Coping skills are a vital life skill that can help clients navigate internal and external stressors or challenging situations. You have likely observed individual differences among clients, family, friends, and even yourself when it comes to using coping skills. The skills develop over time and are typically shaped by our environment and experiences. Keep reading to learn 7 Coping Skills Activities your teen and adult clients can use in or in between counseling sessions.
Coping skills can typically be divided into two groups: reactive and proactive coping. Reactive coping refers to skills used after a stressor has occurred, whereas proactive skills are used to neutralize potential stressors before they occur. Coping skills are a common focus of therapy and counseling sessions for clients experiencing a range of mental health concerns, such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and trauma-related conditions like PTSD.
A component of comprehensive assessments often investigates a client’s current coping skills and determines if they are adaptive or maladaptive. As an example, clients who use drugs, alcohol, or addictive behaviors like sex to cope with psychological and emotional distress may find that their coping skills lead to a dependency or addiction. While substance misuse and other substances can lead to temporary relief, over time, they can change the reward pathway in the brain, which contributes to the development of an addiction.
Coping skills are a component of several evidence-based therapies. This can include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and trauma-focused therapies like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). These approaches can help introduce and strengthen the use of coping skills to assist clients in managing stress, challenging emotions, and difficult situations.
How Coping Skills Activities Can Help Your Clients
Incorporating coping skills activities into your sessions can have several benefits for your clients. One of the key benefits of this includes helping them learn to regulate their emotions. Emotion regulation skills can help clients better identify intense emotions and learn to respond in an effective and healthy manner. This can help decrease impulsivity and emotional outbursts.
Coping skills can also increase stress tolerance. Clients can learn to adapt to the challenges and stressors they experience without feeling overwhelmed. This can enhance their resilience and self-confidence in navigating life’s challenges.
After learning about your clients’ triggers and emotional challenges, you can focus on introducing coping skills that can address their specific symptoms. This can decrease the intensity of specific mental health disorders and their symptoms. Coping skills can promote the use of healthier thought patterns and behaviors, which can have long-term benefits for those struggling with their mental health.
Coping skills activities can be tailored to your clients, ensuring that they are appropriate to their symptoms, stressors, and level of development. Coping skills activities for adults will vary from those used with teens and children. Learning healthy coping skills at a younger age can have lasting benefits. However, some clients have limited exposure to healthy coping skills at a young age. Children who see adults in their lives using drugs, alcohol, and specific behaviors like sex or gambling to cope with distress are more likely to use similar coping mechanisms.
Worksheets can be a helpful tool for clinicians working with adults and teens who struggle to cope with emotional and psychological distress. TherapyByPro is a leading resource for clinicians and therapists seeking professional guidance. Examples of coping skills worksheets that can be used to reinforce coping skills in session include:
- Coping Skills Worksheets Bundle
- Distress Tolerance Worksheets
- Mindfulness Worksheets Bundle
- Stress Management Worksheet Bundle
- 100 Coping Skills Discussion Questions to Ask Your Clients in Therapy
Coping Skills Activities for Your Clients
You can include coping skills activities for adults and teens into group and individual sessions. Continue reading for a list of coping skills that can be personalized to support clients experiencing a range of mental health symptoms and disorders.
1. Deep Breathing
Deep breathing exercises can be used with CBT and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). You can introduce deep breathing in group and individual sessions for clients who struggle with anger, anxiety, and panic. For this activity, encourage your client to get into a comfortable position. Guide them as they breathe in for four counts, hold for two, and exhale slowly for six counts. You can then repeat the same pattern five or more times. Deep breathing can be used to slow the heart rate, lower stress, and improve emotional regulation. This can also help clients calm themselves down, allowing them to think their way through the difficulty or challenge they are facing.
2. Journaling Thoughts and Feelings
Journaling thoughts and feelings is a great activity that can be used in group and individual sessions. For this exercise, provide your client with the necessary materials and encourage them to spend five to ten minutes writing about their thoughts and feelings. They can talk about current challenges, fears, triggers, observed patterns, and more. After the allotted time, spend time reviewing their experience. You can explore how journaling can help release emotions, clarify thoughts, and identify unhealthy thought patterns. Clients can replicate this activity on their own at home and bring their observations into later sessions. This can be helpful for clients who struggle with coping with stress, depression, and those who suppress their emotions.
3. Roleplaying Assertiveness Skills
Roleplaying assertiveness skills can be a helpful activity for adults and teens who struggle with establishing and maintaining healthy boundaries. This can include saying no and expressing themselves when they feel others have violated an established boundary. With this activity, you and your client can act through a recent or fictional situation and practice using assertiveness skills. In some cases, it can be helpful for the clinician to model assertive skills before having the client take this role. Ensure that you have time to review their experience, provide feedback, and review how these skills can help improve their everyday life.
4. Grounding Exercises
Grounding exercises can be helpful for clients who struggle with worry, panic, fear, and dissociation. These are common components of ACT and mindfulness therapies. For this exercise, ask your client to identify five things they see, four things they hear, three things they touch, two things they smell, and one thing they taste. Ensure that you have time to process their experience and review how this practice can bring their attention to the present moment, decreasing the presence of anxiety symptoms.
5. Creating a Gratitude List
A gratitude list is an example of a positive psychology activity that can be helpful for clients who struggle with pessimism and depression. For this, ask your client to write down three things that they are grateful for each day. Encourage them to bring their list to their next session. You can review their responses and explore any themes you observe. Clients may find that this helps them find positives during challenging times.
6. Practicing the DBT “STOP” Skill
Adults and teens who struggle with impulsivity and anger may benefit from the DBT “STOP” skill. Teaching specific coping skills, like “STOP” from DBT, is a good option. This specific skill can help clients who struggle with anger and impulsivity. For this skill, review what this acronym stands for. “S” stops what you’re doing, “T” takes a step back, “O” observes what’s happening, and “P” proceeds mindfully. This skill can promote the use of mindfulness throughout their day and increase their impulse control.
7. Listening to Music to Verbalize Thoughts and Emotions
Music can be a valuable tool, especially with teens and adults who have a hard time verbalizing their thoughts and emotions. Encourage your client to identify a specific song that represents the emotions they experience. This can include sadness, fear, anger, joy, and others that are unique to their needs. Review their choices, and explore how these different songs affect their mood, thoughts, and behaviors. This can help clients discover alternative ways to express themselves and enhance their emotional awareness.
Frequently Asked Clinical Questions
Below are FAQs clinicians are asking:
How does a clinician differentiate between standard reactive coping and proactive coping mechanisms during an initial behavioral assessment?
Differentiate by evaluating whether the client deploys their skills exclusively after an emotional trigger occurs or if they apply strategies ahead of time to neutralize stressors. Reactive coping models involve using distress tolerance tactics like grounding or deep breathing to bring down acute nervous system arousal on the spot, whereas proactive coping targets lifestyle optimization, such as establishing healthy sleep hygiene and setting firm boundaries, to prevent psychological breakdown before the tension builds.
What is the recommended clinical protocol if a structured thoughts and feelings journaling activity triggers intense emotional flooding or a traumatic relapse?
Instruct the client to immediately close their journal, stop writing, and transition them into the manualized DBT STOP skill to anchor their focus. Avoid asking the client to continue verbalizing or analyzing their distress while their threat pathways are hyper-aroused; instead, guide them to physically step back from the notebook, observe the room objectively, and proceed mindfully with paced breathing until their autonomic system stabilizes.
How should a therapist handle an adolescent client who understands healthy coping skills in theory but consistently relies on substances to numb their distress at home?
Conduct a thorough functional analysis to explore how their home environment and early parental modeling reinforce their maladaptive behavioral patterns. Use motivational interviewing to highlight the structural discrepancy between their long-term wellness goals and the immediate, temporary relief of chemical numbing, slowly breaking their dependency loop by scheduling low-barrier, value-based behavioral activation tasks between sessions.
When is it clinically appropriate to transition a client from basic sensory grounding exercises to interactive interpersonal assertiveness role-plays?
Prioritize non-confrontational sensory tracking and emotion regulation skills until the client demonstrates a stable baseline of internal safety and adequate distress tolerance. Moving into active, verbal assertiveness training and social boundaries role-playing before they can regulate their immediate somatic panic will overwhelm their tracking capacity, evoke intense fear of criticism, and disrupt the therapeutic alliance.
Can advanced expressive music therapy and deep reflection activities be safely utilized with clients presenting with acute, unmanaged psychiatric delusions?
No, highly evocative or symbolic interventions that alter emotional awareness must be delayed until medical stabilization and primary care coordination achieve symptom containment. Attempting to interpret symbolic song lyrics or explore abstract emotional states when a client experiences severe organizational deficits or active psychosis can severely worsen internal confusion, escalate paranoia, and damage the essential therapeutic frame.
Final Thoughts On Choosing The Right Coping Skills Activities for Your Clients
Coping skills activities can be an impactful exercise for clients experiencing mild to severe mental health symptoms. They can help your client learn effective coping skills and increase their confidence in managing the challenges they experience. With a deeper understanding of their emotions, they can work towards effectively communicating their experiences and needs to others.
If you would like to learn more about coping skills activities, you can explore training opportunities for specific therapies, such as DBT or ACT, within your clinical niche.
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Resources:
- Algorani EB, Gupta V. Coping Mechanisms. [Updated 2023 Apr 24]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559031/