"that feels better" - Helping teenagers with their feelings

Feelings are inside us. They happen all of the time. There are good feelings, like being happy or excited. There are also feelings that don’t feel good, like being upset or angry. All feelings, both good, bad or in the middle, are OK. You can’t help what you feel, though sometimes other people might tell you that it’s wrong or silly to feel a particular way.

Good feelings
There are lots of good feelings. There are hundreds of words to name good feelings, like happy, excited, cheerful, content, or calm. When you have these kinds of feelings you might be quiet, you might laugh, sing or tell jokes, and you get on well with other people.

Feelings that don’t feel good
There are also many feelings that don’t feel good, like being upset, angry, nervous, embarrassed, or jealous. When you have these kinds of feelings might cry, shout, hit out, or stay in your room. What you do when you have feelings that don’t feel good isn’t always OK.

"Feelings R OK"
So, feelings, whatever they are, are OK. Feeling angry or upset is OK. You can’t help what you feel. But what you do when you have these feelings might not be OK. Doing things that don't make you feel better, or things that mean you or someone else gets hurts isn’t OK. So what can you do?

What can I do so ‘that feels better’?
As you grow up, it gets easier to manage feelings that don’t feel good. Managing feelings means that you do something to make feelings less strong, or to go away. There are lots of things that you can do to practise getting better at this. Everyone should learn how to do it. If you get better at managing these feelings, you’ll feel happier and get on with other people better.

Have a look at the downloadable leaflets on the bottom of this page.  Try feelings faces/feeling words, calming pictures in your head and calming strategies. Test yourself with our quiz. These ideas will help you manage feelings that don’t feel good, so “that feels better”.

Using Feeling Words and Faces

Feeling Faces

Feelings Words

Calming Pictures in your Head

Calming Strategies

Quiz

"that feels better" Diary