Talking about your stressors with others can reduce the stigma around stress and help seeking when things become too difficult.

The purpose of this group exercise is to develop an appreciation and understanding of others' needs, and can be used with students or colleagues.

Through discussion, we can become aware that everyone has different needs, nobody is the same, and it is important that we talk about our needs, rather than to assume.

This is particularly important when working with students, colleagues, and parents and carers of different abilities, ages, genders, cultural backgrounds, languages, and interests.

1. Assemble your colleagues/parents and carers/students together and hand out a piece of paper to each person.
2. Have everyone write their names on top of their paper and then add these discussion questions.
   • When I’m stressed, I need my colleagues/teacher/parent and carer/friends to do the following… {fill your answer in}
   • When I’m stressed, what my colleagues/teacher/parent and carer/friends should NOT do… {fill your answer in}
3. Discuss the responses. What have you learnt about what we each need? Is it the same, or very different? What can we do to find out more about how to support each other during times of stress?