Catching Your Thoughts (CYP)
The Catching Your Thoughts (CYP) worksheet supports young clients in recognizing and recording automatic thoughts, facilitating cognitive restructuring.
Catching Your Thoughts (CYP)
The way we think can have a big impact on how we feel. Negative thoughts can lead to difficult emotions, like feeling sad, anxious, or angry.
The good news is that changing how you think can help you feel better.
You can use this tool to ‘catch’ the negative thoughts that go through your mind. Getting good at this will help you understand why you feel a certain way and change your thinking in helpful ways.
You can use this record whenever you have a strong feeling – like feeling sad, angry, or scared.
Overview
This worksheet is designed for a young audience, focusing on helping them identify and understand automatic thoughts, situations triggering these thoughts, and their emotional responses. It serves as a practical tool for clinicians to guide cognitive restructuring. Therapists can use it as a springboard for conversations about how thoughts influence feelings, introducing the foundational cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principle that while we may not choose our first thought, we can learn to evaluate and respond to it.
Also available as:
PDF ToolUse this tool with your clients
Support therapeutic work between sessions.
Assign
Send the tool securely to your client.
Client completes
Your client works through it on any device, at their own pace.
Review
Review their responses before the next session.
Part of a complete library of evidence-based tools
Worksheets, guides, audio resources and interactive digital tools for mental health professionals.