Tag: goal setting and planning

Build Teen Social Emotional Skills

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Click here for your free Mental Health / Life Skills list

Teen Social Emotional Skills: A Comprehensive List

As a mental health educator, I knew the skills to help teens build their mental health or social emotional learning. These include communication, goal setting and planning, decision making, problem solving, and stress and personal management.

Furthermore, as a Training Specialist for the NYS Adolescent Services and Resource Network, I used a different list of social emotional learning skills. This list included “life skills,” the abilities teens need to gain their independence such as getting an education, budgeting, shopping, cooking, home management, etc.

A picture of a mental health/social emotional learning skills checklist for kids, teens or adults from aws Studios.art

Specific Teen Social Emotional Skills

In addition to the life skills, the resource included a list of “Invisible Skills” for “emotional issues.” These included: establishing identity, dealing with separation and loss; making peace with the past; and resolving survivor guilt. The resource, originally created to guide foster care parents and Youth Workers, can be used with any teen dealing with trauma, isolation, and bullying, etc.

Build Teen Mental Health

Indeed, to build teen mental health – social emotional skills , I have recreated the all-inclusive training list for you. You can access this easy-to-read pdf here free! And, here are resources I have created that are geared to help young people learn these skills.

Let’s All Build Teen Mental Health

A picture of a mental health/social emotional learning skills checklist for kids, teens or adults from aws Studios.art

With this free pdf, I hope to make it easier for any adult – parent, grandparent, relative, teacher, homeschooler, etc., – who is living or working with a teenager – to know and assess teen mental health skills. Let’s all help young people build these essential social and emotional skills!

Do you have a favorite list of mental health skills? Let us know about it in the Comments section.

Click here for your free pdf of my Mental Health / Life Skills list

Conquer Student Anxiety

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Transform Student Feelings of Overwhelm to Confidence

Do you find your students feeling overwhelmed? Students want to do a lot. Furthermore, they deal with expectations from their relationships with family, school and friends. It can feel like it’s all too much. And, giving up might be right around the corner. Roles and Goals™, a social emotional goal setting and planning activity, helps students prioritize their roles. This reduces feelings of being overwhelmed.

This image is an abstract depicting young people looking harried because of all the expectations they have and limited time to do it all.

Create Calm with Goal Setting and Planning

In particular, Roles and Goals™ focuses planning based on the preservation and enhancement student relationships. This includes family, school, teams, and friends. In addition, this planning exercise uses a schedule of one week. Importantly, this is a better than daily planning. It gives them an easier view of the context of their relationships and balancing their time.  

Solves a Huge Mental Health Issue

This image is a close up of the previous image of a young girl trying to keep the hands of a clock from moving. She's trying to stop time.

Roles and Goals™ solves the problem of how, often, young people feel overwhelmed with all that they are expected to do. The activity helps students assess their relationships, expectations, and time by prioritizing and organizing tasks for one week. This reduces overwhelming feelings of expectations by breaking down responsibilities little by little, bit by bit.

Student Focused with Real-World Application

Roles and Goals™ enhances learning by giving students a real-world problem to solve — their weekly schedule — and provides examples and prompts to guide them.

Find out more, get your Roles and Goals resource today and help your students create calm!

Master Your Mountain™ — Empower Student Success and Get Student Engagement with Goal Setting

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I Want to be a Doctor but I Don’t Think That Will Ever Happen!

One day, I asked two of my students who were buddies what they wanted to do when they were older. “Doctors — pediatricians,” they excitedly responded. They wanted to help little kids. But immediately after, they said they didn’t think it would happen. If kids don’t see a way, then we need to empower student success with goal setting…

Master Your Mountain™ For Student Success

Often young people haven’t had the opportunity to explore their future with guidance and information and opportunities to practice their goal setting and planning skills. That’s why I created Master Your Mountain™. It’s a fun activity that empowers middle school thru high school student success with goal setting.

Well Maybe I Can…

Master Your Mountain™ is an easy-to-use lesson plan for teachers, homeschoolers, or parents. The creative and colorful activity walks students through the process of planning for their future. First, students identify their dreams or goals. Then, the things they need to do to get there. In Master Your Mountain™, kids see how goals can be accomplished. By breaking down what seems overwhelming and impossible, they see the value of a step-by-step plan.

With Master Your Mountain™, you will see the lightbulbs go on and the wheels start turning! When the unattainable fog lifts, clear possibilities shine 1

A Great Classroom Management Tool

Master Your Mountain™ settles students into their own world and space. The resource also provides community building with peer to peer and group tasks. The activity can be accomplished in 1-3 classroom periods. All required materials are provided — just three fun worksheets— and scripts for teachers/parents, if needed.

Additionally, Master Your Mountain™ can be used in any classroom and with any subject.

This Won’t Work with my Students

And it won’t if you don’t follow up. But follow-up is easy. Once a month (though the more the better) check-in with your student or have them journal an update.

Boost your middle school, junior high, and high school students’ confidence and engagement with  Master Your Mountain™!
Click here to Find out more!

My Future Story Documentary, a fun and inspiring goal setting and planning activity

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A Favorite Goal Setting Activity

A picture of the My Future Story Documentary goal setting worksheet

One of my favorite mental health/social-emotional learning activities I developed is “My Future Story Documentary.” It teaches a goal setting and planning skill I wish I had learned when I was in grade school.

My Future Story

Back then, my future story was to sing, dance and act on stage. My mother pointed out New York City was probably the best place to pursue these goals but she didn’t think I should go. In her mind, NYC was a scary place and that was enough to stop me from moving forward with my idea.

In the “My Future Story Documentary” goal setting resource, one crucial step is for the “filmmaker” to identify their “Supporting Film Crew.” These are friends, family members, teachers, coaches, and clergy, etc. who support the maker’s future story, an important part for turning dreams into reality. And, like in my case, they may not always be a friend or a family member.

An aws Studios.art illustration of a adolescent ballerina - if only they had a goal setting activity like My Future Story.

Goal Setting and Support

My mother (whom I love dearly) may not have embraced my dream, but Marion, her best friend, did. Marion, who herself dreamed of performing and later became an award-winning ballroom dancer, noticed my talent. Though, I never shared my dancing and acting dreams with her. The “My Future Story Documentary” activity prompts students to identify supportive adults and share their dream with them.

It’s tough when immediate family are unable to be supportive. Nevertheless, there are many success stories where dreamers found support elsewhere.

Get the “My future story documentary” activity here!

Now as a picture book author/illustrator and mental health curricula supplier (with no regrets!), my supports are everywhere —family, friends, and colleagues — and it’s great!

What about you? What is your success story and who was your supportive “crew?”  

Give them a shout out in the “Comments” below!