Understanding and Managing Stress – Worksheet 1

This worksheet, Understanding and Managing Stress – Worksheet 1, focuses on exploring how stress manifests in your life and provides a self-assessment tool to help identify stress-related symptoms. It encourages individuals to reflect on past and present sources of stress, including relational, legal, financial, health, and occupational concerns. By completing the Stress Symptom Checklist, users can evaluate physical and psychological symptoms of stress they’ve experienced over the last month. This helps pinpoint their current stress level and develop an understanding of how stress affects their substance use and overall well-being.

Written by clinical psychologist Dr. Hal Baumchen, PsyD, LP, LADC, this printable PDF worksheet gives clinicians a practical, session-ready tool. The conversational, encouraging tone makes clinical concepts accessible to clients at any stage of recovery, while structured prompts keep the work focused and productive.

How clinicians use it: as an in-session exercise to open and structure discussion, as between-session homework to reinforce skills, as a progress tool to track growth over time, and as part of a treatment unit paired with the companion lesson and PowerPoint on this topic. Formatted for easy printing and immediate use in individual or group settings.