Every one of use gets anxious or worried at some times in our life. This is normal. We are supposed to get worried, because worrying keeps us safe and out of danger. If we were never afraid of falling, we might walk along rooftops. Which would be very dangerous and really bad for our health and safety! We may worry about being in a car accident. So because of this we wear a seat belt to minimize our chances of getting hurt. We still take the risk of being in a car, but we minimize the chances of getting hurt by wearing our seatbelt.
Throughout our day we encounter varying degrees of worry or anxiety. Some of these are understandable and sometimes our worries seem to be unreasonable. Describe specific situations that make you anxious and the level of discomfort it gives you. On a scale of 0 to 10 ( 0 being not at all anxious, and 10 being extremely anxious) rate how much each situation affects you.
After ranking the situations that make you anxious, think about things that you could do to change the ranking to a lower level. Write that down on a separate piece of paper and then DO IT, don’t avoid it.
For Example: If I am feeling overwhelmed by an assignment, I could break the assignment down into smaller sections and then tackle each section one day at a time. This would lower my anxiety level (on the scale) about getting the assignment done. BUT, I would also get the assignment done and not AVOID doing it because it makes me anxious.
It is important to identify the things that make us anxious, but it is even more important to figure out a way that we can reduce our anxiety about something, and then ACTUALLY work on reducing the anxiety.
Attachment includes chart for this.

Explore and understand the mental health issues that affect young people with these online courses from FutureLearn.

H.O.P.E. (Helping Others thru Peer Education) is Saskatchewan's first Recovery College!
They offer virtual, in person and blending learning opportunities for FREE!

You can:
*take full courses
*listen to Lunch Byte podcast episodes (or register to listen live)

Current course offerings include:
*Adulting 101
*Positivity & Optimism
*Female Empowerment
*Talk-Ask-Listen
*Loneliness & Isolation
*Improving Self-Esteem
*Recovery 101
*Anxiety 101
*Understanding Fear
*Depression 101
*Kids & Stress
*ADHD
*Art Therapy
*Anger Management
*Challenging Procrastination
*Understanding Grief & Loss
*Body Image
& much more!

Worry and Rumination

While worrying and feeling nervous is something that all human beings experience, as with many things in life, too much of something may not be good for you. Normal anxiety can become a problem when it is excessive, feels uncontrollable, is experienced as intrusive in your life, is persistent (seeming to always be around), and causes you significant distress, or impairs your ability to go about your day-to-day life. This is when normal anxiety becomes generalised anxiety disorder.
One of the important features of generalised anxiety is that the worry and anxiety is spread across a number of different areas such as health, work, interpersonal relationships, finances, and so on. This makes it different from other anxiety problems, such as social anxiety or phobias, where nervousness and worrying are more specific to particular situations.

**Site includes workbook, worksheets and information sheets for download.

This journal was created by Sue Mills, a Sun West Counselor, to help us find the good in everyday.

The purpose of us feeling anxiety in our bodies is so that we will ‘DO SOMETHING’ to try to eliminate the event, situation or thing that we are worried about. This is a primitive and basic survival instinct that we still have deeply embedded in our brains. The problem is…we don’t need to run away from saber tooth tigers anymore!

However, instead of having the idea of “I need to get rid of this feeling” we need to change it to “whatever is happening right at this moment, I CAN HANDLE that.”

What we need to do is learn about anxiety and how it works in our bodies and then break anxiety down into small pieces, and take it step by step. It may start with learning about how anxiety works and feels in our bodies; the sensations we get from anxiety. Starting with what happens in our brain and body when we are anxious. Then we need to learn what we can do with those sensations to lessen them and our anxiety. Then we work on our anxious thoughts and work to change the dialogue we have in our heads about anxiety. Essentially we break anxiety down into small chewable bites. This is in order to give you some success.

This article shared by the University of Calgary contains age-appropriate ideas for talking with kids about COVID-19.
Researchers from UCalgary's Department of Psychology answer common questions from parents on talking to children about this timely topic. Some questions addressed include:
Will talking about COVID-19 increase my child's anxiety?
What is an age apporpiate age to talk to my kids about COVID-19?
Should I tell them what the symptoms are?
Are there any tips/tricks to promote handwashing?
Any recommendations for activities to do if we have to self-isolate?

Ages: 8+

Coping with stress is a skill we need to teach at school across a wide breadth of subjects.

Thie "Let's Talk Anxiety" article by Service Hospitality provides information on youth anxiety in Canada and provides coping methods and treatment options for young people.

As a comedian and performer, Jordan Raskopolous does not suffer from stage fright, but away from the lights it’s a different story. In this compelling and funny talk, she shares her insights into what it is like to live with high functioning anxiety and how people like her can be perceived - to be both shy and loud at the same time. A talk many will relate to and one that offers strategies for dealing with it.

Jordan Raskopoulos is a comedian, musician and digital content creator. She is best known as the lead singer of The Axis of Awesome, a world renowned musical comedy group and YouTube Juggernaut. She is the creative director of Press Start Productions. Press Start is currently producing Insert Coin, an ongoing web series about video games. Jordan is also host of This is About, a narrative non-fiction podcast on ABC RN. In 2016 she came out as transgender in a viral video called ‘What’s Happened to Jordan’s Beard’. Since then Jordan has become an inspiration to young LGBTQIA+ people by living her genuine life, openly and publicly and using her platform and profile to promote awareness and understanding to a broad audience through humour.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Education for teachers, parents, professionals. Powerpoint companion to material from her book Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents

An evidence-based program deisgned to teach youth to develop coping mechanisms for stress and anxiety.

More than 120 Regina Grade 4 and 6 students have been given some new "FRIENDS" to help them better cope with stress, as part of a pilot program in Regina Public Schools.
The Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region and Regina Public Schools teamed up this school year to offer an innovative pilot program to 122 students in Grades 4 and 6, giving them tools to help reduce and better manage stress, anxiety and depression. The program is funded by the RBC Foundation through its five-year Believe in Kids pledge.
"Children are experiencing more stress, and this can lead to physical and mental health problems," said Robert Stephenson, RQHR psychologist and Regina FRIENDS pilot project coordinator. "The FRIENDS program equips kids with coping tools at an early age, so they can be more successful in dealing with situations as they arise, hopefully preventing significant difficulties later in life."
FRIENDS is an acronym for the skills and lessons emphasized in the program:
-Feelings
-Remember to relax
-I can try! I can do my best!
-Explore coping plans and solutions
-Now reward yourself
-Don't forget to practice
-Smile and stay calm for life

A storytelling site by and for people with lived mental health experience. Helping to break down stigma by educating through stories and experiences.

We all have something to share from our experience with mental health, regardless of where we are in the journey, and this is what this blog is about.
This blog serves in 3 ways:
1) to facilitate those of you who have a mental health issue(s), or care about someone who has a mental health issue(s), to write about your experience for the purpose of telling part of your story and sharing your wisdom, by having it published on this site (click here for more info on Superhero guest blogging);
2) to give you the opportunity to read what myself and others have experienced and I hope with all my heart that will help you to feel less lonely and misunderstood and maybe even a little bit empowered; and
3) to educate others who are interested in putting themselves in the shoes of someone who has a mental health issue.

A FREE Psychological First Aid Guide from the Canadian Red Cross
The likelihood that a sudden crisis event might affect you or someone you know is higher than you think. That is why it’s critical that you take the steps to learn Psychological First Aid and prepare yourself to handle the extreme stress that a crisis event can cause.

The guide will teach you:
How to create your own self-care plan
The Look, Listen, Link, Live Cycle
How to provide Psychological First Aid to others
The Do No Harm Principles

This document outlines all of the provincial and regional mental health resources and contact information (addresses, phone/fax numbers, website addresses, email contacts) for Saskatchewan.

It gives the emergency or crisis information for the province and the contact information for the Saskatchewan Regional Health Authorities.

Sun West School Division has developed an optional course based on student interest in the area of mental wellness as an elective at the 30 level. Mental Wellness A30L will provide an extension of the skills and knowledge acquired in the Wellness 10 course, and will consist of both theory and applied learning using low- and high-level technologies.

Mental Wellness supports for parents who want to learn more about supporting their children. This pager includes truths about mental health, most common brain health problems, symptoms of depression and suicide, help supports that include books, community supports and online resources.

Never in the history of humanity have so many people been feeling intense anxiety related to COVID-19 and the world it will leave in its wake. The intent of this course is to give a deeper understanding of the anxiety reaction as it relates to various aspects of our current life, ranging from our consumption of news to the way we talk to children about this. Clear strategies are given for managing and, in fact, turning off the anxiety response at least for short periods. This course will offer a better understanding of how your brain reacts to crises, along with some powerful tools for managing it before it manages you.

Never in the history of humanity have so many people been feeling intense anxiety related to COVID-19 and the world it will leave in its wake. The intent of this course is to give you a deeper understanding of the anxiety reaction as it relates to various aspects of our current life, ranging from our consumption of news to the way we talk to our children about this. You will also be given clear strategies for managing and, in fact, turning off the anxiety response at least for short periods. You will leave this course with a better understanding of how your brain reacts to crises, along with some powerful tools for managing it before it manages you.