Stress Management for Teens: External Pressures
This session includes stress management activities for teens, helping older students notice the external pressures that shape their choices, from the media they watch to the friends around them. They watch a short video, discuss how these outside factors can influence decisions without their awareness, and work through a quick game weighing two ways to handle a stressful situation. Students leave better able to spot outside pressure and respond on their own terms.
Extension activity
- Skill
- Self-Regulation
- Goal
- Managing Stress
- Grade level
- Middle & High School
Get everything you need to teach the skill
These materials are part of a no-prep session designed by our clinical team, with all the structure, scaffolding, and support you need to teach included.
Engaging materials
Video lessonExternal Pressures
In this video lesson, students learn how to reduce the impact of outside pressures like social media and comparison by doing a reality check, spending time in person, giving themselves compassion, and doing things they enjoy.
- Extension activity
External Pressure
In this interactive multiple-choice activity, students identify sources of external pressure, explore how imposter syndrome connects to comparison, and choose strategies to reduce the impact of outside pressure.
Plus everything you need to teach them
Warm-up
- Video: 4-7-8 Breathing2:13
- Video: Obstacles into Opportunities Visualization1:19
- Video: Yoga Pose Library
Session Opener
Guiding Question: How do external pressures shape a person?
Practice
- Discussion Question
- Role-Play Activity
- Mini Game
How to use it with your students
- 1Watch Play the video lesson so students see the skill in action.
- 2Practice Try the skill together with a discussion prompt, role-play, or mini game.
- 3Extend Use the extension activity to help students carry the skill further.
What's Covered
In this lesson, students learned how outside influences like the people around them and the media they consume can shape how they think and feel about themselves. They explored the idea of imposter syndrome and why comparing themselves to others online can create unrealistic pressure. They practiced doing a reality check and giving themselves more compassion when those feelings showed up.
Key Terms
- External Pressures
- The outside forces that shape how you act or feel, like the people around you, the content you watch, and what you see online. These can push you to look or act a certain way without you even noticing.
- Imposter Syndrome
- Feeling insecure about who you are versus who you think you should be, often when comparing yourself to others or stepping into a new role. You may doubt that you belong or measure up, even when you actually do.
Sample IEP Goal This Session Supports
-
Managing Stress
Learner will recognize signs of stress in their own body or thinking (e.g., tight chest, racing thoughts, feeling overwhelmed) and apply a self-selected strategy (e.g., deep breathing, positive self-talk, taking a break) to manage the feeling in 4 out of 5 opportunities independently/given X prompt(s).
Send this tip home to support generalization
At home or in the classroom, when a student mentions feeling like they don't measure up to something they saw online, try asking whether that image might have been edited or staged. A quick reality check can take some pressure off the moment.
Ready to teach External Pressures?
Get the video, activity and discussion materials with zero prep.
Get These Materials Free
More Self-Regulation Activities
Frequently asked questions
Is this intervention free?
Yes, this ready-to-teach session on External Pressures is free. You can access this intervention free for 14 days through the Everyday Speech Session Library. Every user gets three free sessions, but you can get more or extend your access by sharing the Session Library with friends and colleagues.
What ages is this for?
These materials are designed for middle and high school students.
What's included?
You'll get access to your choice of warm-up videos, a session opener, a core material on External Pressures, three practice prompts, and an extension activity, External Pressure.
What skill does this intervention teach?
This ready-to-teach session is on self-regulation - more specifically, managing stress.
Get access to the full curriculum
A no-prep social skills curriculum with a full scope and sequence that builds student skills over time. MTSS-aligned across every tier, with 400+ whole class lessons and 800+ ready-to-teach sessions.
Start a 30-Day Free Trial
