Coping Skills Intervention for Adolescents Recognized for Quality

Teaching Kids to Cope (TKC), a health promotion intervention developed by Drs. Kathy Puskar and Susan Sereika, has been reviewed and recommended by the Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development project, which provides a registry of evidence-based positive youth development programs. Blueprints is hosted by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder.

TKC is a psychoeducational group intervention to reduce depression and stress in adolescents by fostering their coping skills. This multi-session program explores self-esteem, stress, cognitive errors in thinking, and physiological and psychological reactions to stress.  Adolescents are provided with techniques to manage their stress including relaxation, use of imagery, exercise, cognitive coping, and problem-solving.