printable worksheet · about 10 minutes
What helps, what doesn't: a gentle worksheet
Wellness Café · Printable worksheet
What helps, what doesn't: a gentle worksheet
A page to fill in slowly: what helps you feel safe, what doesn't, and what you'd like someone to understand about where you come from.
This one isn't meant to be finished in one sitting, and there's no right way to do it. Nothing here asks you to tell your story, or to write down anything you'd rather keep to yourself. Answer what comes easily, skip what doesn't, and come back to the blank lines later if you feel like it. What you write can come to a session with you, stay in your bag, or be just for you.
Before you start
- Fragments are enough, one word answers a question just as well as a paragraph
- Skip anything that asks too much, the blank lines will still be here
- Nothing here is marked or graded, there's no homework and no test
- If something rises while you write, it's okay to stop, walk around, and come back
What helps me feel safe
The people I feel most like myself around:
Places where my shoulders drop:
What someone can actually do that helps, not what they think helps:
What helps in my body when things get loud:
What doesn't help, even when it's well meant
Phrases that shut me down:
Advice I've already tried that left me feeling worse:
Things I'd rather someone asked about before doing them:
What I need when I go quiet:
Where I come from, and what that means here
Race, culture, faith, class and history aren't side notes, they're part of how you've learned to survive and how the world reads you. You shouldn't have to teach your way through them, and you shouldn't have to pretend they aren't in the room either. This is a place to say what matters once, in your own words.
How my family or community would understand what I'm carrying:
What I want my therapist to know about my culture, faith or background:
What I'd rather not have to explain:
People, traditions or practices I want kept in the room with me:
My support map
Who I could text at 2am:
Who shows up with food, or just sits with me quietly:
Who I don't have room to hear from right now:
One practical thing that would make this week lighter:
What I want my therapist to know
A good session isn't one where someone reads you like a file. Dr. Kenneth Hardy describes a way of working I love, where you're the expert on your own life and my job is to notice alongside you, offering what I see and leaving you to decide what fits. So this is the part only you can fill in.
How I like to be approached when something hard comes up:
If I go quiet, that usually means:
What helps me come back when I've been overwhelmed:
One thing I'd like us to go slowly with:
What I'm taking with me
Something I noticed while writing this:
One small thing I'd like to be different:
Notes
Anything else you'd like to bring, or come back to:
A gentle reminder
You don't have to earn support by being able to explain yourself well. If the page stays half blank, that's still useful, it tells us where the edges are. Whatever you bring, in whatever shape, is enough to work with.
Bring this page to a session, or to a free consult, and we'll start from what you've written rather than from scratch. If writing isn't your way in, talking works just as well.
Written by Tanika Newman, Registered Social Worker. This guide is education, not therapy or medical advice. In a crisis, call or text 988 or call 911.