Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet

What is self-help?

Before we discuss the Self-Help Worksheet, let’s briefly talk about self-help.

When we hear the word “self-help,” it’s not surprising if you start thinking about books that try to instill inspiration in people toward positive change. That’s understandable because self-help books are common and have their own shelves in most bookstores. But self-help doesn’t just involve books.

Self-help is an umbrella for a wide array of materials and forms, which include online courses, mobile applications, podcasts, real-life workshops, and much more. What they all have in common is that they aim to help people develop the confidence and skills to take charge of their lives and direct themselves to positive changes and outcomes. They even draw from numerous disciplines ranging from philosophy to psychology. You can say that self-help is interdisciplinary because it sometimes mixes these disciplines together.

Besides guiding people, these materials have the capability to teach essential skills to people, from effective and assertive communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving so that the person consuming the material can take action on their own. Personal responsibility is a core tenet of self-help, after all. The worksheet that we’re about to discuss embodies this tenet because it’s all about the person managing themselves when facing certain troubles.

Check out this video to find out more about Self-Help and Self-Reflection techniques:

How to use the Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet

The Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet is an easy-to-use worksheet that comes in the form of a writing exercise. This particular worksheet already assumes that you have understood what goes into managing yourself when under distress. Of course, understanding is simply just knowing what to do. Doing them is an entirely different discussion.

This worksheet aims to serve as a log or a promise list of sorts that you can refer to whenever you are dealing with something that is mentally distressing. Here are the following prompts:

1. What makes you sad? What do you need to do to ward off the sadness and prevent it from disrupting your daily life?

• For this part of the worksheet, just write about the things that make you feel sad. Whenever you feel sad, what or who can you cling to or do to help you power through the sadness or prevent it from ruining your day? These can be memories, relationships, activities, etc.

2. What makes you feel anxious? What happens to you, or what do you do when you are anxious? What do you need to do to calm down?

• Write down all the things that make you anxious or trigger your anxiety. What do you need to do to calm yourself whenever you are anxious?

3. What scenarios can make you feel lost or stressed? If you feel lost or stressed, what are the things that you can do to reduce your stress?

• Write about the times that made you feel lost or stressed. Then, write down what you need to help you stay the course and manage your stress. Do you have people to turn to for advice? Do you simply need to remember something?

4. What are your hopes and dreams? What will you do to achieve them or something close to them?

• This is all about goal setting. You just need to write down your goals and ideals and briefly discuss how you want to achieve them.

5. If you stumble upon the way and start making excuses, what must you do to help you stop making excuses and press on?

• It’s normal for people to make excuses when they fumble something, especially when what they were doing is all for reaching their goals and ideals. While it’s normal, it can be detrimental. If you keep making excuses, you might be stuck just making excuses. You need to move forward, so what must you do to snap out of your funk and continue forward?

6. Make a promise to treat yourself with:

• This part is simple. Just write down how you want to treat yourself at all times and promise to do so.

That’s it!

Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet Example

Now that you know the basic gist of self-help and what the Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet is all about, it’s time to see what it looks like. Do note that this worksheet is an adaptation of the My Self-Care Promise Worksheet created by the wonderful folks at Positive Psychology. What we added are guide questions that make you list down actual problems or triggers that you have dealt with or currently dealing with. 

If you like what you see and believe this will help you help, please download this free self-help worksheet PDF template! We hope that it helps you keep yourself grounded and focused on the things that are most important to you and helps you better take care of yourself.

Download this Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet Example:

When is the best time to use the Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet?

Typically, worksheets are issued by healthcare professionals. In the context of mental health, the people who issue these are psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and therapists. They are often issued during the middle of their programs, meaning they have already exchanged pleasantries and have established trust and rapport with their patients. The reason why they are issued in the middle of the programs is that their patients are likely more willing to discuss what troubles their minds and the therapist should be teaching them specific skills to help them work through their problems. The worksheets are there to help them apply what they have learned.

Since this guide is about a self-help worksheet, it can be used anytime! Since self-help is a personal responsibility, you won’t get any assistance from a professional when filling out this worksheet. You’re on your own, so you will be thinking about yourself and determining ways to help yourself based on the writing prompts. Just take your time and fill it out when you can. This is for you and only you. You don’t have to submit it to anyone.

Just know that you shouldn’t substitute this worksheet for professional help. If this worksheet is not doing it for you and your mental well-being is declining, it would be best to see a professional.

What are the benefits of the Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet?

It can help people examine the things that distress them.

Every person has their own stressors. Some may be the same as others, and some aren’t. But what we all have in common whenever we are distressed is that sometimes we don’t get to properly examine our stressors and think about what we can do to overcome them. This worksheet can help with that. The guide questions and prompts will help you find the emotional distance you need to properly list the things causing stress, anxiety, depression, and lost. Identifying most, if not all, is half the battle.

It nudges people to determine the best things they can do to help themselves.

After listing all the things that make them feel lost, anxious, stressed, sad, etc., the prompts will have individuals think about what they can do in order to better manage themselves when their stressors are present. They can write down anything to help them calm down and work through their troubles. This can be as simple as finding ways to relax, like jogging or listening to music, to seeking support from their loved ones. We know we said that self-help is about personal responsibility, but seeking support is okay because self-help will still come from the actual person following through with what they plan to do for themselves.

It encourages goal setting and treating yourself.

The latter half of the worksheet is all about setting goals for yourself. Having something to strive for can help with a person’s overall mental well-being, especially if what they’re striving for will actually make them feel good and secure. After writing down what they can do to work through their problems or prevent them from becoming a nuisance to their daily lives, those using this worksheet will discuss their goals and ideals in life. The worksheet even allows them to think and write about how they plan on achieving their goals and ideals, including ways to let them snap out of making excuses for themselves when they make mistakes. It even asks people how they want to treat themselves.

How can Carepatron assist with self-help?

If you have stumbled upon this guide, you’re likely someone looking for exercises to help practice self-help. As we mentioned earlier, self-help is all about personal responsibility, so it will fall on your shoulders to help yourself during certain points in your life.

But how can Carepatron help you? Surely, if you check out our platform, you’ll think that “Oh, this platform is for healthcare professionals.” We are, indeed, a platform for healthcare professionals. Part of our mission is to assist healthcare professionals in streamlining their workflows and provide them with clinical resources, but our goal is to make healthcare accessible to all. Given that, you can also access our resources for free.

We have numerous worksheets that span different mental healthcare fields. We even have an abundance of worksheets on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Art Therapy, and many other forms of therapy. Since self-help is interdisciplinary, you can use these worksheets to help you work through what troubles you on your own! Again, the worksheets are free, just like this Self-Management Self-Help Worksheet, so download as much as you want and need! If these help you determine how to live better, we’re happy!