For most people, the word “therapy” conjures images of sitting alone in a therapist’s office talking about personal issues. While talk sessions have many benefits during mental health treatment, much more goes into an effective teen treatment program.
Fun activities make therapy more interesting and more effective as well. Here are 30 activities for teens in therapy designed to help them gain insight and strengthen mental health – and have fun while doing it.
Individual Therapy Activities for Teens
Focus: Self-reflection, emotional regulation, relapse prevention, values clarification, and personal growth.
1. Letter to Yourself
Purpose: Builds self-awareness, perspective-taking, and compassion.
How it helps: This activity allows teens to reflect on how they’ve grown or what they wish they could have known earlier. It can also help with processing regret, trauma, or big life changes.
How to try it:
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Ask the teen to write a letter from their future self to their current self, offering encouragement or advice.
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Or, have them write to their younger self about lessons they’ve learned, what they’ve survived, or what they would do differently.
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Discuss what comes up in session — especially patterns of blame, resilience, or insight.
2. Life Timeline
Purpose: Increases insight into the connections between life events and emotional responses.
How it helps: Teens often experience time in fragmented ways, especially if they’ve experienced trauma. A visual timeline helps organize their narrative and make connections between past experiences and present behaviors.
How to try it:
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Draw a horizontal line on paper and mark significant events (moves, losses, achievements, diagnoses, first substance use, etc.).
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Use different colors for positive vs. painful memories.
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Reflect on how those events may have shaped their coping strategies or self-image.
3. Gratitude List
Purpose: Shifts focus from negativity or lack to presence and abundance.
How it helps: Practicing gratitude reduces stress and depressive symptoms, increases emotional resilience, and provides a daily reminder of reasons to keep going in recovery.
How to try it:
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Challenge teens to write 100 things they’re grateful for — big or small.
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If 100 is too overwhelming, start with 10 per day.
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Encourage creativity (e.g., “sun on my face,” “my favorite hoodie,” “a funny TikTok”).
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Use the list as a grounding tool during moments of dysregulation.
4. Personal Collage
Purpose: Helps teens express their identity and emotions without needing to find the right words.
How it helps: Visual processing can be less intimidating than talking, especially for teens who shut down during emotional conversations.
How to try it:
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Provide magazines, scissors, glue, and a blank sheet.
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Prompt themes like “Who I Am,” “What Recovery Means to Me,” or “How I Feel Today.”
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Afterward, ask the teen to explain what each image represents and how it reflects their inner experience.
5. Worry Journal
Purpose: Externalizes anxious or negative thoughts, helping teens recognize patterns and reduce mental rumination.
How it helps: Journaling encourages emotional regulation, supports CBT work, and allows therapists to better understand thought cycles related to anxiety or relapse risk.
How to try it:
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Encourage the teen to write down worries as they arise throughout the week.
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Include columns like: worry, how strong it felt (1–10), what actually happened, and what helped or didn’t help.
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Review entries in session to identify distorted thinking or triggers.
6. Emotion Mapping
Purpose: Connects physical sensations to emotional experiences.
How it helps: Teens often struggle to recognize or name emotions. This activity builds interoceptive awareness and can help identify early warning signs of dysregulation or cravings.
How to try it:
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Give the teen a body outline and ask them to color or label where they feel emotions like anger, anxiety, shame, or sadness.
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Ask follow-up questions like “What does it feel like when you’re about to use?” or “Where do you feel stress first?”
7. Thought Distortion Detective
Purpose: Helps teens recognize and challenge unhelpful thinking patterns.
How it helps: Especially effective for depression, anxiety, and substance use, this CBT-based activity builds cognitive flexibility and reduces emotional reactivity.
How to try it:
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Teach common distortions like catastrophizing, overgeneralization, or “should” statements.
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Use real scenarios (e.g., “I failed a test = I’m a failure”) and challenge them with evidence-based thinking.
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Use worksheets or index cards to reinforce learning.
8. Trigger Tracker
Purpose: Identifies emotional and situational triggers for risky behavior or relapse.
How it helps: Helps teens notice patterns they might not be aware of, empowering them to make safer choices or use coping skills proactively.
How to try it:
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Create a simple daily log with columns for: situation, emotion, urge to use (1–10), coping skill used, and outcome.
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Review weekly in therapy to identify patterns and build a more effective relapse prevention plan.
9. Values Card Sort
Purpose: Clarifies core values to guide recovery goals and behavior change.
How it helps: Many teens in treatment feel lost or disconnected. Reconnecting with what truly matters builds motivation and a sense of direction.
How to try it:
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Use printable or physical “values cards” (e.g., friendship, honesty, fun, independence).
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Have the teen sort them into piles: very important, important, and not important.
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Reflect on whether their behaviors align with their values — and what needs to change.
10. Coping Skills Menu
Purpose: Builds a personalized “toolkit” of effective strategies for emotional regulation.
How it helps: Teens often default to unhealthy coping strategies. Creating a menu increases the likelihood that they’ll use healthy alternatives when under stress.
How to try it:
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Brainstorm a list of go-to coping skills (breathing, drawing, calling a friend, taking a walk).
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Organize them by categories: Quick fixes, Healthy distractions, Emotional outlets, Grounding tools.
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Decorate it and keep it somewhere accessible (like in their room or therapy binder).
Teen Group Therapy Activities
Focus: peer support, social skills, connection, emotional expression, accountability, and recovery motivation.
11. Two Truths and a Lie
Purpose: Builds connection and eases social anxiety in group therapy settings
How it helps: This low-pressure icebreaker gives teens a chance to open up, observe others, and experience laughter and curiosity in a group — especially helpful early in treatment or with new members.
How to try it:
Each teen shares three statements about themselves — two true, one false. The group guesses which is the lie. Afterward, encourage brief reflection: Did anything surprise you? Did you relate to anything someone shared?
12. Drum Circle
Purpose: Encourages nonverbal communication, mindfulness, and teamwork
How it helps: Teens collaborate to create rhythm together, which promotes co-regulation and unity without needing to talk. This is particularly useful for groups where verbal sharing is difficult.
How to try it:
Provide drums, shakers, or buckets and sticks. Start with a basic beat and allow the group to add in rhythms. End with a debrief: What role did you play? What was it like to sync up with others?
13. Spot the Strength
Purpose: Promotes self-esteem and peer affirmation
How it helps: Many teens struggle with low self-worth. Hearing positive reflections from peers helps them internalize new, healthier self-concepts.
How to try it:
Each teen shares a short story of something they’re proud of or a time they overcame something hard. Group members then call out strengths they saw in that story — like courage, honesty, or resilience.
14. Candy Game
Purpose: Makes emotional expression fun and accessible
How it helps: This game lowers defenses by using candy and color to spark deeper emotional reflection. It creates a safe way for teens to share without overthinking.
How to try it:
Each teen picks a candy from a bowl. Each color corresponds to an emotion (e.g., red = anger, green = peace, blue = sadness). They share a time they felt that emotion. Adjust the feelings based on what’s most relevant to the group.
15. Human Knot
Purpose: Builds teamwork, patience, and problem-solving
How it helps: This activity physically mirrors the feeling of being stuck and requires teens to work together to find a way out — a powerful metaphor for group progress.
How to try it:
Teens stand in a circle and each grabs the hand of someone across from them (not next to them). Without letting go, they must untangle the “knot.” Afterward, reflect on how they communicated and supported each other.
16. Recovery Role Models
Purpose: Encourages hope, motivation, and value alignment
How it helps: Discussing positive role models in recovery helps teens identify traits they want to strengthen in themselves. It also gives them a chance to explore what long-term recovery could look like.
How to try it:
Ask teens to think of someone they admire who’s sober (real or fictional). Have them share: What makes this person strong? What would they do in a tough situation? What can I learn from them?
17. Compliment Circle
Purpose: Increases self-worth and group cohesion
How it helps: Positive peer feedback can be more powerful than praise from adults. Teens also practice giving thoughtful, respectful affirmations — a skill that supports stronger relationships.
How to try it:
Each teen gives a compliment or appreciation to the person on their left. Encourage specificity (“You’re really brave for opening up about your dad last week”) and model it first if needed.
18. Boundary Scenarios
Purpose: Strengthens communication and personal safety
How it helps: Many teens in recovery struggle with boundaries. Practicing real-life situations helps them recognize unhealthy patterns and build assertiveness.
How to try it:
Present common scenarios (e.g., “A friend pressures you to skip group,” “Someone keeps texting you after you said you need space”). Discuss or roleplay how to respond. Encourage peers to offer supportive alternatives.
19. Shared Goals Wall
Purpose: Reinforces accountability and shared purpose
How it helps: Teens see they’re not alone in working toward growth. Posting goals in a visible way builds commitment and gives the group a sense of progress.
How to try it:
Have each teen write one short-term goal on a notecard or sticky note (e.g., “Go one week without vaping,” “Use grounding when anxious”). Post them on a shared board or wall. Revisit weekly and celebrate progress together.
20. Feelings Uno
Purpose: Combines play and emotional awareness
How it helps: Teens often struggle to identify or express emotions. By pairing a familiar card game with emotion prompts, they can open up more easily in a low-pressure setting.
How to try it:
Use a standard Uno deck, but assign a feeling to each color (e.g., red = anger, yellow = joy, blue = sadness, green = calm). When someone plays a card, they share a time they felt that emotion. Include bonus “wild cards” for open questions like “What’s been your biggest challenge this week?”
Family Therapy Activities for Teens
Focus: improving communication, understanding family dynamics, building empathy, reducing conflict, and strengthening family bonds in the context of recovery and mental health.
21. My Happiest Memory
Purpose: Reconnects family members through shared joy and positive memories
How it helps: This activity shifts the focus away from conflict or dysfunction and reminds the family of moments when things felt safe, connected, or joyful. It can rebuild emotional closeness.
How to try it:
Each person silently acts out a favorite family memory while others guess what it is. Afterward, have a discussion: Why does this memory stand out? What does it say about what matters to you?
22. Enactment
Purpose: Builds insight into conflict patterns and promotes healthier communication
How it helps: Roleplaying common arguments helps the family recognize repetitive dynamics, like defensiveness or escalation, and practice responding differently with the therapist’s support.
How to try it:
Choose a familiar conflict and assign roles (often people play themselves). Act out how it usually goes. Then, replay it with therapist coaching, focusing on slowing down, active listening, and using “I” statements.
23. Emotions Ball
Purpose: Normalizes emotional expression and builds emotional literacy
How it helps: Teens and caregivers often struggle to talk openly about feelings. This activity gives everyone equal space to reflect and model vulnerability.
How to try it:
Write different emotions on a beach ball (e.g., anger, guilt, pride, love). Toss the ball around the group. When someone catches it, they name a time they felt the emotion facing them and what they needed in that moment.
24. Miracle Question
Purpose: Encourages hope and identifies goals for change
How it helps: This solution-focused exercise helps the family step out of “what’s wrong” and imagine what life would feel like if things were better — then work backward to identify small steps forward.
How to try it:
Ask: “If a miracle happened while you were sleeping and everything that’s been hard was suddenly fixed… what would be different when you woke up?” Have each person describe what they’d notice about themselves and others.
25. Family Questions
Purpose: Builds empathy, self-awareness, and perspective-taking
How it helps: This activity uncovers how well family members know each other — or how much they assume. It opens the door to better understanding and validation.
How to try it:
Each person answers a question about themselves (e.g., “What stresses me out the most?”) and then guesses how others will answer that same question. Discuss similarities, differences, and surprises.
26. Communication Styles Exercise
Purpose: Improves communication and reduces conflict escalation
How it helps: Teens and caregivers often default to unhealthy communication patterns. Learning about passive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, and assertive styles can help shift those dynamics.
How to try it:
Introduce the four main styles with examples. Have family members identify their go-to style and roleplay switching to assertive communication in a typical conflict. Debrief: How did that feel? What worked?
27. Family Timeline
Purpose: Builds context and shared understanding of family experiences
How it helps: Mapping out family events visually allows everyone to reflect on milestones, disruptions, or patterns. It can reveal different perspectives and help validate overlooked experiences.
How to try it:
Draw a horizontal timeline. Mark major events (births, moves, divorces, deaths, first substance use, diagnoses, etc.). Each person adds personal memories or emotions tied to those moments. Discuss any emotional themes that emerge.
28. Letters of Understanding
Purpose: Encourages validation, connection, and emotional repair
How it helps: Families often say things in anger they later regret but rarely revisit. Writing letters gives them a chance to express care, understanding, or apology in a thoughtful, non-confrontational way.
How to try it:
Each person writes a short letter to another family member. Prompts may include: “Something I’ve come to understand about you,” “One thing I appreciate about you,” or “What I wish you knew.” Letters can be read aloud or privately exchanged.
29. Strength Shields
Purpose: Highlights individual and family strengths, builds mutual appreciation
How it helps: Teens in treatment often feel like the “identified problem.” This activity reframes that by focusing on what each person brings to the family system.
How to try it:
Give each person a blank paper “shield” divided into four sections. Each section represents a strength (e.g., kindness, creativity, perseverance, humor). Family members help each other fill in their shields with observed strengths.
30. Conflict Pause Plan
Purpose: Teaches de-escalation and emotional safety strategies
How it helps: Families often escalate quickly when conflict arises. A pause plan gives them a structured way to break that cycle and come back together with more emotional regulation.
How to try it:
Collaboratively create a plan with the family. Decide on:
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A shared “pause word” or phrase
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What each person will do during the break (e.g., deep breathing, journaling)
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How they’ll regroup after (e.g., circle back in 20 minutes to talk it out)
Practice a mock scenario so they can try it in session first.
Different Therapies Bring Different Results
Each type of therapy (individual, group, and family) serves a distinct purpose in helping teens heal, grow, and move forward. While they often overlap, each one targets different areas of a teen’s life and plays a unique role in long-term recovery.
The most effective treatment plans combine all three approaches. When teens can reflect on themselves, connect with others, and rebuild family relationships, they’re much better equipped to stay emotionally grounded and committed to recovery.
Individual Therapy
Individual therapy gives teens the space to explore their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors without fear of judgment. It’s where they begin to understand what’s driving their anxiety, depression, or substance use, and start learning healthier ways to cope. Activities in one-on-one sessions help teens build self-awareness, recognize patterns, and set personal goals for change.
Group Therapy
Group therapy helps teens feel less alone in what they’re going through. Being around peers with similar experiences can reduce shame, build social confidence, and teach important relational skills. Group-based activities create opportunities to practice emotional expression, give and receive support, and learn from others’ perspectives in a safe, structured environment.
Family Therapy
Family therapy focuses on repairing relationships, improving communication, and building trust at home. Many teens in treatment feel misunderstood by the people closest to them. Family-based activities help uncover where breakdowns have occurred and guide families in creating a healthier, more supportive dynamic that makes long-term healing more sustainable.
Build a Stronger Foundation for Healing
Therapy isn’t just about talking; it’s about giving teens the tools, space, and support they need to grow. Whether your focus is on self-reflection, connection, or rebuilding trust at home, these activities offer practical ways to make each session more meaningful.
If you’re looking for a treatment program that supports teens through every stage of recovery, from individual breakthroughs to family healing, we’re here to help. Our team combines evidence-based therapies with creative, hands-on approaches that meet teens where they are and help them move forward with confidence.
Imagine Boise offers outpatient treatment programs for teens aged 12-17. We work with teens and their families to provide guidance and tools for understanding and healing common mental health concerns.
For more information, contact us online or by phone today and ask about our teen therapy programs.