Therapy homework bridges the gap between sessions by helping clients internalize insights & practice new skills in real-life situations.
Creative, personalized assignments are more effective than generic worksheets in fostering emotional integration & healing.
Resistance to homework is not failure; it’s feedback. Exploring this resistance can lead to deeper therapeutic breakthroughs.
Therapy can be life-changing. But for many of us, 50 minutes a week may not be enough to create deep, sustainable change.
As a trauma therapist and relationship expert, I’ve seen how essential it is for clients, especially those recovering from deep wounds, to bridge the gaps between sessions.
Especially for those who have experienced relationship trauma, I have found that healing isn’t just about talking about the past; it’s about learning how to live differently in the present.
Therapy homework assignments extend the therapeutic process into real life. They help clients apply new insights, practice coping strategies, and build emotional resilience in everyday moments.
Whether it’s journaling, expressive art, mindfulness exercises, or building communication skills, between-session assignments can help solidify change. Let’s look into that, and I’ll also provide tips and tools to help you implement homework assignments that truly work.
Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our five positive psychology tools for free. These engaging, science-based exercises will help you effectively deal with difficult circumstances and give you the tools to improve the resilience of your clients, students, or employees.
Therapy homework refers to intentional activities or assignments given to clients to complete between sessions in order to reinforce therapeutic goals, deepen insight, and encourage behavioral change. It matters because it helps clients carry the lessons and insights of the session into their daily lives.
While often associated with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) homework examples, psychology homework for clients is not exclusive to any one modality. In fact, when thoughtfully tailored, it can enhance therapeutic work across a broad spectrum of approaches.
From a psychodynamic perspective, Jungian work encourages clients to explore unconscious material through journaling, dreams, or symbolic art between sessions (Jung, 1961).
In humanistic approaches, especially parts-based models such as Internal Family Systems, homework may include dialoguing with parts of the self or writing letters to wounded inner child figures (Schwartz, 2024).
Systemic approaches, like Bowenian family systems theory, assign homework such as constructing genograms, tracking patterns of emotional reactivity, and practicing differentiation through relational experiments (Kerr & Bowen, 1988).
Narrative therapy, rooted in social constructionism, emphasizes the power of storytelling. Client homework can include re-authoring personal narratives, identifying moments of resistance to dominant problem-saturated stories, and journaling unique outcomes (White & Epston, 1990).
8 Types of Therapy Homework Assignments
In my experience, therapy homework assignments are most impactful when they reach beyond traditional worksheets and into my clients’ deeper lived experience.
When assignments are creative and tailored to the client’s inner world, they become opportunities for deeper insight and integration. As Norcross (2011) notes, client engagement increases when interventions align with their preferences and ways of processing.
Here are some examples of therapeutic homework assignments you could begin assigning. They are more than just worksheets to complete; these unique mental health assignments are integrated to foster emotional connection, self-awareness, and healing beyond the therapy room.
1. Parts walk
Go for a walk and let one specific part of your psyche, such as your anxious planner, inner critic, or wounded child, lead the walk for 10 minutes. Observe the world through its lens.
Then invite your core self to take over for the remainder. Reflect on the differences in tone, thought, and energy.
Why it works:Internal Family Systems is designed to build internal awareness and help clients differentiate between parts and the self.
2. Cognitive reframe log
Track one distressing thought per day using three columns:
The automatic thought
The emotional/behavioral response
A reframed or balanced version
Why it works: Challenging cognitive distortions aims to strengthen cognitive flexibility and reduce negative self-talk.
3. Dream dialogue
Recall a vivid dream. Choose one character or symbolic archetype and write a conversation with it. Ask it why it’s here, what it represents, and what it wants you to know.
Why it works: Working with Jungian archetypes is meant to help unlock unconscious content and promote symbolic insight and integration.
4. Letters never sent
Write a letter to someone you have unfinished emotional business with, but have no intention of sending it. Say what needs to be said. After writing, reflect: What did this release? What did it reveal?
Why it works:Gestalt interventions like this facilitate emotional expression and closure in a safe, contained way.
5. Ritual of release
Choose an object to represent something you’re ready to release, such as guilt or a limiting belief. Bury it, float it downstream, or burn it safely in a personal ritual.
Why it works: Incorporating somatic work with nature therapy provides embodied symbolic closure and supports nervous system regulation (Van der Kolk, 2014).
6. Mirror talk
Stand in front of a mirror and speak directly to a younger part of yourself. Utilizing re-parenting techniques, say what that part needed to hear when you were a child: validation, love, protection, permission to be authentically you.
Why it works:Inner child work is intended to promote self-compassion and help rebuild emotional trust within the self.
7. Week of softness
Spend one week intentionally slowing down your life, including how you eat, walk, speak, and listen. Notice and record how this shift affects your emotions and body.
Why it works: Body-based interventions, such as Polyvagal techniques, help rewire hypervigilant nervous systems toward safety and presence (Van der Kolk, 2014).
8. Values compass
The identification and pursuit of personal values is the core goal of acceptance and commitment therapy. To explore values, create a compass with four areas:
Connection
Growth
Joy
Contribution
Under each, list your personal values. Then plan a small weekly action aligned with each.
Why it works: This exercise anchors daily life in values and may help improve psychological flexibility and fulfillment.
Download 5 Free Positive Psychology Tools
Start thriving today with 5 free tools grounded in the science of positive psychology.
Download Tools
Therapeutic Goals Supported by Homework
My work with complex trauma survivors has taught me that true healing doesn’t just happen in the safety of the therapy room; it happens when a client begins to interact with their world in new ways.
For these clients especially, healing is about insight, relearning safety, reclaiming agency, and practicing trust in both the self and others. Counseling homework becomes a bridge between what we talk about in session and what clients are capable of experiencing in daily life.
Therapy homework is also effective for a wide range of emotional and relational goals, depending on the client’s needs, treatment approach, and stage of healing. Whether the focus is cognitive, behavioral, emotional, or relational, the right assignment can reinforce what’s being worked on in session and accelerate meaningful progress (Kazantzis et al., 2010).
Here are some goals worth exploring:
Increased self-awareness
Reflective journaling, dream tracking, or emotion diaries can help clients notice patterns in thoughts, triggers, or behaviors they may not catch in the moment.
Building skills or forming habits
Practicing mindfulness exercises, breathwork, or grounding techniques as therapy homework helps clients internalize coping skills that regulate the nervous system during stress (Van der Kolk, 2014).
Behavioral change
Gradual exposure tasks or value-based action plans encourage clients to shift avoidance behaviors and take steps aligned with their therapeutic goals.
Cognitive restructuring
Assignments like thought records or belief-challenging worksheets give clients a space to actively dispute distorted thinking and test new perspectives.
Emotional regulation
Homework involving body scans, feeling wheels, or parts work helps clients better identify, name, and tolerate emotional states.
Self-efficacy and empowerment
Assignments such as boundary-setting scripts, narrative rewriting, or gratitude journaling can restore a sense of agency and cultivate resilience.
Relational healing
Practicing assertive communication or reflecting on attachment patterns allows clients to explore new relational dynamics in real time.
It’s one thing for clients to show growth inside the therapy room, but it’s quite another to witness those changes happening in their daily lives! Therapy homework ensures that what is practiced in session becomes part of how they live and relate and therefore ultimately heal.
5 Common Barriers to Completion & How to Address Them
Therapy homework is not without its barriers. It’s not uncommon for clients to struggle with therapeutic compliance and completing tasks. In my work, I’ve found that resistance often isn’t laziness or avoidance but rather serves as protection.
Some clients may consciously want change, but a part of them may still cling to familiar patterns, as those patterns (though dysfunctional) once ensured survival.
Self-sabotage can emerge when healing threatens an internal equilibrium that has long kept pain at bay. Client resistance in therapy (which can manifest through behaviors like homework noncompliance) can predict poorer treatment outcomes, particularly when resistance is expressed in a hostile manner (Schwartz et al., 2021).
Other barriers may include a client’s stage of readiness to change, their belief in their own ability to succeed, or a lack of prioritization due to competing demands or emotional overwhelm.
For some, the assignment may feel too abstract or triggering, especially if it touches on core wounds or shame.
Clients with higher initial symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder may struggle more with homework completion, yet those who engage more consistently in homework assignments tend to experience greater symptom reduction over time (Stirman et al., 2018).
For more on why clients may avoid doing their therapy assignments, we recommend this video.
Quick fix! Clients not doing homework? (CBT Clinical tip)
If there is one thing I want you to walk away with in this section, it is this: the obstacle is the way. What I mean by that is, whatever resistance you are encountering with your clients is exactly what you lean into in therapy. That block is what you explore.
I know it can be frustrating when you see a client’s potential, and you’re inspired to go deeper into the topics of a therapy assignment. But I promise you, resistance is a messenger, not a roadblock, and listening to it can lead to deeper therapeutic breakthroughs.
8 Tips for Creating Effective Homework Assignments
Therapy homework assignments work best when they are intentionally designed to meet the client where they are, emotionally, cognitively, and developmentally.
Psychology homework that feels overwhelming, misaligned with their needs, or too theoretical can unintentionally reinforce resistance. Homework becomes more effective when it’s collaboratively developed, experience based, and emotionally meaningful (Kazantzis et al., 2010).
Below are some tips to consider when creating effective therapy assignments for clients:
Tailor homework to the client’s internal system
Consider their parts, their stage of change, and their nervous system capacity before assigning anything (Prochaska & Norcross, 2018). Matching interventions to readiness enhances engagement.
Make the assignment experiential (not just cognitive)
Clients retain more when they embody the work, so try using sensory tasks, visualization, or role-play to bring concepts to life (Greenberg & Pascual-Leone, 2006).
Start small and build up
Micro assignments reduce the risk of avoidance and promote self-efficacy, especially in clients dealing with shame, low self-esteem, or complex trauma (Beutler et al., 2011).
Cocreate rather than prescribe
When clients participate in shaping their homework, they feel empowered and more invested in follow-through (Kazantzis et al., 2010).
Offer multiple entry points
Providing diverse modes of expression (such as journaling, drawing, movement, and connection) respects diversity and increases the likelihood of completion (Norcross & Wampold, 2011).
Anchor it in the present
Tying homework to current lived experiences enhances relevance and the integration of therapeutic insight into daily life (Kazantzis et al., 2010).
Frame resistance as part of the work
Normalize avoidance as an opportunity to explore internal conflict rather than a failure (Westra, 2011). Resistance often protects vulnerable parts of the self.
Include a reflection or integration step
Reflection strengthens insight and encourages metacognition, which are essential for long-term change (Kazantzis et al., 2010).
Effective homework tips help clients carry the therapy room into their real lives. When you craft these assignments with care, it can deepen insight, build confidence, and reinforce therapeutic momentum for your clients.
Take a moment to reflect on these tips. Which do you already incorporate in your practice, and which could you grow in?
In today’s therapeutic landscape, digital tools in therapy can serve as powerful adjuncts to in-person sessions, helping clients stay engaged, deepen reflection, and access support between appointments.
When thoughtfully integrated, technology can enhance the therapeutic process, especially for clients who benefit from structure, visual aids, or on-demand resources.
Below are three digital aids that are helpful for between-session homework:
Insight Timer
For clients working on grounding, emotional regulation, or somatic safety, Insight Timer provides access to over 150,000 free meditations, including trauma-informed breathwork, sleep support, and body scans.
It’s ideal for clients who benefit from consistent nervous system practice. It can also be used as part of a self-regulation tool kit to reduce overwhelm between sessions.
Daylio combines mood tracking and activity logging in a simple, icon-based format. This makes it especially accessible for clients who find traditional journaling overwhelming or cognitively taxing.
By helping clients observe patterns in behavior and emotion over time, it supports new, healthier behaviors, emotional literacy, and weekly check-ins that deepen insight and accountability.
Woebot is an AI-powered tool that delivers brief, evidence-based support through real-time conversations grounded in CBT and dialectical behavior therapy.
For clients who struggle with emotional spirals or need an accessible tool when therapists aren’t available, Woebot offers a gentle, skills-based intervention that encourages reframing, emotional naming, and cognitive de-escalation.
These digital tools aren’t meant to replace therapy. Instead, try to look at them as a way to enhance the continuity of care between sessions. By aligning the right app with a client’s needs, preferences, and tech comfort level, you can extend the therapeutic alliance into the spaces where clients live.
Keep in mind that while tools can support change, it is often the human-to-human relationship that creates it. The reality is, so many wounds originate in the context of relationships. It therefore makes sense that it is also within safe, attuned relationships that true healing unfolds.
Helpful Homework Templates for Mental Health Clients
As mentioned, therapy homework is most impactful when it meets the client in their lived experience. A thoughtfully chosen template can offer just enough structure to feel safe while still inviting emotional depth, logical insight, and self-reflection.
PositivePsychology.com offers a diverse range of free, evidence-based worksheets that can be used as homework between sessions. These templates range from cognitive restructuring tools to expressive arts exercises to deeper parts-work reflections. Each one is designed to engage a different aspect of the client’s healing process.
Below are several examples:
Our All Parts Are Welcome worksheet helps clients engage with their internal system through the lens of self-acceptance. Drawing from Internal Family Systems, it invites clients to explore protective and wounded parts with curiosity and compassion rather than shame and avoidance.
This template is ideal for clients who struggle with inner conflict or self-rejection and are beginning to build a relationship with their core selves.
Identifying Parts of Yourself Through Drawing provides a visual entry point into inner work. Clients are encouraged to creatively express different parts of themselves, such as what these parts look like, feel like, and want.
This is especially helpful for clients who feel overwhelmed by verbal processing or who benefit from symbolic and imaginative work.
The REBT Formulation Worksheet is a structured cognitive tool that guides clients through identifying irrational beliefs and disputing them. It’s useful for clients who are stuck in loops of negative thinking, like those working through shame, perfectionism, or self-criticism.
By externalizing their thought process, clients learn to create more balanced and empowering interpretations of challenging situations.
The Letter of Self-Compassion worksheet invites clients to write a nurturing, kind letter to themselves during a moment of pain, failure, or vulnerability. It helps clients shift from internal criticism to internal care.
This is a particularly meaningful exercise for trauma survivors or clients learning how to reparent themselves through self-kindness.
Our Commitment, Obstacles, and Strategies Worksheet supports clients in identifying a meaningful goal and recognizing what may stand in their way. Most importantly, it helps clients develop strategies for staying aligned with their intention.
It’s ideal for those who are trying to create long-term change, practice accountability, or reconnect with their values after periods of avoidance, resistance, or shutdown.
These templates are both structured and creative for self-exploration. When chosen with intention, the right template can reinforce the goals of therapy and support meaningful progress between sessions.
17 Top-Rated Positive Psychology Exercises for Practitioners
Expand your arsenal and impact with these 17 Positive Psychology Exercises [PDF], scientifically designed to promote human flourishing, meaning, and wellbeing.
For those wanting a practical way to support clients between sessions, our free Creating Good Habits worksheet is a great place to start. This worksheet guides clients through the process of identifying desired behavioral changes, creating implementation intentions, and reinforcing new patterns.
To continue learning about how to integrate structured resources into your sessions, we recommend diving into the following three articles:
Communication Skills in Counseling & Therapy: 17 Techniques: A practical overview of the core communication skills that strengthen the therapeutic alliance, complete with worksheets to help clients build these skills inside and outside sessions.
These resources are here to support you as you assign meaningful therapy homework assignments to your clients.
Therapy may begin in our clinical offices, but it can also carry on into our clients’ daily lives between sessions. It is here where they test new skills, wrestle with old beliefs, and practice becoming healthier versions of themselves.
As therapists, we have the opportunity to reimagine therapy homework as more than an assignment. It can be a tool for connection, self-trust, and transformation, especially if we’re tailoring it to the unique needs of each client.
Before you assign your next piece of homework, try considering the following:
What part of my client is this homework speaking to?
Is this designed to deepen insight, build a skill, or offer emotional safety?
Does this task reflect where the client is now (and not just where I want them to be)?
The more thoughtfully we approach therapeutic homework, the more it becomes a practice in attunement. In that space, we create meaningful change.
What should I do if a client never completes homework?
Lean into the resistance. Instead of viewing it as noncompliance, explore the internal block with curiosity. Processing how the resistance serves or protects the client can become an important part of the healing work itself.
Can therapy homework be done digitally?
Yes, digital tools can be helpful adjuncts, but they’re not a replacement for the therapeutic relationship. Apps and platforms can offer structure and support between sessions, especially for practicing skills or tracking progress. But they work best when used in collaboration with one-on-one therapy.
How do you get clients to complete therapy homework?
Make it meaningful by tailoring it to their needs, personality, and current stage of healing. Cocreate the assignment together so it feels collaborative, not prescribed. This increases ownership, safety, and follow-through.
References
Beutler, L. E., Harwood, T. M., Alimohamed, S., & Malik, M. (2011). Functional impairment and coping style. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(2), 142–154.
Greenberg, L. S., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2006). Emotion in psychotherapy: A practice-friendly research review. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(5), 611–630. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20252
Jung, C. G. (1961). Memories, dreams, reflections. Pantheon Books.
Kazantzis, N., Whittington, C. J., & Dattilio, F. M. (2010). Meta‐analysis of homework effects in cognitive and behavioral therapy: A replication and extension. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 17(2), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2850.2010.01204.x
Kerr, M. E., & Bowen, M. (1988). Family evaluation: An approach based on Bowen theory. W. W. Norton & Company.
Norcross, J. C. (2011). Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based responsiveness. Oxford University Press.
Norcross, J. C., & Wampold, B. E. (2011). Evidence-based therapy relationships: Research conclusions and clinical practices. Psychotherapy, 48(1), 98–102. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022161
Prochaska, J. O., & Norcross, J. C. (2018). Systems of psychotherapy: A transtheoretical analysis (9th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Schwartz, R. C. (2024). The internal family systems workbook: A guide to discover your self and heal your parts. Sounds True.
Schwartz, R. A., Chambless, D. L., Milrod, B., & Barber, J. P. (2021). Patient, therapist, and relational antecedents of hostile resistance in cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder: A qualitative investigation. Psychotherapy, 58(2), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000308
Stirman, S. W., Gutner, C. A., Suvak, M. K., Adler, A., Calloway, A., & Resick, P. (2018). Homework completion, patient characteristics, and symptom change in cognitive processing therapy for PTSD. Behavior Therapy, 49(5), 741–755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2017.12.001
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
Westra, H. A. (2011). Comparing the predictive capacity of observed in-session resistance to self-reported motivation in cognitive behavioral therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49(2), 106–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2010.11.007
White, M., & Epston, D. (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. W. W. Norton & Company.
About the author
Laura Copley, Ph.D. offers her insight on healing complex trauma as a therapist, podcast host of "Tough Love with Dr. Laura Copley", and at speaking engagements around the world. Recently, she released her first book called "Loving You is Hurting Me," a self-improvement book on trauma bonding that blends storytelling, psychoeducation, and powerful activities and strategies that lead to Post-Traumatic Growth.
Therapy can be life-changing. But for many of us, 50 minutes a week may not be enough to create deep, sustainable change.
In my experience, therapy homework assignments are most impactful when they reach beyond traditional worksheets and into my clients’ deeper lived experience.
Therapy homework is not without its barriers. It’s not uncommon for clients to struggle with therapeutic compliance and completing tasks. In my work, I’ve found that resistance often isn’t laziness or avoidance but rather serves as protection.
Therapy homework assignments work best when they are intentionally designed to meet the client where they are, emotionally, cognitively, and developmentally.
What our readers think
Interesting read, thank you!