Sometimes we can help ourselves feel better faster by increasing enjoyable activities and decreasing the number of stressors that have been piling up. Using the following table, practice recording how you feel before and after doing enjoyable activities and completing responsibilities. (Credit: TherapistAid.com)
Look at the following list of common negative and positive beliefs that people have about themselves. Identify which negative beliefs stand out to you, as well as any associated memories, emotions, and body sensations that surface when you acknowledge those negative beliefs. Next, go through the list of positive beliefs and identify the statements that you already believe about yourself and the statements that you would like to believe about yourself.
While thinking about our bodies, many of us focus on how our bodies look (especially in the summer for a lot of people), and sometimes we forget all the other wonderful aspects of our bodies. Complete the statements below to practice thinking about your body in more ways than appearance:
This is an activity that helps child understand the basic premise of cognitive coping skills (challenging, refocusing) in order to decide what is important and in their control and what they can let go of in situations. This is a great activity to begin problem solving and autonomous decision making skills.
This is a tool that can be used to gain insight to children’s behaviors, feelings, support networks, and hopes for therapy. This is a great intervention to use for a Diagnostic Interview session with children ages 10 and up.
This is a tool that helps children and teenagers begin the process of understanding emotional identification and expression. By drawing and linking physical responses to emotions, it will hopefully help them have a better understanding of their feelings and give them space to choose the appropriate coping strategies or corrective responses to situations.
This is a great tool to introduce a child to teletherapy services while both building rapport and introducing basic emotional expression.
Assertive Communication Activity: Assertive communication (rather than passive, aggressive, or passive-aggressive) is the ideal communication style to advocate for ourselves while still showing others respect. Many people find that they shift into patterns of ineffective communication when under stress, or in different contexts (for example, assertive at work, but passive with family and passive-aggressive with spouse). Go over the following handout with your client and explore when they utilize assertive communication and in what emotional situations/contexts they fall into less-effective communication styles. Explore what it might be like for client to practice assertive communication in one of these contexts.
For the next week, do 1 thing every day from this list of 176 activities. Notice which activities you gravitate towards, and notice how incorporating these events into your daily life affects your mood, relationships, and thoughts
Sometimes it is hard to understand why we react the way we do when we have big feelings. This video is a great way to teach children as a clinician or a parent how emotions can be linked to reactions, and it can help open conversation about what kinds of reactions they might be having as a child.
