Coping with anxiety is a process that involves kids and teens learning to recognize, understand, and manage their emotions. This means they learn to know themselves better, control what they feel, and use healthy ways to cope, like doing things they enjoy, keeping a routine, and building strong friendships.
The Coping Skills for Anxiety worksheet is a helpful resource for kids and teens that gives quick and long-term strategies they can use to navigate stressful situations that cause anxiety. The worksheet divides coping skills into two types: unhealthy and healthy. It encourages them to recognize and stop unhealthy habits while also suggesting healthier alternatives.
Differentiating between unhealthy and healthy coping skills allows kids and teens to reflect on their current coping methods and emotional responses. After completing the worksheet, kids and teens can create a mind map where they list their current coping methods on one side and healthy alternatives on the other, linking related strategies with branches. For example, connecting "watching TV" on one side with "going for a walk" on the other side to visualize alternative ways to unwind and manage stress.
Pair this worksheet with the Anxiety Treatments for Kids and Teens handout to increase their knowledge on healthy habits and other approaches.
Want more resources like this? Check out our full catalog of anxiety worksheets and handouts.
References:
- Pimenta, S. M., Hunter, S. C., Rasmussen, S., Cogan, N., & Martin, B. (2021). Young people’s coping strategies when dealing with their own and a friend’s symptoms of poor mental health: A qualitative study. Journal of Adolescent Research, 074355842110621. https://doi.org/10.1177/07435584211062115
- Stallman, H. M., Beaudequin, D., Hermens, D. F., & Eisenberg, D. (2021). Modelling the relationship between healthy and unhealthy coping strategies to understand overwhelming distress: A Bayesian network approach. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 3, 100054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2020.100054
