What the Managing Stress programme can do for you and your class The sessions in this programme have been designed to: * Increase self-esteem, self-concept, cooperation and empathy * Enable students to understand how a positive attitude towards change can minimise stress * Understand the nature and causes of stress, and how stress is person-specific * Enable students to recognise their own optimum stress levels * Recognise reactions and behaviours which both reduce and increase stress * Develop joint problem-solving skills within a supportive framework * Understand the importance of emotional support in coping effectively with stress * Understand how a healthy lifestyle can reduce stress * Develop the ability to organise work and social agendas to reduce stress * Understand the difference between aggression and assertion * Develop and practise assertiveness skills, understanding how such skills can help manage stress * Understand how stress can adversely affect muscles and breathing * Increase students' levels of confidence in social interactions and in their own ability to cope * Develop skills of reflection * Enable students to set realistic and considered personal goals.