Building New Habits Worksheet
GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Building new habits can be challenging, but they are an important part of mental wellness. Habits are difficult to change without a plan and commitment to the process. Learning helpful tips for making a new habit stick can help clients in therapy develop new coping skills and mental health routines.
Clients in therapy often want to build new habits for themselves but find it tough to accomplish without support. Supporting a client while they build new habits can help with building a sense of self-esteem, accountability, and hopefulness for the future.
About This Worksheet
Support clients while they work on healthy lifestyle changes by teaching them tips for building new habits. The Building New Habits worksheet provides helpful habit-building tips for clients to use in therapy. It also provides reflection questions to aid in developing a realistic and attainable habit-building plan.
Adults can use the Building New Habits worksheet to start the process of establishing healthy habits in their routine. It can be used in individual and group counseling sessions.
Instructions
Introduce the Building New Habits worksheet and review the introduction and tips on building new habits with the client. Start a dialog about their experience with building new habits and explore the biggest challenges they have faced when trying to create healthier habits.
Instruct the client to complete the reflection questions. When they are finished, review their responses with them. Start a dialog about how the client can use their responses on the worksheet to begin building their new habit. You may ask reflection questions, like:
- How can we develop a plan for managing the challenges you may face while building your new habit?
- How will your new habit benefit your life?
- What can we do in sessions to help you stay consistent with building your new habit?
Use this worksheet to help your client build an action plan for building their new habit. Consider planning ways to track their progress and reflect on how the new habit can improve their mental wellness. Provide a copy of the worksheet to the client for reference.
References
Gardner, B., Lally, P., & Wardle, J. (2012). Making health habitual: The psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice. British Journal of General Practice, 62 (605), 664-666.
Singh, B., Murphy, A., Maher, C., & Smith, A. E. (2024). Time to form a habit: A systematic review and meta‑analysis of health behaviour habit formation and its determinants. Healthcare, 12(23), 2488.
