Dropping the Anchor Worksheet
By
HappierTherapy
Free worksheets are currently unavailable in some cases.
Author bio
The Happier Therapy editorial team is made up of Masters and PhD counselling psychologists. Each worksheet is created by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The worksheet then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
What is the theory behind the Dropping the Anchor Worksheet?
Dropping the Anchor works around the concept of mindfulness. According to the American Psychological Association, “ Mindfulness is awareness of one’s internal states and surroundings. Mindfulness can help people avoid destructive or automatic habits and responses by learning to observe their thoughts, emotions and other present-moment experiences without judging or reacting to them.”
How will this worksheet help?
This worksheet will help the user through self-awareness and being in the present. Questions are designed to help the user realize what are the negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors the issue causes the user to exhibit.
The worksheet also aims to help the user think of the appropriate actions needed to achieve his goal and provide solutions to the presenting problem. As the famous quote on this approach goes, “Dropping an anchor doesn’t make the storm go away – it just holds you steady. The storm comes and goes in its own time.”
The worksheet also encourages the user to assess his social network and be aware of his social and psychological resources.
How to use the worksheet?
The worksheet starts by asking what is the presenting problem or the issue at hand. This helps in specifying the negative feelings and thoughts that will be asked of in the process.
It asks next if there is someone who is there with the counselee. Sometimes, the presence of significant others helps people deal with difficulties. If there is none at the moment, the question lets the counselee think and reflect on possible people he can ask. This allows the counselee to check his social support system.
The worksheet then guides the counselee on specific steps which should be followed as much as possible. The instructions are easy to comprehend and do.
The counselee may practice the steps regularly to help in relaxing the nervous system. It will also aid in familiarizing the process making it easier to access next time the counselee faces an emotional storm.
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