all you need
to know
to organize your own
create more, fear less
workshop, class or club!
Whether you’re a counselor, teacher, parent or young person, we invite you to join us in changing the story of anxiety! You can do that in your counseling office, classroom or home just by organizing a group of students, family or friends. Here’s how:
step 1: recruit your group
We recommend keeping your group size small (no more than 8) so that everyone feels connected and safe in sharing their feelings and creations. If you’re working in a classroom, consider breaking into smaller groups.
step 2: decide on a schedule
When and how often do you want to meet? Once a week? Twice a week? It’s best to pick a regular day and time.
step 3: create your project list
You can decide on all of your projects ahead of time, or pick them out as a group during your first session. You can also take turns selecting and leading projects. We’ve had students as young as 10 organizing and running their own groups.
Counselor & teachers: Looking for projects that align with your SEL goals? Scroll down to our “projects for this and that” below.
step 4: organize your space & supplies
In addition to the basic supply list below, you’ll want to check your selected projects for any additional materials you may need.
Working remotely? Have everyone choose a quiet place in their homes where they won’t be interrupted and where they can keep their supplies for each session.
Basic supply list:
A journal (if you don’t have one, try our Make Your Own Journal project)
Papers, pens and pencils
Stones
If you can, gather one stone for every session you have planned. Be sure it’s a smooth stone that you can write on. If you don’t have stones, you can use small pieces of paper.
A bag or other container
Large enough to hold all your stones
Scissors, tape and glue
a few tips before you get started
Spend a little time on our Message to Youth page, where you’ll find important language for inspiring a new way of relating to fear and worry.
Sit in a circle and consider yourself a member of the group. Participating in the projects along with your group and sharing your own worries can send a powerful message, letting young people know that worry is normal and something we all must learn to navigate.
Welcome and accommodate different access needs and styles of learning and expression, and offer extra processing- before-sharing time to those who need it.
Create safe openings for sharing (“I don’t know if you’ve ever felt this way, but for me….”), but remind students frequently that they can share as much or little as they want.
Show up with a plan but be responsive & open to changing course. Seek feedback and ideas from your group.
Guide students toward their own discoveries by offering more questions than answers.
Encourage youth leadership: Involving your group in the selection and facilitation of projects can help everyone to feel even more agency in managing their anxiety. They will also be more likely to visit the website later on their own, or even organize and lead their own groups.
Allow angled screens. If you’re working remotely, having screens on is important for building connection and a safe space for sharing feelings… but for those who find it stressful to be on-screen, we suggest offering the option to tilt their screens up or to the side. The important thing is to know that they are present.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Many of our lessons, like our worry stone ritual of giving worry a time out, take repetition to sink in. If possible, consider weekly sessions. If you don’t have time…
Encourage creative wellness time beyond your group. Our projects were designed to be easy for students to navigate on their own. Try suggesting that they pair up with a friend for some shared creative time, or that they lead their families in project time at home.
Lean on our artists. Our SEL-themed video workshops, presented by teaching artists of diverse cultures and creative disciplines, are great for inserting into lesson plans and group work, or for assigning as homework. On a fee or scholarship basis, we can also arrange for a live workshop with one of our artists.
Reach out any time! Feel free to email us if you’d like our help in using or customizing our projects. We’re here for you!
It’s time for your first session!
All you’ll need for this one are the basic supplies listed above.
Start by getting to know each other
Have everyone write in their journal or on a piece of paper:
1. Something you love
2. Something you’re good at
3. Something most people don’t know about you (that you’re okay with sharing)
4. Something you used to be afraid of
When ready, take turns sharing your answers, one question at a time. If you don’t feel like sharing, that’s okay! Sharing is always optional.
Create your group agreements
What do you all need in order to feel comfortable and safe sharing your feelings and artwork? Model the exercise by expressing your own needs then collect ideas from your group. Write up your agreements (you can ask for student volunteers) then sign your names and post somewhere in your meeting space.
Start your weekly worry stone ritual
Worry stones help to connect the group and remind everyone that they aren’t alone in their feelings. This ritual gives students practice in naming their feelings— an important first step in befriending and navigating anxiety. They also get to exercise their power to decide when to spend with their worries and when to take a break. You can find our “Give Worry a Time Out” instructions here, and scroll down this page for a video that models the exercise.
“With this program, anxiety has become less of a big deal in my life. I can make my worry into a figure that I can look at, which is not part of me anymore.”
—Hazel, Create More, Fear Less Student Leader
for the rest of your sessions:
1. Begin every meeting with worry stones
Here again are our Worry Stone instructions for you to follow at the beginning of each session.
2. Move on to your project of the day
Just go to our projects page and follow the step-by-step instructions, or select one of our short videos to watch.
Looking for suggestions? Down below, counselors and artists share their advice and favorite projects.
3. Take time to share and reflect
Sharing is always optional, but you can also let students know that they can share as much as as little as they want—just a sentence is totally okay. If some students opt out of sharing, it may be because they weren’t feeling ready and they may change their mind after others have shared. Offering the option a second time—without calling out individual students—can help.
Afterwards you can ask the group to reflect on the experience: What did they enjoy? What was challenging? What did the project make you think about?…
4. Invite student to share their creations in our gallery!
Seeing their work shared on our website can be a powerful experience for students and reinforce that their voice matters. They will also be inspiring creativity and expression in other youth people.
5. Close with a fun or relaxing exercise
A few ideas:
A couple of minutes of deep breathing.
Stretching exercises—it can be fun to have everyone take turns choosing a stretch
Laying down and listening to a song
A cheer or chant created by the group
You can find more ideas at the end of our online project instructions and on our “More Ideas & Resources” page. We also highly recommend asking your group for ideas and/or taking turns leading an exercise.
6. Celebrate!
Yes, all good things much come to an end. But they don’t have to come to an end without a party! After all of your weeks together and all that you’ve learned and created, it’s important to celebrate.
Kick off your party by pouring out your worry bags and sorting through your stones to see which worries are still present and which have gone away. Decide what you want to do with your old worries — draw over them? Toss them outside? Bury them?
Take turns sharing your favorite creations. Consider inviting family and friends!
End with one wish you have for everyone in the group.
7. … and be sure to keep in touch!
How can you stay connected now that your workshop is over? Here are some ideas:
Plan a regular check-in time, even if it’s just for 15 minutes.
Create a shared folder or blog where you can post new work, ideas, and encouragement.
Start another workshop! We are adding new projects all the time so you should have plenty to do.
Students: Consider leading your own group of younger students!
“’Create More, Fear Less is saving my life right now. It’s been a nice surprise resource at a time when I really needed it.”
—Anne Witt, speech pathologist, DaVinci Middle School
what’s worked well for you?
Reach out and share your own experiences—we’d love to hear from you!
Mia O’Connor-Smith, Multidisciplinary Artist, Dancer, Mama, Earth Tender, Founder of Deep Underground, Workshop Facilitator
Best advice:
“Be flexible and prepared for things to take a different direction (more conversational, less detail, more structure/foundation work)
Mia’s favorite flow:
Intentionally re-enter the room, check in with ourselves in the journals, write on the worry rock and (optional) share.
As far as projects, I liked starting with the OK kit so the smaller things we made, like the Fear Less Bot or Badge can go inside and they have something to use outside of the group time.
I really recommend taking your time with the projects because if it’s rushed they usually didn’t like what they made the next week.
Jonathan Hill, cartoonist & educator / Create More, Fear Less advisor & facilitator
Best advice:
“Be flexible and respond to the group. If they are into a project and want to spend more time on it, give it more time. If they don’t like certain activities, cut them short or find new approaches. For instance, in my first group, they were not really interested in the projects that focused on writing, but loved the drawing and making. I learned to incorporate more visual work and focus less on writing.”
Jonathan’s favorite flow:
My basic idea when laying these out was to start with the smaller, more accessible projects to get students comfortable with sharing their worries and emotions, then opening them up more and more—also keeping projects simple in terms of just drawing, then opening it up to things that might be a little out of their comfort zone.
1. Give Worry a Time Out (which includes making our worry stone bag)
2. Capture the Feeling
3. Make Your Own Okay Kit
4. Perfectionists Unite
5 & 6 Let Your Inside Out (this took up two sessions)
7. Spread a Little Bot Love (we adapted it and didn’t work with the dominoes, but used whatever we could find to make our own bots
8. Open Your Own Art Museum
9 & 10. Fearless T-shirt Design (one session to design, one to iron on)
Liz Kobs, she/her, school counselor. Lover of plants, office supply stores, Target, and the outdoors. Mom to Marley
Best advice:
“Let the creativity of students guide you and listen to their voices and stories.”
Liz’s favorite flow:
1. Give your Worry a Time Out
2. Take Your Brain on Vacation
3. Make an Okay Kit
4. Award Yourself
5. Make a Joy Jar
6. Shine Your Light
7. Spread the Love
There is no wrong way to flow!
Jelly Sinclair, artist, Portland State University student, Create More, Fear Less facilitator
Best advice:
“My best tip for a successful workshop beyond being in tune with the students and where they are at that day is to do the project first yourself (especially the writing parts) so that you can be present for the students while they’re working and have advice and examples ready for them. It was important to me to do the projects along with the students (I got a lot out of it) but it’s kind of hard to write a poem about your anxiety with a bunch of little eyes on you.”
Sometimes (especially in the virtual realm) things can go differently than planned so I tried to keep my project order loose, leaving room for if a project took more than a day and having extra projects in mind in case we wrapped up early.
Jelly’s favorite flow:
1. Perfectionists Unite! This is a fun, messy project without too much preamble so I thought is was a great starting point to get us loosened up and moving forward with an awareness of our perfectionist tendencies.
2. Meet Your Worry Beast to get us familiar with our worry and give it a character that we could work with in the future.
3. Capture the Feeling
4. Make Your Own Okay Kit
5. Tiny Books —for our last really involved project (I tried to alternate between projects that had a lot of explanation or writing and activities that were more hands on), we learned how to make Tiny Books with the intent to incorporate our favorite ideas or techniques we had learned throughout our time together.
6. On the last day we did Get to Know the Artist and a fun shapes exercise, the first of the eight video series from Jonathan Hill’s cartooning series. These last exercises were pretty quick and simple so we could use the beginning of our meeting to wrap up the worry stone activity we had been doing at the beginning of each session. Then while we were doing the more low key activities, we were able to talk and reflect on our time together while we drew.
Jess Firestone, school counselor, potter, hugger
Best advice:
“Do the projects along with your students. Start with projects that only require paper and colored pencils or markers- these require no prep!“
Jess’s favorite flow:
1. Perfectionists Unite! Before getting into vulnerability and sharing worries, and to dive into the art part, I start with this one.
2. Give Worry a Time Out
with younger students, I limit the rounds of questions and journaling. Enough to ask- what was a worry you had when you were little, what’s something you are worried about now? I bring a bunch of rocks and offer that others bring some to add to the communal pile because lots of kids will forget.
3. Take Your Brain on Vacation
I use this with students individually ALL the time as well as in groups.
4. Award Yourself
Having gold stickers/ seals, glitter, or gold ribbon help this one feel extra special.
5. Spread a Little Bot Love
I have used paper instead of dominos and brought a mini laminator.
6. Invent a New Worry
What are you definitely NOT scared of? Try to make one of your not-worries into a creature that looks a little scary. Playing with worries makes the real ones less taboo.
7. Try a New Attitude: Gratitude
Draw a picture instead of using a photo if those aren’t available.
8. Make Your Own Okay Kit
Having extra special treasures for this helps make it feel special- tiny gemstones that represent courage, nature items, stickers and colorful paper.
Our best projects for this & that
Self-awareness & compassion
Empathy & connection
1 Give Worry a Time Out
2 Spread a Little Love & Bot Love!
3 Open Your Own Art Museum
4 Journal On! (and add your journal pages to our growing online gallery!)
5 Create More Connections with Kelsey Snook (8-part video series)
Self-care & confidence
1 Make Your Own Okay Kit
2 Take Your Brain on Vacation
3 Make a Tiny Book (or 12)!
4 Meet& Tame Your Worry Beast
5 Create More Confidence with cartoonist Jonathan Hill (8-part video series)
5 Sing Your Feelings
6 Try a New Attitude: Gratitude
7 Be Your Own Best Friend
8 Make a Joy Jar
9 Float Your Boat
Voice and inner-power
Family & community connection
1 Journal On!
2 Make Your Own Okay Kits
3 Meet Your Worry Beast; Tame your Worry Beast
4. Spread a Little Love & Bot Love
5 Raise Your Voice
Stomach-aches, anger, social withdrawal, trouble focusing: Could it be anxiety?
Anxiety can take so many difficult forms that it’s often mistaken for something else. Read more about the signs and find other useful articles at childmindinstitute.org.
“Anxiety tends to lock up the brain, making school hard for anxious kids.”
—Ken Schuster, PsyD, Child Mind Institute
Shapeshifter artwork by Sans
Creative wellness rituals for inspiring healthy habits
Intentional Re-entry with multidisciplinary artist
Mia O’Connor Smith
In facilitating her “Create More, Fear Less” workshops, Mia always began by having her group leave the room and enter again. She called this “intentional re-entry.” Mia:
I started dancing when I was three. The stage and studio were places that, as soon as I walked through the doors felt a change. I think it was the sacredness of those spaces.
I see that similarly in the classroom. Each time you walk through a door, things are different on the other side. The people are different, the energy is different, because of what we all carry inside us.
Kids understand better when you make things physical and so if you’re explaining the practice as they’re moving their bodies, it becomes a part of their routine and they know what to expect when they’re coming into your space.
That’s why, in my groups, we would step out of the room and come back in, to acknowledge the energetic difference and acknowledge what we’re all bringing into the room. Encouraging young people to be more aware of their bodies in a space has turned out to be a really powerful tool in our workshops.
Connecting the mind and body.
The beauty of this practice is that it slows down the transition from whatever kids are dealing with at home or in the halls to the present moment, giving students the opportunity to reset and decide how they want to show up, which can have a powerful effect on their self-confidence, self-image, and emotional wellbeing.
To practice intentional re-entry with your students:
Have everyone gather or line up outside in the hall. Ask your students to think about what they’re currently feeling and what they would like to feel when they walk back inside. Then, before re-entering the classroom, have everyone take a deep breath and embody this new feeling by…
…shaking out their bodies and striking a new pose that reflects what they want to feel (the “act as if” principle).
…turning their desired feeling into an affirmation. For example: I am happy, I am strong, I am loved. As they take a deep breath, have them say this affirmation either to themselves or aloud.
….introducing EFT tapping, either on its own or along with affirmations. If you aren’t familiar with this practice, you can read more about its use in releasing anxiety, stress and trauma here.
To build on this practice, you can also try:
…turning your classroom door into a portal by decorating it, either on your own or with your students’ ideas and involvement.
…having students design their own portals and post their drawings around the outside of your door.
…assigning a door greeter to remind students to slow down and take a deep breath before passing through the portal.
Whatever your approach, it’s all about giving students that moment to stop and consider the space they are about to enter, what they are carrying with them, and how they want to show up. That’s a practice that will serve them well into their futures.
Approximate time for re-entry: 5 minutes
Approximate time for portal creation: 1 class period
“Give worry a time out” with OK YOU’s Kathleen Lane
A grounding and connecting ritual that normalizes feelings and gives students—and all of us!— practice in naming, separating from and exercising our power of choice in how we want to engage with our emotions. Over time we also get to see difficult moments and emotions as passing, not a permanent state of being.
Supplies: A stone and paint pen or permanent marker (or paper and pen), and a bag or other container for collecting stones.
Approximate time: 10 minutes for group reflection and sharing
Step-by-step project instructions can be found here.
Journal Comics with cartoonist Jonathan Hill
A personal reflection & expression ritual for the development of self-awareness and confidence in navigating difficult moments and emotions. By tracking day-to-day feelings and events, students can look back and see what challenges are no longer present for them, celebrate their courage and resilience, and move forward with greater self-confidence. Journal Comics also give students a “cool” way of sharing their challenges with each other.
Find Jonathan’s step-by-step project instructions here.
Supplies: Something to write on and something to write with. A journal is ideal but not necessary. You can also make your own art journal!
Approximate time: 30+ minutes
Check-in games with actors Carmen Burbridge and Ebony Priddie
1. Personal check-ins
How are you feeling today? What’s going on inside you that would be helpful for others to know? In this short video, Carmen and Ebony model the simple but oh-so-important grounding ritual of checking in with ourselves and others.
2. The Gibberish Game
It’s not always easy to find the words to express how we feel. That’s where the gibberish game comes in. Instead of words, one person expresses their feelings in made-up words and sounds, and their partner attempts to translate what it is they’re saying. slijjy rottumata vroo!
3. One-word stories
There’s no telling where a one-word story will go, which is why they are so very fun. All you need to get started is a partner (or group) and a word. One-word stories are a great way to explore complex feelings and ideas, as Carmen and Ebony demonstrate in this short video.
Approximate time: 5-10 minutes per exercise
Are you using our resources, or making plans to begin? We’d love to hear about your experiences. Here’s a short survey that will take about 10 minutes to complete. Thank you for helping us to better understand and support the needs of youth, counselors, teachers, and families!