November 2 is National Stress Awareness Day! Jessica Kingsley publishes tons of mental health resources each year, including stress, anxiety, and fear-related ones. Below are seven mental health resources to help children and adults manage their stress, along with resources for professionals to use with clients.
Dr. Dawn’s Mini Books About Mighty Fears series by Dr. Dawn Huebner
Dr. Dawn’s Mini Books About Mighty Fears series is designed to help kids ages 6-10 tackle their fears and live happier lives.
Each book in the series covers a different topic, including Facing Mighty Fears About Throwing Up, Facing Mighty Fears About Trying New Things, Facing Mighty Fears About Health, and Facing Mighty Fears About Animals.
Every book in the series is written with warmth and humor and includes a Note to Parents and Caregivers, along with a supplemental Resource Page, make these books the perfect guide for families and mental health counselors.
Click here to check out Dr. Dawn’s Mini Books About Mighty Fears series!
Dr. Dawn’s Seven-Step Solution for When Worry Takes Over by Dr. Dawn Huebner
From the same author as Dr. Dawn’s Mini Books About Mighty Fears series, Dr. Dawn’s Seven-Step Solution for When Worry Takes Over is a 7-part video series of easy-to-implement strategies for parents or carers of anxious kids.
worry has a way of turning into WORRY in the blink of an eye. This upper-case WORRY causes children to fret about unlikely scenarios and shrink away from routine challenges, ultimately holding entire families hostage. But upper-case WORRY is predictable and manageable once you understand its tricks.
This 7-part video series will help you recognize WORRY’s tricks while teaching a techniques to help you and your child break free. Each video contains learning objectives and action steps along with need-to-know content presented in a clear, engaging manner by child psychologist and best-selling author, Dr. Dawn Huebner.
Click here to check out Dr. Dawn’s Seven-Step Solution for When Worry Takes Over by Dr. Dawn Huebner.
The CBT Art Workbook for Managing Stress by Jennifer Guest
Using the principles of CBT, these illustrated worksheets help adults to understand and manage feelings of stress.
The activities follow the framework of a typical CBT course: how it works, looking at the nature of stress, linking thoughts, feelings, behaviour and physiology cycles, exploring different levels of thinking and beliefs, and identifying goals and future planning. It presents these theories in an accessible way so that adults are familiar with the foundations of CBT they will be using in the worksheets. They can complete them by writing or drawing, alongside the opportunity to colour in parts of the pages as they consider ideas.
Suitable for adults in individual or group work, this is an excellent book to use as a standalone resource or in conjunction with professional therapy to deal with stress.
Click here to check out The CBT Art Workbook for Managing Stress.
Binnie the Baboon Anxiety and Stress Activity Book by Dr. Karen Treisman
Binnie is an energetic baboon, who bounces around the lush green mountains of Rwanda in East Africa. But like many of us, Binnie often feels worried and stressed, and these worries can get in her way! What if she gets lost in the jungle, or her family gets sick? What if no one likes her? Sometimes she even worries about the fact she’s worried; and if she isn’t worried, well why not?!
This activity book has been developed by expert child psychologist Dr. Karen Treisman. The first part of the book is a colourful illustrated therapeutic story about Binnie the Baboon, with a focus on worry and anxiety. This is followed by a wealth of creative activities and photocopiable worksheets for children to explore issues relating to anxiety, worry, fears, and stress, and how to find ways to understand and overcome them.
The final section of the book is full of advice and practical strategies for parents, carers, and professionals on how to help children aged 5-10 to start to understand why they experience feelings of anxiety, and what they can do to help reduce and navigate it.
This activity book is complemented by a standalone picture book of Binnie’s story, click here to learn more!
Click here to check out Binnie the Baboon Anxiety and Stress Activity Book.
The Ultimate Anxiety Toolkit by Risa Williams
Anxiety can feel like a huge number of different things to a huge variety of people. No matter the experience, they all have one thing in common: feeling anxiety is never fun. If you’re looking to manage your anxious feelings and reduce your stress, this is the book for you.
Written by a therapist who specializes in helping people navigate anxiety, the chapters contain 25 creative tools specifically designed to help reduce anxiety in five key areas: stress, social anxiety, anxious thoughts, self-esteem and the future.
The tools draw on CBT, mindfulness, narrative therapy, positive psychology and more, and every single one is focused on giving practical advice and simple steps that you can take today to reduce your anxiety and boost your self-esteem.
Click here to check out The Ultimate Anxiety Toolkit.
Anxiety Survival Guide by Bridie Gallagher, Sue Knowles and Phoebe McEwen
Co-written with psychologists and a college student who has experienced anxiety herself, this is a relatable and straightforward guide to managing worry in emerging adulthood. As well as providing tried-and-tested advice and exercises that are proven to reduce feelings of anxiety, it includes recovery stories from people who have managed their symptoms successfully.
It begins with what is difficult and challenging about young adulthood and how you can deal with uncertainty in life. It goes on to examine change and challenges, giving tips about what can help in specific scenarios such as exams, relationships, leaving home and interviews. The guide also includes strategies and techniques for coping with panic attacks; self-care; and calming your mind.
The guide uses a range of evidence-based approaches, including CBT, DBT, Compassion Focused Approaches and Mindfulness so you can work out the techniques that are best for you. The signposting included throughout guides young adults towards further support. This is essential reading for any young person experiencing anxiety, worry or going through a difficult transition or stressful experience.
Click here to check out The Anxiety Survival Guide.
Helping Children to Manage Stress by Deborah M. Plummer
Facilitating the healthy management of stress is crucial for the social, psychological, and emotional wellbeing and resilience in children. Based on over thirty years of expertise, Deborah Plummer provides varied and straightforward activities for teachers, parents, and therapists to healthily engage with children and help them manage stress. This activity book allows space to explore stress and help children identify some of their worries, whilst also providing help on how to build skills and strategies that will help them recognise normal signs of stress and how to respond to these appropriately. It also explores the potential benefits and enjoyments of positive stress, allowing children to have a healthy relationship with difficult feelings.
This book is one of a series based on the use of imagination (I), mindful play (MP) and creative thinking (CT) to enhance social, psychological and emotional wellbeing and resilience in children. The accompanying ebook Using Imagination, Mindful Play and Creative Thinking to Support Wellbeing and Resilience in Children describes the theory and approach behind how these activities can significantly influence children’s perceptions of themselves and the world.
Click here to check out Helping Children to Manage Stress.
For more books on stress, anxiety, mental health and more, head to Jessica Kingsley Publishers – USA (jkp.com)!