Children and Therapy Journals

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I am a child of journaling. I was around 10 years old when I wrote my first journal entry. As such, it is not surprising that I support the use of journaling in therapy practice. There are many therapeutic benefits to journaling for both children and adults. Generally speaking, journaling is a powerful tool for coping with and managing emotions.

In the therapeutic world we implement journaling in many different ways. We ask people to keep thought logs, behavior logs, emotion logs, and symptom logs. We ask people to journal to people they may be experiencing conflict with. We ask people to journal what they might want to say to someone. We ask people to use prompts to explore anxiety, depression, gratitude, trauma, and grief. We ask people to journal to explore and learn about their personal thoughts and emotions. We ask people to write to their “child” self or inner child, and we ask people to write to their future self. The options are literally limitless.

One way to use journaling in therapy practice with children is to use it to explore emotional intelligence. We can assess where a child is at and then further develop emotional intelligence through journaling activities. The tools and prompts used vary based on chronological and emotional age as well as based on the area of emotional intelligence being assessed and/or worked on.

As an example, I might use journaling with a 9 year old to assess their level of self awareness. The tools utilized would lead to answers of questions like: Does the child recognize their own emotional and behavioral responses? Can the child recognize their effect on others? Is the child able to be gentle with their own mishaps and miscues?

During this stage of evaluation I might also assess for the child’s ability to self-regulate. Is the child’s impulse control age appropriate? Are they able to start recognizing that others’ emotional responses are not necessarily about them? Can the child take responsibility for their actions and do they adapt to change with ease?

The answers to such questions give me an awareness of where the child is at and also help in developing a strategy moving forward. It can be very rewarding to work with a child as they recognize their own growth and change through journal processes.

How have you experienced therapeutic journaling with a child or as a child?

Love,

Melissa