CBT Tool Kit Cards
After consulting with a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, I designed these cards to help people understand & take control of their mental wellbeing. They can be used as an when they are needed. I hope these cards help you or someone you know. To know how effective these activities are for you, rate you feelings before and afterwards.
Your heart is designed to pump. Your lungs enable breathing. Your brain produces thoughts. This is what your body does so let it do it’s thing.
Acknowledge your anatomy.
Cross your hands & place your palms in a comforting position on your chest or upper arms. Take a few deep breaths.
Tap your hands gently on your body, alternating between your left and right.
Continue taking deep breaths.
Now think of something that makes you happy.
Keep this up until you feel relaxed.
Breathe in for 3 seconds. Hold this breath for 5 seconds. Breathe out for 7 seconds. Repeat until you feel better.
We all go through tough times. It’s okay to take a step back and acknowledge this. It feels hard right now but these feelings will pass & you will get through this.
To count down your senses, use your surroundings to identify:
5 green items you can see
4 sounds you can hear
3 textures you can feel
2 scents you can smell
1 taste you can savor
You can change the order of the senses you count down & the colour of the items you see according to your preference & environment.
Walk, run, jump, swim or cycle. Any form of exercise is good for your mental health. Give it a go!
Write down your situation, who you were with, what you were doing, where & when your worry is rising. Rate the intensity of this worry.
Write what your worry is (what if...)
Note what the worry is predicting is going to happen.
Record the type of worry you are having (problem, fear or hypothetical).
Rate the intensity again once you have done this.
Follow this diagram:
Using an audio guide, practice tensing & relaxing your muscles; working your way up from your feet to your head.
Breathe in cool blue air for 5 seconds. As you do this, raise your shoulders up to your ears.
Hold this for 5 seconds.
Breathe out hot red air for 7 seconds & relax your shoulders. Repeat until you feel better.
To help recognise & change unhelpful thoughts, work your way through this list:
~identity & rate your moods
~List your automatic thoughts. What was going through your mind before you started to feel this way? If there were any other thoughts & images in your mind? Circle the hot thought.
~Find evidence that supports this hot thought.
~Find evidence that does not support this hot thought.
~Now fins an alternative balanced thought which takes into account evidence for & against the hot thought.
~Rate your moods again.
Ask yourself what a friend would say to you in this situation.
Consider this analogy for unhelpful thoughts:
In a school playground there is a bully & 3 other children.
The bully goes up to the first child & says ‘give me your money or I’ll beat you up’. The first child then empties his pockets and hands over his money.
The bully goes up to the second child & says ‘give me your money or I’ll beat you up’. The second child replies now, because if I give you my money I can’t buy my lunch & you can’t bully me because I’ll tell the teacher’.
The bully goes up to the third child & says ‘give me your money or I’ll beat you up’. The third child says ‘no’ & walks away.
The next day in the playground who does the bully go up to? If that child is not in school that day, who will the bully go to? Why is this?
Unfurl & twirl you’re body!