6 Best Counseling Activities for Adults
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to counseling, experienced counselors will begin to recognize common complaints and themes expressed by their clients. Once such a theme has been identified, the counselor may then invite their clients to investigate it further using experiential or reflective activities.
To illustrate, let’s look at three common themes that may arise in therapy and useful activities that correspond to each.
3 Activities for perfectionism
Perfectionism is having
“high standards of performance which are accompanied by tendencies for overly critical evaluations of one’s own behavior.”
Frost et al., 1990, p. 540
Rates of perfectionism are increasing, particularly among younger generations (Curran & Hill, 2019). This rise in perfectionism among young people is suspected to be due to the ease with which they can compare themselves to their peers using modern technologies and metrics, such as with social media and college GPA scores.
Considering these findings, counselors exploring themes of perfectionism with their clients may find value in the following activities:
- Perfectionism Diary
Clients struggling with perfectionism may not immediately recognize the specific situations or thoughts that trigger their unrealistic standards. This worksheet offers a structured way to record and reflect on perfectionist thinking and behavior as it occurs.
- Catching Your Critic
Too much negative self-talk, spurred by perfectionism, will often wear down our self-esteem (McKay & Fanning, 2016). This worksheet will train your clients in the vigilance required to “catch” critical thoughts by inviting them to write them down and systematically explore their effects on behavior.
- Goal Setting to Manage Perfectionism
This worksheet invites clients to break down perfectionist challenges into manageable goals. By identifying specific problem areas and translating them into concrete, achievable tasks, clients can begin to shift their mindset—focusing on progress over flawlessness.
In addition, consider our article How to Overcome Perfectionism to help your clients deal with this life burden.
3 Best activities for coping with grief
While losing someone you care about is difficult under any circumstances, some people experience more significant challenges when grieving than others. The experience of emotional distress that does not pass following a loss is known as complicated grief.
Complicated grief occurs when we experience
“feelings of loss [that] are debilitating and don’t improve even after time passes.”
Mayo Clinic, 2021
The following are three activities that may help your clients steadily work through the grieving process and adjust to their new reality without their loved one:
- A Letter to a Loved One
This worksheet offers clients a space to express unspoken words that linger after loss, whether through a self-guided letter or with the help of sentence prompts.
- Grief Sentence Completion Task
This worksheet presents clients with a series of sentence completion tasks. The prompts encourage clients to access their feelings and thoughts in the present moment, facilitating further inquiry and self-investigation surrounding their grief.
- How I Can Reshape My Future
This worksheet invites clients to imagine how they might live their life in a way that both brings them happiness and would put a smile on the face of their lost love one.
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