Anger-Stress-Parkour

Purpose: Young people should be supported in consciously recognising their individual skills and resources in dealing with stress and/or anger and actively expanding them. They also learn about the constructive alternatives and coping strategies of other young people and can discuss these in a safe environment.

Issue addressed: Bullying and violence prevention; Stress management and relaxation

Relevance to mental health: Adolescence is a critical window for developing emotion regulation — the ability to recognize and constructively handle intense emotional states. Repeated exposure to manageable stress, followed by guided reflection, builds exactly this capacity, strengthening resilience against anxiety, depression, and behavioural difficulties.

Intended change: Participants leave the anger-stress parkour with a stronger capacity to recognize their own emotional and physical stress responses, tolerate frustration without immediate reactive behaviour, and reflect on what triggered them and what alternatives exist.

Context of pilot implementation

This activity was implemented as part of a pilot action carried out within the MEET project by the Jugendinitiative Triestingtal (JIT, PP9). This method was carried out with young people in the school context but also in the youth counselling centre and in street work, with different group sizes. Young people aged 12-16 participated. The exercise was used for deepening into topic and cliffhanger for discussion about stress regulation in practice. There was always a minimum of two facilitators present at the workshops who moderated the method together.

Theoretical background

The anger-stress parkour offers young people a rare opportunity to encounter frustration, pressure, and conflict within a safe, structured setting. This matters for mental health on several levels. Anger is often misunderstood as a problem to be eliminated. From a mental health perspective, it is a signal — pointing to unmet needs or perceived powerlessness. A parkour creates space to experience anger without harmful consequences, supporting the shift from reactive discharge to reflective response. Because stress and anger are first and foremost bodily experiences, physical challenge is not incidental but central. Regulation must be learned through the body, not just the mind. Finally, the social dimension is crucial. How peers respond to a young person’s frustration or failure shapes whether that experience becomes integrative or shameful. A well-facilitated parcourse makes the group a resource rather than an additional stressor — and the guided reflection afterward is where mental health learning actually takes hold.

Target group

Age: 12 years and above
Profile: any type of youth
Context: non-formal or formal education, but maximum 20 people.

Context of use

Location: School, NGO, youth centers, community centers, etc. Enough space for movement should be provided.

Types of skills and dimensions addressed:

Socio-emotional skills: empathy and understanding of stress and anger mechanisms
Relational skills: open communication, reduction of judgments
Self-regulation skills: emotional self-regulation,
Awareness skills: awareness of one’s own emotions and possibilities to regulate them.

Activity description – step by step

Step 1: Introduction

Duration: 5 minutes

Procedure: Start he workshop with a brainstorming round, capturing snapshots to answer: ‘In which situations do I experience stress, am I angry?’ Variant if there is enough time: cards are prepared in advanced showing symbolic images or stressful situations. Participants can choose one card and briefly present it with a statement about why they chose the picture or text to introduce the topic.

Table 1. Actions – Step 1.

Facilitator’s Actions	Participants‘ Actions
Invite participants to reflect on the type of situations in which they are stressed or angry.	Start reflecting on when, how and why they are stressed and angry, in particular reflecting about the situation / setting.
(Optional) Ask participants to select a card, symbolizing situations of stress or anger for them and sharing why they chose that one.

Reflection:

This exercise helps participants identify situations that generate stress or anger and reflect on the causal mechanisms.

Step 2: "Parkour"

Duration: 30 minutes

Procedure: The “Parkour” is the main part of the workshop and it is structured in different rounds, during which participants try out various exercises on their own. All participants should be able to try out each exercise, which range from low to high intensity of emotions and action. This allows to learn about alternatives of reacting in stressful situations or to expand their options. After each round of trying an exercise, a round of reflection is encouraged in which young people can describe how they felt about it and also discuss any small individual improvements and adaptations to the individual exercises. For this activity to succeed and to motivate the participants to take part, an open and stimulating, but also trusting atmosphere must be ensured by the facilitator.

Exercise options for the parkour:

Counting backwards: The participants count backwards internally from 10 to 0
Breathing exercise: Participants breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds and so on (the seconds can be changed as required depending on the individual lung volume, it is recommended to start low)
Dancing: The participants dance together to a song (for example George Harrison ‘What is Life’) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiH9edd25Bc
Stress balls: Participants use their hands and squeeze stress balls together, alternatively dishtowels can also be ‘pulled’ (they are twisted and then the ends are pulled apart; the aim is to maximise physical tension, which is then released; it can be done with almost any fabric)
Screaming: The participants let their energy run free by shouting; depending on the location and composition of the workshop, they can either shout loudly together every 10 seconds or shout quietly into a pillow/cloth/sweater
Hitting: The participants can hit a suitable medium (potato sack filled with cotton wool, punching.

Table 2. Actions – Step 2.

Facilitator’s Actions	Participants‘ Actions
Explain each exercise option to the whole group.	Engage with a different exercise each round.
Ask participants to choose each a different exercise to do on their own. They can also choose the same exercise at the same time and each round.	Reflect on and share how they feel about each exercise and how they improved or adapted to feeling stressed or angry.
Declare the start of the round.
Declare the end of the round and ask participants how they feel after trying out the exercise.
Ask participant to change exercise and start another round.
Repeat so many rounds that each participant could try out all different exercises.

Reflection: This exercise gives the participants the opportunity to participate, improves their ability to memorise the options and expands on the individual benefits and applicability for the young people.

Step 3: Debriefing and Evaluation (If Needed):

Duration: 10 minutes

Procedure: After completing the parkour, if there is the need, an opportunity for reflection can be created in which the young people can tell how they felt about the activity and what other options to deal with anger/stress they have learnt and what other options they know. This reflection should possibly take place in a safe, non-pressuring environment, where participants are not expected to provide „correct“ answers. The facilitator can provide additional options at the end of the workshop (options can be extended as required):

Leave the situation, if participants need calm and rest
Go for a walk, ideally in nature. Alone or in pairs and in silence or talking, depending on individual needs. This allows for resting and further emotionally regulating after the intense activity.

The facilitator emphasizes that everyone has different strategies to cope with stress and anger, but also that strategies can be learnt to regulate oneself in situations that are overwhelming.

Table 3. Actions – Step 3.

Facilitator’s Actions	Participants‘ Actions
Invite participants to reflect and share how they felt during and after the parkour.	Reflect on the experience.
Following questions can start the reflection: How did you feel during the parkour? Did this change as you changed exercise? What did the exercise do to your stress / anger?
Allow for options based on individual needs.

Reflection: This step helps participants integrate the physical experience at a cognitive and emotional level. Participants can observe that anger and stress are normal, manageable responses rather than signs of weakness or loss of control. Also, their body sends early warning signals that can be recognized and used as cues for self-regulation, their reactions under pressure reveal personal patterns — and that these patterns can change. Reflection itself is a skill: the ability to pause, name, and make sense of an intense experience is something that can be learned and strengthened.

Required Materials:

Stress balls (or dishtowels); music; pillows / towels; potato sack filled with cotton wool (or something similar).

Possible Adaptations

Not every alternative is suitable for every situation and not every alternative is suitable for every person. The young people should get to know suitable methods in a low-threshold way, reflect on them and talk together about alternatives and possibilities in situations that cause them a high level of stress and anger. Variant, additions for visualizing the possibilities, when there is sufficient time, for example as part of a school workshop: Piano model method according to Gerald Koller. 30 minutes. In the piano model, the individual keys of the piano symbolize different possibilities that can be used to overcome challenging situations and feelings. If a piano player can only use a few keys, the melody becomes increasingly monotonous. The more varied your personal keyboard is, the more options you have for overcoming everyday challenges. As a reminder, each young person can fill in a blank piano sheet (print template) with their possibilities and thus design their keys. At the end, they can take these possibilities with them as a reminder of their personal possibilities and coping strategies.

Reactions observed during the pilot activity

Facilitators mentioned that young people embraced and tested the ideas, and in discussions, they also expressed where they wanted to apply the new anger management methods. They explored the topics playfully and had a lot of fun; learning is easier in that context. There was an exchange of ideas (learning from others) about what had already been tried and what worked or didn’t, which perhaps made the methods more practical. The Anger-Stress parkours awaken enormous desire in adolescents to participate but also to give free rein to their emotions. Parallels could also be recognized with the challenges young people have to struggle with, and empathy and understanding arose for the situations of the young people who opened up during the workshop and the exercise.

Risks and warnings

Please be aware of (perhaps strong) upcoming feelings in the group or individuals. Two trainers should explain the method and be present.
Do not force the sharing of personal experiences.
The tool does not address trauma but instead focuses on raising awareness.