Healing Mental Health Journaling Ideas

I think I was doing it all along. I felt trapped and alone in my own home. I couldn’t go out when I wanted and I didn’t talk to anyone most of the day. Sounds like torture?  Well, that’s how I felt as a teen in an overprotective household. I felt criticized and unable to express who I was. That’s why I journaled. Unaware, but I think I was journaling all along for healing. I didn’t have mental health journaling ideas, I just had my journal and me.

That’s where I started and you can too.

How do I start mental health journaling?

Remember this is self-care so, you can decide on a time or simply write freely. Grab a journal or notebook, or like I did, just loose pieces of paper. Start by writing what is bothering you the most at that moment, or perhaps, who is bothering you. Focus on your feelings and be specific. If you don’t know anything about journaling, start here with how to journal the easy way.

What do you write in a therapy journal?

A therapy journal can be a journal given to you by a mental healthcare provider or one that you start on your own. It is a place where you can share specific thoughts and situations, a trauma event, or use as a form of self-care to help you get through the tough times. Some mental health journaling ideas for a therapy journal include things that comfort you, and reduce anxiety and feelings of confusion. You should equally journal things that are deep-seated and hard to deal with. Later I’ll give mental health journal prompts to help you with the types of questions to help you unbed those hard to deal with emotions.

What should be in a mental health bullet journal?

If you want more journaling ideas for mental health you can look at bullet journaling. Bullet journaling is a mix of a planner and a journal and includes a lot of designs and drawings. If you want to include mental health in your bullet journal you can do any or all of the following:

• Draw what troubles you
• Track your mood
• Create and track new better habits, or breaking bad habits
• Create a plan for bad habits or situations
• Track your sleep patterns
• List fitness goals for better mental health
• Track eating patterns

How Can Journaling Help Mental Health?

So what’s the point of journaling for mental health? There’s been many studies on the benefits of journaling. One related study says that when we look at the blessings and record thoughts of gratitude we benefit interpersonally and it ups our coping mechanisms. It speeds up physical healing, but also emotional healing through regulating our emotions and ending the nonstop, obsessive thoughts surrounding the event or person. So we can conclude that mental health journaling gives you a greater sense of well-being and stability which promotes overall healing.

Mental Health Journaling Ideas

Some ideas for mental health journaling and a bit of self-care are:

Praying first

Going to the park

Journaling with a friend nearby

Reading an entry to a friend (but remember journaling is private so be sincere in what you write even if you plan on sharing it)

Journaling in the morning

Journaling in the morning and at night

Writing down 3 things you are grateful for, before or after you write your entry

Sitting at the beach

Grounding yourself first

Writing non-stop for at least 5 minutes

31 Mental Health Journal Prompts

Here are 31 prompts to help you express whatever is going on in your life. You can print out my free (instant download!) journal prompts for mental health pdf to take with you.

You can use it as a 31 Days to Mental Health printable to help you on your journey to heal.

1. Write a letter of apology to yourself or another person.
2. Who do you want to be in 3 years (and your plan to get there)
3. Trustworthy: who is it and why did you pick them?
4. Who do you think God is?  Why does He have you here?
5. List the best things about you.
6. What makes you happy?
7. What makes you mad?
8. Who has hurt you the most?  How?
9. What’s your happiest childhood memory?
10. What do you fear most? Why?  Write 3 ways to overcome it.
11. Name your favorite person in the world and what makes them special.
12. Be real about what stresses you out, list 2 things you can do to lower that stress.
13. List the things that make you feel better and cared for
14. Describe what you will do today for self-care
15. Write about a person who has positively impacted your life.
16. What are your core values?
17. Describe a time when you felt overwhelmed and how you managed those feelings.
18. Write about a goal you have for yourself.
19. Reflect on a mistake you’ve made and what you learned from it.
20. Write about a fear or insecurity you have and how you can work on overcoming it.
21. Describe a choice you regret. What did you learn from it?
22. Do a brain dump of all the tasks you need to do or are expected of you.
23. Describe a time when you felt powerful.  What happened?
24. Write 3 words to describe yourself and 3 words to display who you can and should be.
25. Write about a dream day, the perfect day.
26. List all of your loved ones, highlight any best friends, favorite cousins, etc.
27. Create a plan to make new friends
28. Make a list of 31 things you are grateful for
29. Do you feel appreciated at work/school? Why or why not?
30. What boundaries could you set in your relationships to safeguard your own well-being?
31. Explore an opinion you held in the past but now question. What led you to change that opinion?

Final Words on Mental Health Journaling Ideas

I hope these ideas have really sparked in you the motivation to keep going in life. I know things may be hard but please don’t give up. Journaling is one major key to my self-discovery and stability through all of the hardships I encountered as a youth and throughout life. If you’d like to know more read my post on journaling for rest and stress relief.

Don’t forget to download your journal prompts for mental health pdf (no email signup!)