- Mid-terms, APs and Finals can put a lot of pressure on students to prioritize academic success over mental health.
- Student stress levels tend to be high during testing periods, creating a tense school environment. While academic success is important, taking care of yourself and your mental health creates the groundwork to make achievement possible. And of course, our mental health always comes first.
- Any students taking tests
- The entire student body
- School Mental Health Team (counselors, social workers, psychologists etc)
- Teachers
- First, make sure your club has received the proper approvals to implement this campaign. Work with your club sponsor and/or administration to choose a week that works best for your school.
- TIP: Think about what might be more impactful at your school: a campaign with smaller activities during testing week or a campaign with more immersive activities before or after testing week
- After you have identified a week for your campaign, begin planning the activities. Consider setting themes for each day to make planning activities a little easier. Here is an example week of both smaller and larger activities:
- Monday (Motivation): Positive words of encouragement shared by student leaders during the morning announcements to kick off the week
- Check out our Positive Vibes activity & Affirmation Selfie Station campaign for more ideas!
- Tuesday (Gratitude): Gratitude poster-making activity during lunch (then get permission to hang them up around school!)
- For other gratitude activities, check out our Attitude of Gratitude game
- Wednesday (Mindfulness): Guided meditation and stretch led by a gym teacher after school
- Check out our Guided Meditations from our friends at Evolving Minds
- Thursday (Movement): 3-min dance break during transition period between classes
- Check out our Move with Music campaign & Joyful Movement with Yoga activity for more inspiration!
- Friday (Joy): Club Meeting and celebratory pizza party (encourage club members to bring someone new!)
- For ideas on what activity to do for this meeting, check out the “other tips & resources” section
- Monday (Motivation): Positive words of encouragement shared by student leaders during the morning announcements to kick off the week
- And for even more ideas, check out McLean Mind Matters’ Stress Less, Laugh More Week agenda!
- Once your week of activities is planned, consider the prep work that may need to be done for each day. For example, if your club would like to read a statement to kick off the week, decide who among you will write that statement. Similarly, remember to reach out to any teachers or other school staff you will need support from (like a gym teacher to lead yoga).
- TIP: A week of activities is a lot to plan – don’t forget to share responsibilities as a club to ensure no one club member or leader is doing the bulk of the work)
- Posters are a great way to raise awareness about school activities. Brainstorm ideas as a club. The best places in school to hang your posters: is it in the bathrooms? Or maybe above water fountains where students frequent?
- TIP: Be sure to get administration approval before hanging any posters around school to ensure they don’t get taken down.
- If your school or club has a social media page, consider making a post about your upcoming campaign.
- TIP: If students are generally overwhelmed during testing periods, try to avoid writing long captions or creating text heavy graphics. Keep your message short, sweet and motivating!
- With so many activities planned, it can be hard to keep track of student engagement. For some activities (like a guided meditation), a sign-up sheet might be useful to track attendance.
- TIP: If you plan on incorporating a club meeting into your Stress Less, Laugh More Week, don’t forget to use the sign-in form!
- Observe which activities garnered the most attendance or excitement around them – maybe you’ve heard students talking about activities in between classes or encouraging their friends to sign-up for the same activities they have
- Recruiting new members to your club is always a solid way of measuring campaign effectiveness – consider setting an internal goal of recruiting at least 10 new club members by the end of the week
- How do you think this campaign turned out?
- What were your favorite parts about planning the campaign? What were some challenges?
- How could this campaign be improved or changed for next year or during another testing period?
- Which activities do you think were the most successful and why?
- What are some other ways your club could promote positive coping skills throughout the school year?
- Here are a few of our favorite stress reduction activities you can use for inspiration for your stress less, laugh more campaign:
- Here are some handouts you can use for your campaign: