The Zenstudies: Making a Healthy Transition to Higher Education program aims to prevent depression and anxiety among first-year students in post-secondary school. It includes three modules, or prevention levels. Module 2, presented here, is a targeted-selective prevention program. It includes two workshops, one for anxiety management and one for depression prevention for self-referred students, taught by a team of teachers and specialists. Participants in these small-group workshops will have volunteered to take this training.

This participant’s handbook is for Module 2 and its two targeted-selective prevention workshops. “Targeted selective” means that the students participating have all decided of their own volition to sign up, after learning about it at their school or following a recommendation from a teacher or counsellor. The workshop When Fear Takes Hold looks at symptoms of anxiety, and When the Blues Take Over looks at depression.

This participant’s workbook is for you to use during the workshop to complete activities; it will also be a good reference for techniques you can practice on your own afterward.

The online component that accompanies this guide can be found on the website of the Research Laboratory on School-Based Mental Health at the Université du Québec à Montréal’s Psychology Department (https://en.labomarcotte.ca).

We hope that after participating in this program, you’ll feel better equipped for a successful transition to post-secondary life.


The Rossy and Bell Foundations made the translation of the Zenétudes program in English possible.

Translated by: Aleshia Jensen