Abstract
Statement of the Problem:
Research suggests that adolescents who struggle with anxiety may continue to struggle when they reach adulthood, affecting their health, social-emotional, and physical functioning. Group counseling has been proven to help children reduce anxious thoughts and feelings by developing healthy coping strategies that will help them as they get older. Meanwhile, while various group curriculums address anxiety, there are limited options that utilize psychoeducation and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The purpose of this group project is to provide mental health providers with a group curriculum focusing on ACT, mindfulness, and psychoeducation techniques to foster mental health wellness in adolescents struggling with anxiety.
Resulting Project:
This group curriculum has been designed to address the growing mental health crisis among adolescents. With anxiety being a common and alarming mental health problem in adolescents, this curriculum focuses on providing the participants with coping skills and psychological flexibility to reduce their anxiety symptoms. The Mindful Minds
curriculum was developed for high-school-aged students. Therefore, sessions should be adapted depending on the group’s needs and age. This thesis contains a literature review of the research on anxiety, its prevalence, symptoms, risk factors, effects, and the effectiveness of group counseling in treating anxiety disorders. The literature review was used to guide the development of the Mindful Minds group curriculum.