Having a tracker for coping skills is found to be one of the most effective methods in managing conditions like depression, which requires ongoing monitoring. Although there are different ways to manage this condition, a tracker helps clients by providing insights into what helps them feel better. The Depression Coping Skills Tracker is a tool that helps clients identify situations or triggers that contribute to their low mood, along with effective coping methods. The tracker also asks them to rate each coping skill on a scale of 1 to 5. Using this tracker helps kids and teens notice patterns in their feelings, which allows them to make changes to their coping strategies. Parents can set a regular time, like after dinner, for filling out the tracker. Gathering the sheets weekly into a binder creates a visual record of progress and helps identify trends in coping strategies over time. Our Depression Coping Skills for Kids handout offers several examples of coping skills kids can experiment with. *This item is an instant digital download. A link to download your files will be emailed to you once payment is confirmed. Want more resources like this? Check out our full catalog of depression worksheets and handouts. References: Houle, J., Gascon-Depatie, M., Bélanger-Dumontier, G., & Cardinal, C. (2013). Depression self-management support: A systematic review. Patient Education and Counseling, 91(3), 271-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2013.01.012 Kelley, C., Lee, B., & Wilcox, L. (2017). Self-tracking for mental wellness. Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025750 Schueller, S. M., Neary, M., Lai, J., & Epstein, D. A. (2021). Understanding people’s use of and perspectives on mood-tracking apps: Interview study. JMIR Mental Health, 8(8), e29368. https://doi.org/10.2196/29368 Wang, R., Wang, W., daSilva, A., Huckins, J. F., Kelley, W. M., Heatherton, T. F., & Campbell, A. T. (2018). Tracking depression dynamics in college students using mobile phone and wearable sensing. Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, 2(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3191775
