Evidence-based coping strategies designed for peer mentors, counselors, and teachers — freely available for every classroom.
How It Works
From Classroom to Campus-Wide Change
Our peer education model creates a ripple effect — training a few empowers many.
1
School Counselors Identify Peer Mentors
Counselors select students based on their demonstrated peer mentoring abilities, leadership skills, and commitment to their school community.
2
Adults Train the Student Leaders
School counselors, nurses, teachers, and other staff teach the selected peer mentors the coping strategies — then the students take it from there.
3
Peers Teach Their Classmates
Trained mentors lead their classrooms, normalizing emotional regulation among their own peers.
4
Skills Reach Every Room
Resources are freely downloadable so teachers and staff can reinforce these strategies every day.
Who This Is For
Built for Every Person in a Student's Life
All materials are free to download, adapt, and share. No login required.
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Teachers
Classroom Use
Integrate coping strategies into your daily routine. Use lesson plans as warm-ups, transitions, or during high-stress periods like testing season.
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Counselors
School-Wide Programs
Identify and train peer mentor groups using our structured lesson plans. Materials are ready to use out of the box or customize for your school.
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Peer Mentors & Students
Peer Education
Learn these strategies yourself, then teach them. You don't need to be an expert — you just need to care about your community.
📥 Free to Download & Share
Coping Strategy Resources
Each lesson plan is designed to be taught by peer mentors with no professional training required. Download, share, and use freely in any educational setting.
Lesson Plans & Videos
Three Evidence-Based Strategies
Each strategy includes a downloadable lesson plan and a curated YouTube video you can play directly for students. Lesson plans published April 2026.
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Box Breathing
Breathwork · Anxiety Reduction
A structured breathing technique that uses a 4-count inhale, hold, exhale, and hold pattern. Activates the parasympathetic nervous system to reduce acute stress and anxiety in minutes.
A mindfulness-based visualization exercise that guides students to a calm mental space. Research supports its effectiveness in lowering anxiety, improving focus, and building emotional resilience.
Our team is currently developing a third evidence-based lesson plan. Check back soon — it will be available here with a free lesson plan and video resource.
🔓 Open Source & Free Forever
All materials on this site are freely available with no login, no paywall, and no restrictions. Download, print, adapt, and share in any educational or community setting. We only ask that you credit the authors when sharing.
🎯 Our Mission
Project Goals
Coping skills shouldn't be locked behind a therapist's office or a school that happens to have the resources to afford one. Every student — regardless of their school, background, or circumstances — deserves to know how to manage stress, calm their nervous system, and support the people around them. We believe the most powerful way to make that happen isn't top-down. It's peer-to-peer. When students learn these tools from someone who sits next to them in class, shares their lunch period, and understands their world firsthand, it changes everything. This project exists to put evidence-based coping skills in as many hands as possible — freely, openly, and without barriers.
What We're Working Toward
Decreasing Student Anxiety Through Peer Education
Our fieldwork project is built on a simple but powerful idea: when students teach students, the message lands differently. Our goals reflect this at every level.
🧑🤝🧑
Train the First Cohort of Peer Mentors
Our project team is working directly with 8 school-selected peer mentor/mediator students this semester. After we leave, school counselors will continue this training using these freely available resources.
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Reach Full Classrooms
Empower trained peer mentors to lead coping strategy sessions with their own classmates, making these tools feel accessible and normal.
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Engage School Staff
Present coping strategies at staff meetings so teachers can reinforce and model emotional regulation in every classroom throughout the school day.
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Reduce Student Anxiety
Use evidence-based interventions to measurably reduce anxiety among students by equipping them with tools they can use independently and support each other with.
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Disseminate Resources Freely
Make all lesson plans, videos, and guides freely available online so any school, counselor, or teacher anywhere can benefit from our work.
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Create Sustainable Change
Build a peer education culture that outlasts our project — one where students continue teaching and supporting each other long after we leave.
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District-Wide Implementation
Our ultimate vision is for these coping strategies to reach every school in the district — embedding emotional regulation tools into the culture of the entire South Kitsap School District, not just one school or one classroom.
Our Model
The Peer Education Ripple Effect
Training a small group of peer mentors creates an expanding wave of impact across the entire school community.
Our Project Team this semester
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School Counselors ongoing trainers
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Peer Mentors / Mediators / Student Leaders
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Full Classroom Sessions
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All School Staff
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Campus-Wide Wellness
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District-Wide Implementation
👥 The People Behind This Work
About the Authors & Stakeholders
This project was created as part of a fieldwork course by a dedicated team of students, supported by school partners who share our commitment to student wellness.
Project Authors
Our Team
This project was created equally by four nursing students at Olympic College as part of the Population Fieldwork BSN Course, 2026.
👨⚕️
LPN · VLSBN Student · Olympic College
Luis Carlos, LPN
Bio coming soon.
👩⚕️
RN · RN-BSN Student · Olympic College
Megan Tibbetts, RN
Bio coming soon.
👩⚕️
LPN · VLSBN Student · Olympic College
Megan Toder, LPN
Bio coming soon.
LPN · VLSBN Student · Olympic College
Diana Torres, LPN
Bio coming soon.
Community Partners & Stakeholders
With Gratitude
This project was shaped by the generosity, guidance, and partnership of many individuals and organizations across Port Orchard and Kitsap County. We are deeply grateful to each of them.
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Faculty Supervisor · Olympic College
Professor Tamara Dykstra
For overseeing our project from start to finish and guiding us through the process with wisdom and support. This project would not have taken shape without her direction.
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School Nurse · Marcus Whitman Middle School
Lindsey Dahl, BSN
For her incredible guidance and patience as we worked through multiple project strategies. Her clinical perspective and steady support were invaluable throughout this process.
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School Counselor · Marcus Whitman Middle School
Mallory
For her time, encouragement, and belief in our project goals. Her feedback and support helped shape the direction of our work in meaningful ways.
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School Community Partner
Marcus Whitman Middle School
To all the members of Marcus Whitman Middle School who offered their time and support to help this project come to fruition — thank you for opening your doors and your community to us.
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District Leadership
The Superintendent
For sharing insight into the strengths and needs of the school district and offering a broader perspective on Port Orchard as a whole, which helped us better understand the community we were serving.
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Community Partner
South Kitsap Fire Department
For their collaboration and partnership in exploring a substance refusal class for students. Their dedication to decreasing fentanyl deaths across the county and raising mental health awareness in our local community aligns deeply with the goals of this project.
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Technology Partner
Joshua Tibbetts · Ascent AI Automation
For his help building this website and making our resources accessible to educators and students everywhere. His technical partnership made the open-access vision of this project possible.
⛪
Community Partner
New Life Church
For their openness and willingness to explore a partnership with our team. Although our project goals ultimately shifted in a different direction, we are grateful for their time and community spirit.
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Community Voices · Port Orchard
Josephine Mercantile, Kitsap County Library & Port Orchard Community
To Josephine Mercantile, the Kitsap County Library, and the many other local businesses and community members who took the time to speak with us as we gathered qualitative data on the needs of the Port Orchard community — thank you for sharing your perspectives and helping us better understand the people this project is meant to serve.
A Note of Gratitude
Special thanks to the students who participated in our teaching sessions and spoke with us openly as we spent time in the school developing this project. Your willingness to engage, share, and connect with us made this work real. You are the heart of this project — and the reason it will keep going after we leave.
📖 Evidence-Based Practice
References
All coping strategies featured in this project are grounded in peer-reviewed research. Sources are listed here in APA format for full transparency and academic integrity.
Note for educators and researchers: These references support the evidence base for box breathing, guided imagery, and peer education models in school settings, and are drawn directly from the lesson plans created for this project. All sources are in APA 7th edition format.
Box Breathing / Breathwork
Balban, M. Y., Neri, E., Kogon, M. M., Weed, L., Nouriani, B., Jo, B., Holl, G., Zeitzer, J. M., Spiegel, D., & Huberman, A. D. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine, 4(1), 100895.
Bentley, T. G. K., D'Andrea-Penna, G., Rakic, M., Arce, N., LaFaille, M., Berman, R., Cooley, K., & Sprimont, P. (2023). Breathing practices for stress and anxiety reduction: Conceptual framework of implementation guidelines based on a systematic review of the published literature. Brain Sciences, 13(12), 1612.
Zemla, K., Sedek, G., Wróbel, K., Postepski, F., & Wójcik, G. M. (2023). Investigating the impact of guided imagery on stress, brain functions, and attention: A randomized trial. Sensors, 23(13), Article 6210.
Bates, S. M., Anderson-Butcher, D., Wolfe, T., Ondrus, C., Delaney, S., Marschhausen, J., McAulay, O., & Klakos, K. (2024). Grow your own school mental health specialists: A policy pilot to address behavioral health workforce shortages in schools. Behavioral Sciences, 14(9), Article 813.
Le, H.-G., Sok, S., & Heng, K. (2024). The benefits of peer mentoring in higher education: Findings from a systematic review. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (31).
Pointon-Haas, J., Waqar, L., Upsher, R., Foster, J., Byrom, N., & Oates, J. (2023). A systematic review of peer support interventions for student mental health and well-being in higher education. BJPsych Open, 10, Article e12.
Brill, K., McGuinness, C., & Nordstokke, D. (2025). Relations between a social emotional learning (SEL) program and changes in resilience, self-esteem, and psychological flourishing in a youth sample. Discover Mental Health, 5, Article 43.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2026). Common core state standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects.
