This therapeutic story focuses on worries about transition to secondary school. Jake is in Year 6. He is worried about the transition to secondary school because he has heard many rumours, including one about the older pupils flushing first years' heads down the toilets. The story illustrates how many of the pupils share similar worries about the impending transition even though their behavior looks different. Jake's behaviour illustrates his initial negative coping strategies as his worry grows. This includes not talking about it, opting out of his usual interests and activities, not sleeping and becoming angry with his mother. Some of his worries are alleviated on his taster visit to the new school, especially when he plucks up the courage to go into the boys' toilets. Following a misunderstanding in the toilets with some older boys, he is able to share his worries with another pupil and use humour to reflect on his behaviour. The accompanying, 'Let's talk about worry' text shares information and facts about mental health and transition.

This therapeutic story focuses on intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviour, linked to exam anxiety. Everyone knows Gemma always gets thing 'right' and is top of the class. However she feels under pressure to do well in the Year 5 tests and is becoming increasingly worried. She thinks she has to do certain things to continue to do well and get 'top marks', such as avoiding the cracks in the pavement. This habit starts to take over and Gemma wonders why she is doing this. As the story progresses, Gemma is helped to understand how it can be normal for anxiety and stress to affect thoughts. The metaphor of having a bully in her mind, making her do things she doesn't really want to do, is introduced. She decides to stand up to her inner bully before it takes over. The accompanying, 'Let's talk about when thoughts get stuck' highlights how stress and pressure can affect us, including some of the 'catastrophising' and 'black and white' thinking errors that can be linked with exam stress and pressure.

This therapeutic story focuses on low mood associated with bereavement. Sam feels low and fed up, but doesn't understand why he feels this way. Everyone else has an opinion on the change in his behaviour. His teacher thinks he is being lazy and can't be bothered to finish his work, his mum thinks he is moody and bad tempered, his friends think he is no fun any more and turning into a bore. Comments like, 'Cheer up it might never happen', ' What has got into you?' and 'Do you want to talk about it?' just upset him even more. He doesn't know what the 'it' is, that is making him feel this way. He didn't even feel this bad when his cousin died a year ago! When he is kept behind in class for not completing his work he tells the teacher how confused and sad he feels. Connections are made between his feelings and the looming anniversary of his cousin's death. Sam is helped to understand that thoughts and feelings associated with bereavement can come and go for a long time, and can cause strong emotions. He is shown how to notice and share his feelings and to think about things he can do when he feels this way. He makes a memory box so he can also remember all the happy things about his cousin. In the 'Let's talk about sadness and loss' section, feelings associated with bereavement and helpful coping strategies are shared.

This therapeutic story focuses on feelings of social isolation and unhelpful thinking habits linked to friendship difficulties. Stacie wonders why her best friend, Kayla, ignores her when she sees her in town at the weekend. All weekend she thinks about the possible reasons, and imagines some of the negative things Kayla might be saying or thinking about her. By Monday morning, she has convinced herself they are true, and that Kayla no longer wants to be her friend. She avoids Kayla at school, which causes further problems. At break time Stacie sees Kayla with another group of girls and imagines they are talking about her. At the end of the day Kayla catches up with Stacie and asks her if she has done something wrong. Stacie says she knows Kayla no longer wants to be her friend because she ignored her in town. Kayla explains she had just been fitted with her new contact lenses and didn't even see her! Stacie is shocked and confesses how she imagined she knew what Kayla was thinking and saying about her. Kayla laughs and they joke about Stacie being a very poor 'mind reader'. Stacie agrees that if she catches herself mind reading again then she will test out her thoughts by talking about them. The accompanying, 'Let's talk about mind reading' highlights this common thinking error, and suggests further coping strategies.

This easy-to-understand, engaging guide arms teens with healthy thinking habits and coping strategies for staying on top of their mental health. Using tried and tested therapeutic techniques, readers are given the tools to build their own personalised mental health 'workout' to boost their emotional resilience and wellbeing. Informed by the experiences of teens themselves, this friendly guide gives practical tips and strategies on how to overcome everyday stresses and ditch negative thinking 'frenemies' before they develop into more serious issues. Teens will be better equipped to recognise negative thoughts and emotions, monitor their mood and behaviour, and flex their positive thinking muscles in order to combat the mental health blips we all face sometimes.