The ABCs of CBT: The Professional School Counselor's Guide

by Kathie Guild NBCT

The Professional School Counselor’s Guide to Help Students in Grades 3-8 Help Themselves

The A.B.C.s of C.B.T. is a creative school counseling program that teaches students in Grades 3-8 Cognitive Based Therapy using a simple A.B.C. model and memorable cartoon animal characters as visual references to the various forms of destructive thinking.

The program is organized into three sections:

• The first section, The Counselor’s Guide to Cognitive Behavior Therapy, is organized into chapters that provide an overview of the principles and learning objectives behind C.B.T.
• The second section, Teaching Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Students, offers eight step-by-step lessons to teach students the building blocks of C.B.T. and includes optional activities. The lessons take from 30-45 minutes each and should be presented in sequential order.
• The last section contains the reproducible worksheets and mini-posters. These pages can be printed in color or black and white from the included download link.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy is an effective counseling approach to use in a school setting due primarily to its practicality and ease of implementation, and teaching the A.B.C. formula is an important first step in helping students to help themselves. By utilizing the A.B.C. model, students will learn  to recognize, challenge, and rethink distressing thoughts that block hope and change. 

This program is effective for addressing generalized anxiety, anger, low self-esteem, test anxiety, and other behavioral and emotional concerns.