DBT worksheets: Mindfulness
Looking for free downloadable positive traits worksheets? This article can help facilitate meaningful conversations about positive traits with clients in therapy sessions.
There are various interventions and tools, like this set of positive traits worksheets, that mental health clinicians can use to empower their clients and help them overcome challenges.
If you have a client with low self-esteem, persistent depression, or who is struggling to find the right partner, positive traits worksheets are tools that can help them meet their treatment goals.
Recognizing their own positive traits helps clients identify their strengths, and it can also help them recognize positive attributes in others. In turn, this can build self-esteem and strengthen relationships.
This guide provides an overview of how to acknowledge positive traits and how discussing positive traits can be beneficial to clients. We’ve also included a free, downloadable set of positive traits worksheets that you can save to your electronic health record (EHR) solution.
How discussing positive traits can benefit clients
When clients know their strengths, they are more likely to experience happiness, increased self-esteem, and increase capacity to achieve their goals.
However, as a therapist, you’ll know that for some clients—particularly those with a traumatic history, or a challenging family dynamic—acknowledging positive personality traits may not come easily.
Exploring positive traits of a person in therapy is part of several therapeutic approaches—like positive psychotherapy, positive psychology, and strengths-based frameworks. These interventions help clients use their inner resources to overcome challenges, cultivate positive character traits or strengths, and build resilience.
Using these strengths-based frameworks is associated with several benefits, including:
- Improved school engagement and satisfaction
- Enhanced well-being and motivation
- Developed greater forgiveness, understanding, and self-efficacy
- Improved psychological well-being, and social participation
- Greater happiness
- Enhanced self-compassion, hope, and gratitude
When to use positive traits worksheets with your clients
Whether you are practicing positive psychology or a strengths-based approach, naming positive traits is beneficial to clients who have a hard time seeing their strengths and qualities.
Thus, a positive traits worksheet can be helpful for::
- Clients with low self-esteem
- Client who struggle with describing themselves, such as in an interview or on a dating profile
- Those who have been in abusive relationships
- Individuals from a harmful family dynamic
- A person struggling to see their value
- Clients with depression
Examples of positive character traits
The downloadable positive traits worksheet set contains over 250 positive personality adjectives, or traits, strengths, and qualities to identify and discuss with clients.
Here are a few of the traits that are included:
- Patient
- Empathetic
- Innovative
- Accepting
- Savvy
- Determined
- Creative
- Self-directed
- Non-judgmental
- Suave
- Generous
- Kind
- Ambitious
- Cheerful
- Steady
- Friendly
- Considerate
- Open-minded
- Positive
- Well-rounded
- Accommodating
- Humble
- Tolerant
- Flexible
- Youthful
- Good host
- Modest
- Hard working
- Nurturing
- Stoic
- Down-to-earth
- Genuine
- Loyal
- Sensitive
- Studious
- Independent
- Thoughtful
- Courteous
- Frugal
- Sweet
- Cooperative
- Focused
- Selfless
- Good listener
- Protective
- Relaxed
- Calm
- Profound
- Optimistic
- Determined
- Brave
- Funny
- Patient
- Intelligent
- Polished
While this is not an exhaustive list, the first page of the positive traits worksheets has many more to discuss.
What’s included in the positive traits worksheets?
This set of positive traits worksheets gives clients an opportunity to reflect on their strengths and deepen their understanding of their positive attributes, which can increase their confidence and self-esteem. It is a helpful visual tool for therapists that can help clients focus on the exercise at hand.
The positive traits worksheet is in two parts:
- On page one, the client reviews a list of over 250 positive traits and identifies 10 that resonate most with them.
- Using the table on page two, clients list those 10 positive traits, define them, provide an example of how they practice the quality, and name whether they identify it as something they possess.
If clients have a difficult time choosing positive traits, it may be helpful to ask them to consider a close friend or colleague that they admire and identify their positive traits first. This set of positive traits worksheets can be a useful starting point to discuss these traits in therapy and compare them with the client’s perceived qualities.
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