By Jessica Ruzicka MS, LPC, NCC / Outpatient Therapist | August 3, 2026
As the Back-to-School season approaches, stress, pressure, transitions and anxiety can quickly accumulate.
Oftentimes, children and adolescents have had a summer of sunshine, less structured time and environments and creating connections. Moving into the new school year can quickly feel overwhelming.
Back-to-School is more than new backpacks, supplies and clothes. It’s new teachers, classmates, schedules and environments. There are changes in routine and big transitions in all areas. The stress within all of these areas can create feelings of stress, a need for perfectionism and increased pressure socially and academically.
Back-to-School can also create increased stress and anxieties within the caregivers and parents. Uncertainties of all kinds, new environments, new teachers and hopes for safety create unwavering feelings to the new school year.
Creating new routines, recognizing needs and adjusting expectations can support the new school transition, for everyone.
Strategies for the Back-to-School season can create predictability, structure and decrease stress.
Re-Establish Routines Early
Starting school routines sooner than later than create more predictability, air out any dysfunction and bring more structure.
Meet Basic Needs
Ensuring sleep hygiene is established, eating nutritious meals, staying hydrated, making time for daily movement and connecting with others creates support to decrease stress within big transitions.
Prep
Break this down step-by-step to provide understanding and again, predictability. The more they know, the better able they are to understand the process and feel more confident.
Balance Out “What Ifs” and “Worst Case”
Create space to process these big worries and thoughts. Equally, create space to process the positive aspects and “what ifs” to provide a balance.
Normalize all the Feelings
By identifying and acknowledging all the feelings, you are providing a safe space to normalize. It’s okay to sit in discomfort, we don’t have to fix the feelings our children have.
Practice Calming Strategies
Grounding techniques can be a helpful tool to re-center and regulate in times of distress and dysregulation.
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5 senses: Utilize your environment to engage in all 5 senses.
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Visualizing a “happy place”
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Deep Compression and Breathing
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3-3-3 Rule:
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Look around and focus on 3 things you can see.
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3 things you can hear
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Move 3 parts of your body
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When you are done take a BIG deep breath.
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Reach out for Support
Reach out to friends and family for support, back to school is not only an adjustment for the kids, it’s a big transition for parents as well.
Normalize your own feelings, seek out support for connections and self-care.
Seek support for your kids if you feel this transition and adjustment is more difficult than anticipated, more dysregulated or creating disruption in daily life.
Screen Time
Start adjusting screen time to an age and developmentally appropriate level.
Create a schedule to anticipate this transition and better support the decrease and better support the transition into the school schedule and routine.
Additional Considerations
As the new school year starts, it can be easy to get swept into the busy schedule of all the things. Remember to take time for one another. Dedicate specific time for family connection. Create a routine within that connection now, and can better support such transitions and adjustments during this new school year.
Expect regression. Regression is not a sign of poor parenting or your child manipulating you because “they used to be able to do this”. Big changes, transitions and spaces create uncertainty and safety comes from familiarity. The more familiar they become with the schedule, routine, environment, the better the skills they have established will shine through.
Give grace and expectations. Grace can provide space for understanding, knowing mistakes will happen, regression will happen and acceptance of these areas is understood and supported.
Creating expectations and following through creates predictability, structure and safety. Acknowledging that some expectations may need to look different depending on the day, is okay.
Be the thermostat not the thermometer. Regulating yourself provides a safe space for your child to soak in and feed off of. Rising with your child’s anxiety and dysregulation and increasing difficulties, disruptions and furthers regression.
By implementing these strategies and maintaining open communication, families can navigate the back-to-school transition with greater confidence and reduced anxiety. Remember that you do not have to walk this path alone.
Resources for You and Your Family
The Kids Mental Health Foundation
NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Health, Back to School Resources
If you or your child are struggling with this transition, we encourage you to reach out for support. Contact Ensō Mental Health today to learn how we can support you and your family!
Jessica Ruzicka is an outpatient therapist at Ensō Mental Health. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of Wyoming, backed by a foundational background in Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education, and Disability Studies. Jessica specializes in maternal mental health—with a dedicated focus on perinatal and postpartum care—as well as supporting children, adolescents, and parents to strengthen the vital parent-child connection. Rooted in person-centered and humanistic principles, her approach deeply values authenticity and vulnerability. Jessica is committed to providing a genuine, supportive space where individuals aged 8 and up can safely navigate life's challenges and unlock their inherent potential for growth and profound healing.
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