CBT Worksheets Template

Still Water Counselling

Worksheet set · Anxious thoughts

A CBT worksheet set

Between_Sessions_

Eight quiet pages for noticing anxious thoughts, testing them gently, and finding a steadier way through the week.

Name

Week of

Next session

These worksheets support, not replace, your sessions. Set 03 · 8 pages

Still Water Counselling Between Sessions · Start here

02Start here

How to use

these pages

This set is for the days between our conversations. It helps you catch anxious thoughts as they happen, look at them more closely, and try small things that make the week feel a little more manageable.

1

Little and often

Five minutes most days helps more than one long evening. Keep the pages somewhere you will see them.

2

Write it while it is fresh

Notes made close to the moment are more accurate. A few words on your phone is fine — copy them in later.

3

There are no right answers

Messy, half-finished pages are useful. We are looking for patterns, not perfect handwriting.

4

Be curious, not critical

Try to watch your thoughts the way a kind friend would — interested in them, not judging them.

5

Choose what fits

You do not need every page every week. Start with the thought record; add others as they help.

6

Bring them with you

We will look at them together. What felt hard to do is just as useful to talk about as what went well.

In this set

1. 03Thought record Daily
2. 04Common thinking traps Read
3. 05Weekly activity plan Plan
4. 06Grounding & breathing As needed
5. 07The worry tree Daily
6. 08Weekly reflection Weekend

A note from your counsellor

Anxious thoughts are very convincing. They arrive fast, they sound like facts, and they usually ask us to avoid something. These pages are a way of slowing them down enough to ask, “Is that the whole story?”

Some days that will feel easy and some days it won’t. Both are part of the work. Go gently, and bring whatever you have — even a blank page tells us something.

Maren Holt

MSc · Registered Counsellor · Still Water Counselling

A small, honest noteThese worksheets support, not replace, your sessions. They are tools to practise with between our conversations, not a test you can pass or fail.

If things feel unsafeThese pages are not for emergencies. If you feel at risk of harming yourself, call your local emergency number or a crisis line straight away, then let me know when you can.

Name 2 / 8

Still Water Counselling Between Sessions · Thought record

03Worksheet one

Thought record

Date

Time

1

Situation

Where · when · who

What was happening when the feeling started? Just the facts, as a camera would see it.

2

Automatic thought

What went through your mind? Circle the one that hits hardest — the hot thought.

3

Emotion

Rate 0–100

Name each feeling in one word, then how strong it was.

%

%

%

0 50 100

barely there the most I have felt

4

Evidence for

Facts that support the hot thought — not feelings or guesses.

5

Evidence against

What would a good friend say? Has it gone differently before?

6

Balanced thought

A fairer view that makes room for all the evidence. It does not have to be positive — just more complete.

7

Re-rate

Now 0–100

How strong is the feeling now? A small drop counts.

%

%

%

If you feel stuck on step 5, try asking: “What would I tell someone I love who had this thought?”

Name 3 / 8

Still Water Counselling Between Sessions · Thinking traps

04To read and recognise

Common thinking traps

Everyone’s mind falls into these. They are habits, not flaws. Naming one when it shows up can loosen its grip. Tick the ones you recognise.

i

All-or-nothing thinking

Seeing things in only two boxes, with nothing in between.

“If the talk isn’t perfect, it’s a disaster.”

vi

Mental filter

Noticing only the one thing that went wrong.

“Nine kind comments, and I keep thinking about the one that wasn’t.”

ii

Catastrophising

Jumping to the worst possible outcome.

“My chest feels tight — something must be seriously wrong.”

vii

Discounting the positive

Deciding that good things don’t count.

“I only coped because it was an easy day.”

iii

Mind reading

Being sure you know what others are thinking.

“She didn’t reply. She must be annoyed with me.”

viii

“Should” statements

Strict rules about how you or others must be.

“I should be over this by now.”

iv

Fortune telling

Predicting the future as if it were fact.

“I’ll panic on the train, so there’s no point going.”

ix

Emotional reasoning

Taking a feeling as proof that something is true.

“I feel anxious, so it must be dangerous.”

v

Overgeneralising

One event becomes “always” or “never”.

“I stumbled over my words. I always mess things up.”

x

Labelling

Summing up a whole person with one harsh word.

“I forgot the email. I’m useless.”

Which two visit most often?

Write them here, with one moment this week when you caught one in the act.

Name 4 / 8

Still Water Counselling Between Sessions · Activity plan

05Behavioural activation

A week of small, doable things

Anxiety tends to shrink our days. Plan a few activities ahead, then rate each one afterwards. Act first; the feeling often follows.

Week of	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Morning Until noon	Walk to the bakery, not the car M_6_ P_7_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_
Afternoon Noon – 6	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_
Evening After 6	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_	M_·_ P_·_
Mood 0 – 10

Mastery · 0–10

How much of a sense of achievement did it give you, given how you felt that day? Getting up on a hard morning can be a 9.

Pleasure · 0–10

How much did you enjoy it, even a little? Low numbers are useful too — they show us what to adjust.

Ideas, if you are stuck

• Routine — a proper breakfast, a tidy desk, an early night
• Pleasant — music while cooking, a bath, ten minutes outside
• Necessary — the phone call or bill you have been putting off

What did you notice?

How was your mood on the days you did more, compared with the days you did less?

Name 5 / 8

Still Water Counselling Between Sessions · Grounding

06For anxious moments

Come back to right here

When anxiety pulls you into the future, your senses can bring you back to the present.

5

things you can see Look

The light on a wall, a colour, a crack in the pavement.

4

things you can feel Touch

Your feet on the floor, the weight of your sleeves.

3

things you can hear Listen

Near sounds, then far ones.

2

things you can smell Breathe

Soap, coffee, the air outside. Or two smells you like.

1

thing you can taste Notice

Or one kind thing you can say to yourself.

Box breathing

Four sides, four counts

Trace the square with your eyes or a finger. Breathe in through your nose, out slowly through your mouth.

Try it when

• you are waiting for news
• before a hard conversation
• you are lying awake at night

If four feels too long, count to three. Slow and steady is enough; there is no need to breathe deeply. Stop if you feel light-headed.

Rounds today

Name 6 / 8

Still Water Counselling Between Sessions · Worry time

07When a worry arrives

The worry tree

Some worries point to a problem we can act on. Others are “what ifs” that no amount of thinking will settle. This tree helps you tell them apart.

Worry time

1. Choose 15–20 minutes each day, at the same time and place — not just before bed.
2. When a worry shows up during the day, jot it down and tell yourself, “Not now — later.”
3. At worry time, read the list. Cross out what no longer matters; use the tree on the rest.
4. When time is up, stop, and do something that needs your attention.

My worry time is at

In this place

Time	Worry, in a few words	Still matters?
10:40	What if I freeze in Thursday’s meeting?	Y · N
		Y · N
		Y · N
		Y · N
		Y · N
		Y · N
		Y · N
		Y · N

Name 7 / 8

Still Water Counselling Between Sessions · Reflection

08End of the week

Looking back, gently

Ten quiet minutes at the end of the week. Notice what changed, however small.

Mood tracker

Fill one dot each evening

0 is the lowest you have felt, 10 the best. Join the dots to see the shape of your week.

For next time

Bring this to our next session

• At least one thought record — finished or not
• Your activity plan, with the ratings
• The thinking trap that visited most
• One moment that went better than you expected
• Anything that felt too hard — that is useful too
• A question you would like to ask me

Date

Time

1

Something I noticed

about my thoughts, my body, or my week

2

Something that helped

a page, a person, a walk, a breath

3

Something that was hard

and what I did, or might try next time

4

A thought I questioned

and the fairer view I found

Whatever this week held, you showed up for it. That counts.

Name 8 / 8