Anxiety Triggers for Teens: When Do I Feel Anxiety?
This session explores anxiety triggers for teens, helping older students recognize when and why anxiety shows up. They open with a guiding question, watch a short video, and discuss how someone might trace a rising feeling back to an uncertain situation like a big project or a choice about the future. A quick game asks students to weigh a situation and decide whether a response would help, building awareness they can use in their own moments of stress.
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 lessonWhen Do I Feel Anxiety?
In this video lesson, students learn how to recognize when and why they feel anxious and reduce those feelings by organizing their thoughts, managing physical symptoms, talking to a trusted person, and asking for help.
- Extension activity
When Do I Feel Anxiety?
In this interactive question-and-answer activity, students explain the purpose of anxiety, identify physical signs and common triggers, and list strategies to reduce anxious feelings.
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: Why might a person feel anxiety?
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 that anxiety is a normal feeling that alerts us to stress or uncertainty and helps us make a plan. They explored the situations that tend to bring it on, like a big project or pressure about the future, and noticed the warning signs that anxiety has become overwhelming. They also talked about why taking a step back to organize their thoughts can help when things feel like too much.
Key Terms
- General Anxiety
- A feeling of worry or unease that builds up from life's overall stress, where you can't always point to one clear cause. It often comes from juggling many pressures at once, like school, responsibilities, and plans for the future.
- Anxiety Triggers
- The specific situations or thoughts that set off your anxiety, often when an outcome feels uncertain or out of your control. Noticing them helps you spot stress early and make a plan.
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 seems anxious, try naming the situation with them by asking what feels uncertain right now. Putting words to it can make the feeling easier to work with.
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More Self-Regulation Activities
Frequently asked questions
Is this intervention free?
Yes, this ready-to-teach session on When Do I Feel Anxiety? 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 When Do I Feel Anxiety?, three practice prompts, and an extension activity, When Do I Feel Anxiety?.
What skill does this intervention teach?
This ready-to-teach session is on self-regulation - more specifically, managing stress.
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