Adults with Mental Health Conditions Group Therapy Worksheet

Emotional regulation is an important aspect of managing many mental health conditions. However, before emotional regulation can take place, emotional intelligence is required.

Group Activity: Exploring Emotions
Aim	This group activity aims to develop basic emotional intelligence by exploring emotions and what they mean to each person. This activity builds the foundation for further sessions on developing emotional regulation.
Resources	Large paper Art supplies (magazines, scissors, glue, pens, pencils, crayons, markers, paints, etc.)
Activity	Begin with exploring the link between mental health and emotions. This discussion can lead to highlighting the importance of being aware of your own emotions. Allow the group to work on a variety of emotion collages. These collages will identify an emotion and describe it (how it feels physically, what it means to them, what thoughts it creates, what activates the emotion, etc.) The aim is to create at least 5 different emotion collages during the group. Allow the group to return and share some of their collages.
Follow Up	You may wish to extend this activity over two sessions to give the group enough time to engage with the activity for 5 different emotions and still have a valuable reflection.

References:

Berking, M., Wupperman, P. (2012). Emotional Regulation and Mental Health. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 25(2). https://journals.lww.com/co-psychiatry/abstract/2012/03000/emotion_regulation_and_mental_health__recent.11.aspx

You can download more Mental Health worksheets here.

Please note: There may be a more up-to-date and editable version of this worksheet available here which may be more suitable to present to clients if you are a therapist or to use in a classroom as a teacher or guidance counselor.