21 Mindful Mental Health Activities for Teens at School

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Teenagers often experience significant changes in their mental health due to new responsibilities, hormonal changes, and intricate social interactions. To support their well-being, a variety of mental health activities focusing on emotions, self-esteem, stress management, and social-emotional learning are available. These resources are designed to be high-quality and require minimal preparation, suitable for any high school subject. 

Great Group Mental Health Activities

Mental health can be a challenging topic for teens and teachers to address. Yet, research indicates that 40% of adolescents have ongoing feelings of sadness or hopelessness, highlighting the importance of discussing these issues during high school. 

Group assignments and mindfulness exercises can help high school students feel more comfortable discussing their emotional health and learning key mental health concepts.

• Thought, Feeling, Behavior: Have students work in groups to storyboard and draw a comic strip illustrating the link between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, as well as their potential outcomes.
• Shared Values: In small groups, students list common values, then each member identifies the three most important ones to them.
• Coping Skills Poster: Groups research a common coping strategy for stress and create promotional posters to display during testing periods.
• Yoga Breaks: Integrate short yoga sessions into your teaching to help students alleviate stress.

Break mental health discussions into small-group stations

While large group discussions are beneficial for broad mental health topics, small groups can provide more focused and personalized support. Set up stations where students can rotate and engage in discussions on various mental health subjects.

SEL & ELA Mental Health Day Stations | Wellness Activities & Sub Plans
By: Books and Bloom Teaching
Grades: 6th-12th, Adult Education, Higher Education
Subjects: Classroom Community, ELA, Social Emotional Learning

This wellness activity resource is perfect for addressing mental health in the classroom, recovering from stressful periods, or preparing for a substitute teacher. It allows middle and high school students to rotate through six SEL stations that emphasize positivity, gratitude, stress management, and more, each focusing on a distinct SEL skill. 

Stress Management and Coping Skills Activities | Mental Health | FCS
The Family and Consumer Science Classroom
Grades: 7th-10th
Subjects: Family Consumer Science

This resource offers various mental health activities for high school students to develop healthy coping mechanisms. It features five activities that transform into classroom stations, where students explore strategies for managing stress and anxiety. 

Inspiring Individual Mental Health Activities

Mental health can be a private issue for many students. These individual activities aid high schoolers in enhancing their emotional awareness, self-regulation, and stress management skills.

• Emotional Art: Encourage students to brainstorm a list of emotions and choose one to express through painting, sculpture, or another art medium.
• Teen Coloring Pages: Provide calming coloring pages for students to use during quiet or stressful times in class. 
• Mood Playlists: Have students create playlists that reflect their moods (e.g., Happy Playlist, Frustrated Playlist, Sad Playlist).
• Affirmation Station: Ask students to write at least 10 positive affirmations for themselves, which they can rotate as phone lock screens.

Hand out mental health self-assessments and reflections

Encourage students to evaluate and track key aspects of their mental health with worksheets and handouts focused on self-esteem and self-image.

Self Esteem Worksheet Activities Mental Health Middle High School Counseling SEL
By: Calm and Joyful Kids
Grades: 8th-11th
Subjects: School Counseling, School Psychology, Social Emotional Learning

These worksheets empower students to enhance their self-confidence and overcome stress and doubt. High schoolers engage in activities promoting positive self-talk and self-image improvement, completing a 14-day self-esteem journal to reflect on their true selves and self-care practices.

Amazing Academic Mental Health Activities

Even with a busy curriculum, it’s possible to incorporate mental health topics into academic subjects. These activities encourage high schoolers to apply mathematical, scientific, and critical thinking skills, as well as research abilities, to explore essential mental health concepts.

• Scientific Studies: Assign students to research a mental health study and present its findings and significance in a poster or slideshow.
• Measure Your Breath: Have students measure their breath and heartbeat before and after a stressful event, like a test, to identify changes.
• History of Mental Health: Guide students in researching the history of a specific mental health issue, such as women’s mental health or institutionalization.
• Character Mental Health Study: For a book report, ask students to analyze a character’s mental health development throughout a novel.

Connect mental health awareness to ELA instruction

Integrating psychology concepts with ELA skills can engage students interested in their mental health. ELA-based resources can enhance both reading comprehension and mental health awareness in the classroom.

Mental Health Awareness for Teens Reading Comprehension NO PREP | Anxiety Stress
By: SERENDIPIA Bilingual Resources
Grades: 6th-12th
Subjects: Close Reading, Psychology, Social Emotional Learning

This CCSS-aligned resource combines reading skills with social-emotional learning. High schoolers explore mental health topics like depression and anxiety, answer comprehension questions, and complete a word search and writing prompt.

Reliable Writing Activities for Mental Health

Writing prompts are effective mental health activities for high schoolers across subject areas. Through journaling or creative writing, students can reflect on their emotions in ways traditional classroom instruction may not allow.

• Letter to You: Have students write a letter to their past selves about their current state or to their future selves about their aspirations.
• My Perfect Day: Ask students to write a fictionalized account of a day when everything goes perfectly in their lives.
• Daily Gratitude: During warm-up writing sessions, students can jot down what they’re grateful for each day.
• Empathy and POV: Create an interview of two fictional students discussing the same event from different perspectives.

Track self-care and emotions with focused journals

The seemingly simple question “How are you doing today?” can be complex for students. Encourage high schoolers to track their emotions and self-care practices using mental health journal resources.

Year of Mood Trackers
By: The Adventurous Classroom
Grades: 9th-12th
Subjects: Character Education, Health, Psychology

This mood tracker resource includes pre-filled emotions and spaces for students to record their daily moods throughout the month, then reflect on any patterns they observe.

How to Address Mental Health in High School

Understanding that mental health influences a student’s daily life is one thing, but integrating it into a busy schedule is another. Here are some instructional strategies for addressing mental health, regardless of the subject you teach.

• Incorporate mental health check-ins into your warm-up routine.
• Utilize non-academic time around testing to discuss important mental health concepts.
• Engage students in identifying mental health topics they’d like to explore in the coming weeks.
• Include activities for Mental Health Awareness Month in your May curriculum.
• Consistently emphasize the role of self-care in maintaining mental health.
• Create a supportive classroom environment where students feel comfortable sharing their feelings.

Foster wholesome mental health habits in the classroom

The adolescent years can be challenging, especially for those who struggle to understand their mental health. By incorporating mental health activities in the classroom, you’re equipping students with the tools and knowledge they need to tackle difficult moments. Explore additional high school mental health resources for students seeking ways to better understand their emotions and boost their self-esteem.