Low Mood Toolkit: a low mood workbook on behavioural activation by a Counselling Psychologist in York
content and exercises
works to what comes next
be written in, not just read
into practice
A low mood workbook,
not a pep talk
When mood is low, advice to just get out more rarely helps. This workbook is built around small, specific steps you plan in advance and record as you go. Seven of the eleven sections are fillable, because the change happens in the doing, not the reading.
What low mood does to your days
How low mood narrows your week, why it feels like a lack of willpower when it is not, and the cycle that keeps it going.
Act first, feel second
The core idea of behavioural activation: motivation usually follows action rather than leading it, so waiting to feel ready keeps you stuck.
The autumn shift
Why shorter days and colder weather make everything harder, and how to adjust your routine to the season instead of fighting it.
Your activity record
A fillable record of what you do through the day and how it feels, so you work from evidence rather than from how the week seems.
Reading your record
How to spot the activities that lift you, the ones that drain you, and the patterns you could not see from the inside.
Values to actions
A fillable page linking what matters to you with small things you can actually do, so activity has a point beyond keeping busy.
The activity ladder
Breaking an activity into steps from very small to more ambitious, so you start where you really are, not where you think you should be.
Making it happen
Choosing when, where and how, planning around the obstacles, and what to do on the days it feels impossible.
Your fortnight planner
A fillable 14-day planner across two pages, with space to rate how each day felt and what you got done.
When it does not go to plan
Missed days, flat days and setbacks are expected. This page covers how to restart without turning one off day into a verdict.
Review and what next
Looking back over your fortnight, noting what helped, and deciding what to keep. Plus reading and support, including when to see your GP.
Small steps that
actually fit a low day.
Low mood shrinks your world. You do less, so there is less to lift you, so mood drops further. Behavioural activation works on that loop directly, by rebuilding activity in steps small enough to manage while you still feel flat.
-
✦
Evidence-based throughout. Behavioural activation is a recommended first-line psychological approach for depression and low mood in the UK.
-
✍
Fillable and printable, designed to be completed rather than read. Your activity record, your values page and a 14-day planner.
-
✧
Honest about bad days. There is a page for when it does not go to plan, because it often will not, and that is part of the process.
-
→
Written with the season in mind. A section on the autumn shift, for when the darker evenings make everything harder.
Motivation does not usually arrive first. Action tends to come before it, even a very small one.
From the Low Mood Toolkit, Sennah Psychology
This workbook is for you if…
You are waiting to feel better before you do things, and it is not happening
Everyday tasks feel heavier than they used to, especially as the evenings draw in
You have tried to push through and ended up more exhausted
You want something practical to write in, not just more to read
A full page on
the activity ladder
The most common reason a plan falls over is that the first step was too big. The activity ladder breaks anything you have been avoiding into rungs, so you can start at the bottom and move up when you are ready.
Start where you really are, not where you think you should be
Works for anything from a shower to a phone call to a friend
Feeds straight into your fortnight planner
Name it
Pick something you have been putting off, or that you used to enjoy.
Break it down
Split it into smaller and smaller steps until the first one feels doable.
Climb at your pace
Do the first rung, note how it felt, and move up only when you are ready.
Ready to take
a first small step?
Download the full 14-page workbook and start with your activity record. It takes a few minutes and gives you something real to work from.
One-off payment · yours to keep · no subscription
- 14-page professionally designed A4 PDF
- Evidence-based: behavioural activation, a first-line approach for low mood
- Activity record, values page and the activity ladder
- A fillable 14-day planner
- A page for when it does not go to plan
- Instant download, print at home or complete on screen
Instant digital download · PDF format · For personal use
If self-criticism is a big part of how low mood feels, the Self-Compassion & Self-Esteem Toolkit covers that ground, and the two work well alongside each other.
Written by Dr Lucy Rymer
HCPC-Registered Counselling Psychologist and BPS Chartered Psychologist, based in York. Lucy works with adults experiencing anxiety, trauma, burnout and difficulties with emotion regulation, drawing on a range of evidence-based models including cognitive behavioural and person-centred approaches.
This workbook is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for individual assessment or therapy. If your mood has been low for more than a couple of weeks, or is affecting your daily life, please speak to your GP or a registered mental health professional. If you are in crisis, contact Samaritans on 116 123.