Healgood Holiday Survival Guide

UPDATED 2024!

The holiday season is often painted as a time of joy and celebration, but for many, it can also be a period of heightened stress and emotional difficulty. Challenges such as navigating family dynamics, busy schedules, financial pressures, and even loneliness can take a toll on our mental well-being.

Each year in my work with clients, the theme of coping through the holidays resurfaces. What started as a short handout early in my career as a therapist has, over a decade later, grown into a 21-page workbook designed to help clients develop skills and tools to build insight and resilience through the season’s highs and lows. And now, it’s available to you as as a digital download!

This digital guide covers essential topics to help you understand why the holidays may feel overwhelming and provides seven core skills to manage stress—plus a bonus skill to further support your mental wellness. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s inside:

What You’ll Find in the Workbook

• Understanding Holiday Distress: We start by exploring why the holiday season often triggers stress, anxiety, or sadness, helping you feel validated and prepared to face common holiday challenges.

• Eight Skills to Help You Cope: This section covers evidence-based skills that will help you cope ahead for the holidays.

• Snow Globe Mindfulness: Inspired by the peaceful settling of a snow globe, this mindfulness metaphor and practice guide will help you find calm amidst the seasonal chaos.

• The Gift of Gratitude and Values-Based Traditions: Learn how to make gratitude a focal point of your holiday season and explore values-based traditions that can make the holidays more meaningful and fulfilling.

• Effective Communication Refresher: Master essential communication techniques, including honesty statements and validation skills, to help you handle challenging conversations with grace and confidence.

• Dealing with Difficult People: This skill is about dealing with the “most difficult” people and relationships. Even when things are challenging and people are difficult to deal with, it may be in your best interest to figure out how to deal with them effectively. 

• Radical Acceptance: This skill will guide you through accepting things you can’t change so you can reduce frustration and stay focused on what matters.

• Journaling Prompts and Reflection: Journaling prompts that encourage self-reflection and application of the skills and tools in the guide, helping you process your experiences and prepare for the new year.

• Holiday Survival and Self-Care Plans: The workbook includes templates to create your own personalized Holiday Survival Plan and Holiday Self-Care Plan, empowering you to proactively manage your well-being.

— Chelsea Fielder-Jenks, LPC-S, CEDS-C, PMH-C

Therapist & Healgood Founder

Created By: Chelsea Fielder-Jenks, LPC-S, CEDS-C, PMH-C

Format: Digital Download - Printable PDF