4, a student might use a coping strategy, ask for help, or reduce distractions. At level 5, a student should reach out to a trusted adult right away and ask for support. - 8
A classmate says, "I have not slept well for weeks, and I do not enjoy anything anymore." What are two supportive things you could say or do?
One supportive thing is to listen without judging and say something like, "I am sorry you are going through that. I care about you." Another supportive action is to encourage the classmate to talk to a trusted adult, such as a parent, school counselor, teacher, or doctor. - 9
Identify whether each response is healthy or unhealthy coping: going for a walk, yelling insults at someone, writing in a journal, staying up all night scrolling, asking a counselor for help.
Going for a walk is healthy coping. Yelling insults at someone is unhealthy coping. Writing in a journal is healthy coping. Staying up all night scrolling is unhealthy coping because it can hurt sleep and mood. Asking a counselor for help is healthy coping. - 10
Describe how sleep, nutrition, and physical activity can affect mental health.
Think about how the body and brain work together.
Sleep helps the brain rest, focus, and manage emotions. Good nutrition gives the body and brain energy to function well. Physical activity can reduce stress, improve mood, and help a person feel more alert. - 11
Write a short plan for handling test anxiety before a quiz. Include one action to take the night before, one action right before the quiz, and one helpful thought.
The night before, a student could study in short review sessions and get enough sleep. Right before the quiz, the student could take slow breaths and read the directions carefully. A helpful thought could be, "I prepared, and I can do one question at a time." - 12
What is stigma related to mental health, and why can it be harmful?
Stigma can affect whether people feel safe asking for support.
Stigma is a negative judgment or unfair belief about people because of mental health challenges. It can be harmful because it may make people feel ashamed, hide their struggles, or avoid getting help. - 13
A friend tells you, "Do not tell anyone, but I have been thinking about hurting myself." Explain what you should do and why keeping this secret is not the right choice.
Safety is more important than promising secrecy.
You should tell a trusted adult immediately, such as a parent, teacher, school counselor, coach, or another responsible adult. Keeping this secret is not the right choice because the friend may be in danger and needs help from adults who can keep them safe. - 14
Create a personal support network by naming four types of trusted people a middle school student could go to for help with stress or emotions.
A personal support network could include a parent or guardian, a school counselor, a trusted teacher, a coach, a relative, a doctor, or a friend's parent. These people can listen, help make a plan, and connect the student to more support if needed. - 15
Read the statement: "People who ask for help with mental health are weak." Explain why this statement is inaccurate and write a more accurate statement.
Compare mental health care to getting help for an injury or illness.
The statement is inaccurate because asking for help is a responsible and strong choice. A more accurate statement is, "People who ask for mental health support are taking steps to care for themselves, just like people do when they need help with physical health."