Volunteering helps teens cope, build leadership skills and start a lifelong habit of giving back.

Volunteering can ease worried youth, write Craig and Marc Kielburger.

Across the country, students are starting high school and facing life’s biggest questions: Where’s my locker? Do I know anyone in homeroom? What is that grey stuff on my cafeteria tray?

And they’re getting very stressed out.

With unfamiliar environments, heavier workloads and social challenges, the transition from elementary school to high school is rough. When 800 new high schoolers rated their feelings of anxiety on a scale of one to 10, one-quarter said seven or more — indicating serious stress. Disturbingly, these anxiety-ridden youth were the most likely to cut classes, start smoking, or even engage in self-harm, according to McGill University researcher

Dr. Nancy Heath, who studied the students for three years.

Forget fidget spinners. There’s a better cure for high school worry: volunteering.

Parents are already struggling with over-scheduled kids, but the mental health benefits of this particular after-school activity are well established — and worth the effort.

“There’s clear evidence that doing something for others can help people manage stress,” says Heath.

The biggest benefit is connecting with new people. High school is a social minefield. In Grade 9, elementary school cliques break up. Teens struggling to find new friends can feel isolated and rejected. They need a backup social scene outside the classroom, Heath says. “Volunteering and getting involved gives a sense of community and belonging,” she says.

Team sports and some hobbies are social, but they can’t match the other benefits of volunteering.

Young volunteers connect with like-minded mentors, who are role models for not just a skill, but also for altruistic behaviour.

Serving food in a soup kitchen or chatting with folks in a seniors’ home forces a teen to focus on the needs of others, instead of fretting over their own worries.

It broadens their outlook beyond themselves, and promotes feelings of gratitude — which science has shown is good for your health.

Volunteering can help students unwind as they focus on the immediate needs of others, instead of their own anxieties, helping them build both perspective and empathy, a trait that doctors say is a powerful de-stressor.

Confidence takes a real beating in Grade 9, as youth find themselves back at the bottom of the social ladder. Good self-esteem is the best defence for surviving the transition, says Greg Lubimiv, executive director of the Phoenix Centre, a youth counselling agency in Ontario’s Renfrew County.

We’ve found that, among youth who volunteer through our service programs, 61 per cent report feeling increased self-esteem. They’re 1.3 times more likely to have a strong sense of self than their peers, and are more comfortable adapting to change, according to an independent study by research firm Mission Measurement.

Stress doesn’t have to be entirely bad, Heath notes. It can be an opportunity to overcome challenges which builds resiliency. Volunteering helps teens cope, build leadership skills and start a lifelong habit of giving back.

This fall, encourage the new high school student in your house to find a cause they’re passionate about and get involved. It won’t help them find their locker, but it will ease the stress.

Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories at we.org.