Introduction To Stress Management Worksheet
GinaMarie Guarino, LMHC
Stress is a natural part of life. Everyone experiences stress, and when it goes unaddressed, it can affect a client in therapy in many uncomfortable ways. Oftentimes, clients do not realize the link between their stress and other symptoms, like irritability, anxiety, sleep issues, and depressed mood, so educating clients on how stress may be affecting them can help facilitate their recovery.
It is important to know how to manage stress. The first step in helping a client learn how to manage their stress is to teach them about how it may affect them.
About This Worksheet
Exploring how stress may be affecting a client can help with building resilience and identifying helpful coping skills for stress management. The Introduction to Stress Management worksheet serves as an introduction to learning about how stress affects the body and mind, and what the client can do to manage their stress in healthy ways. This worksheet explores the client’s experience of stress and their current coping skills.
The Introduction to Stress Management worksheet serves as a great first step for exploring how the client is being affected by stress and what they can do to manage it. It can be used with adolescents and adults who are working on building healthy stress management skills in individual and group therapy settings.
Instructions
Review the introductory paragraph with your client. Then, instruct the client to complete the reflection questions. When complete, review the client’s reflections with them.
Reflect on the ways stress affects the client and the effectiveness of their current coping strategies. Facilitate discussion about their experience with stress by asking discussion questions, like:
- How confident do you feel in your current process for managing stress?
- What is your biggest challenge when it comes to managing stress in a healthy way?
- What do you feel is the best first step to improving your stress management skills?
Ensure that the client understands how their stress affects them and why proper stress management skills are important to learn. Use this worksheet as an opportunity to explore their motivators for building healthier stress management skills.
References
Slavich, G. M. (2016). Life stress and health: A review of conceptual issues and recent findings. Teaching of Psychology, 43(4), 346–355.
