• lenny-learning-logoLenny Learning
  • Home
    Home
    • Lessons
    Lessons
  • Curriculum
    Curriculum
  • Surveys
    Surveys
  • Videos
    Videos
  • Support
    Support
  • Log In
lenny

Where Do My Triggers Hide?

user image

Caitlin Brower

Tier 3
For Schools

Lesson Plan

Mapping Your Emotional Triggers

Students will be able to identify personal triggers for strong emotions or unhelpful behaviors.

Understanding personal triggers is crucial for developing effective coping strategies and gaining a sense of control over one's emotional responses. This lesson empowers students to proactively manage their feelings and reactions.

Audience

7th Grade Student

Time

45 minutes

Approach

Through guided reflection and a structured activity.

Materials

Decoding Your Reaction Patterns (slide-deck), Trigger Tracker & Response Plan (worksheet), and My Body's Warning Signals (discussion)

Prep

Review Materials

15 minutes

  • Review the Mapping Your Emotional Triggers Lesson Plan to familiarize yourself with the session flow and objectives.
    * Go through the Decoding Your Reaction Patterns Slide Deck to understand the key talking points and visuals.
    * Print or prepare digital copies of the Trigger Tracker & Response Plan Worksheet for the student.
    * Review the prompts for the My Body's Warning Signals Discussion.

Step 1

Introduction & Hook

5 minutes

  • Begin by asking the student: "Have you ever noticed that certain situations or thoughts always seem to make you feel a certain way?"
    * Explain that today's session is about becoming a detective of our own emotions, looking for clues that lead to big feelings or actions.

Step 2

Understanding Triggers

10 minutes

  • Use the Decoding Your Reaction Patterns Slide Deck to explain what a 'trigger' is.
    * Discuss how triggers can be external (things we see, hear, smell, taste, touch) or internal (thoughts, memories, physical sensations).
    * Provide a few general examples (e.g., loud noises, certain songs, feeling overwhelmed by homework).

Step 3

Identifying Personal Triggers

15 minutes

  • Introduce the Trigger Tracker & Response Plan Worksheet.
    * Guide the student through the worksheet, helping them identify specific situations, thoughts, or feelings that often precede strong emotions or unhelpful behaviors.
    * Encourage them to think about recent experiences. Ask prompting questions like: "What happened right before you felt really angry?" or "What thoughts usually pop up when you start to feel anxious?"

Step 4

Discussing Body Signals

10 minutes

  • Transition to the My Body's Warning Signals Discussion.
    * Facilitate a conversation about how their body reacts when a trigger is present or when strong emotions are building.
    * Explain that these body signals are like an internal alarm system, giving us clues that we might need to use a coping strategy.

Step 5

Developing a Response Plan

5 minutes

  • Revisit the Trigger Tracker & Response Plan Worksheet.
    * Briefly introduce the idea of a 'response plan' for identified triggers, emphasizing that understanding triggers is the first step to choosing helpful reactions.
    * Assign completing the 'Response Plan' section of the worksheet as homework or for a follow-up session.
lenny

Slide Deck

Welcome: Emotion Detectives!

Ever wonder why you feel the way you do?

  • Today, we become emotion detectives!
  • We're looking for clues about our feelings and reactions.

Welcome the student and briefly introduce the topic of understanding our emotions and reactions. Ask a warm-up question: "What's one feeling you've had recently that felt really strong?"

What's a Trigger?

It's like a spark!

  • A trigger is anything that sets off a strong emotion or a certain way of acting.
  • It can be a person, a place, a thing, a smell, a sound.
  • It can even be a thought or a memory!
  • Triggers are clues to our inner world.

Explain what a trigger is in simple terms. Use an analogy if helpful, like a doorbell that makes a dog bark. Emphasize that triggers aren't good or bad, they just ARE.

Triggers: Inside and Out

External Triggers (Things around us)

  • Loud noises
  • A certain song
  • Seeing something upsetting online
  • A challenging school assignment

Internal Triggers (Thoughts and Feelings inside us)

  • Feeling tired or hungry
  • Worries about a test
  • A memory popping up
  • Thoughts like "I'm not good enough"

Give concrete examples of external and internal triggers relevant to a 7th grader. Ask the student if they can think of any general examples they've seen or heard about.

Triggers Lead to Reactions

What happens next?

  • After a trigger, our body and mind react.
  • A reaction is how we feel (angry, sad, anxious) or what we do (yell, withdraw, get quiet).
  • Understanding your triggers is the first step to choosing how you want to react!

Explain that reactions are what we do or feel after a trigger. Stress that reactions can be helpful or unhelpful, and that recognizing triggers helps us choose better reactions.

Your Trigger Detective Kit

Time to become your own detective!

  • We'll use a special tool to help you identify your personal triggers.
  • This isn't about blaming; it's about understanding.
  • The more you know, the more power you have to make choices!

Introduce the idea of the worksheet. Explain it's a tool to help them list their own triggers. Encourage honesty and remind them it's a safe space.

The Power of Knowing

Knowing your triggers = having more control.

  • When you know what sets you off, you can prepare.
  • You can choose a different path.
  • Let's start mapping your emotional landscape!

Conclude by reiterating the main point: identifying triggers gives them power. Transition to the worksheet activity.

lenny

Worksheet

Trigger Tracker & Response Plan

Name: ____________________________

Date: ____________________________

Part 1: Becoming an Emotion Detective

Think about times you've felt really strong emotions (like anger, sadness, anxiety) or acted in ways you later regretted. What happened right before?

What was the Situation? (Where were you? Who were you with? What was happening?)What Thoughts or Memories popped into your head?How did your Body feel? (Heart racing, stomach hurt, tense muscles, etc.)What Emotion did you feel most strongly?What was your Reaction or Behavior? (What did you do?)




























































Part 2: Identifying Your Top Triggers

Based on the situations above, what are 2-3 common triggers you notice? These are the "sparks" that often lead to your strong feelings or unhelpful reactions.

  1. Trigger 1: __________________________________________________________________

    • Is it an external trigger (something you see/hear) or an internal trigger (a thought/feeling)?



  2. Trigger 2: __________________________________________________________________

    • Is it an external trigger (something you see/hear) or an internal trigger (a thought/feeling)?



  3. Trigger 3: __________________________________________________________________

    • Is it an external trigger (something you see/hear) or an internal trigger (a thought/feeling)?



Part 3: My Response Plan (What can I do?)

For each trigger you identified, think of one or two helpful ways you can respond or cope instead of reacting automatically. What can you do to take control?

  1. If Trigger 1 happens, I can:







  2. If Trigger 2 happens, I can:







  3. If Trigger 3 happens, I can:







lenny
lenny

Discussion

My Body's Warning Signals

Introduction: Your Body's Internal Alarm System

Just like a smoke detector warns you of fire, your body has its own alarm system to tell you when strong emotions are building or when a trigger is nearby. These are called body signals.

Discussion Prompts:

  1. Thinking back to our discussions about triggers, when you start to feel strong emotions like anger, anxiety, or sadness, where do you typically feel it in your body first?
    • Example:
lenny
lenny

Worksheet

Trigger Tracker & Response Plan

Name: ____________________________

Date: ____________________________

Part 1: Becoming an Emotion Detective

Think about times you've felt really strong emotions (like anger, sadness, anxiety) or acted in ways you later regretted. What happened right before?

What was the Situation? (Where were you? Who were you with? What was happening?)What Thoughts or Memories popped into your head?How did your Body feel? (Heart racing, stomach hurt, tense muscles, etc.)What Emotion did you feel most strongly?What was your Reaction or Behavior? (What did you do?)




























































Part 2: Identifying Your Top Triggers

Based on the situations above, what are 2-3 common triggers you notice? These are the "sparks" that often lead to your strong feelings or unhelpful reactions.

  1. Trigger 1: __________________________________________________________________

    • Is it an external trigger (something you see/hear) or an internal trigger (a thought/feeling)?



  2. Trigger 2: __________________________________________________________________

    • Is it an external trigger (something you see/hear) or an internal trigger (a thought/feeling)?



  3. Trigger 3: __________________________________________________________________

    • Is it an external trigger (something you see/hear) or an internal trigger (a thought/feeling)?



Part 3: My Response Plan (What can I do?)

For each trigger you identified, think of one or two helpful ways you can respond or cope instead of reacting automatically. What can you do to take control?

  1. If Trigger 1 happens, I can:







  2. If Trigger 2 happens, I can:







  3. If Trigger 3 happens, I can:







lenny
lenny