Self-Help Plus (SH+): A Group-Based Stress Management Course for Adults
World Health Organization · 2021 · 256 pages · For facilitators and clinicians running stress management groups
Read it at the official source
Openly licensed under Creative Commons (attribution, noncommercial, share-alike). It is one of the only ACT protocols in existence with an explicit open license. The link goes to the official WHO record; the companion illustrated guide Doing What Matters in Times of Stress is also free.
If the publisher link moves: archived copy
A five-session group course built on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, designed so supervised non-specialist facilitators can run groups of up to thirty adults under stress and adversity. Sessions teach grounding, unhooking from difficult thoughts and feelings, acting on values, kindness, and making room for difficult emotions, with full facilitator scripts.
Nearly every other complete ACT protocol is a commercial book, which makes SH+ singular: a fully open, trial-tested ACT manual from an intergovernmental publisher. It slots beside PM+ and Group IPT in WHO's low-intensity series, and its skills map directly onto the site's ACT collection.
Run it with these materials
Dropping anchor and defusion worksheets are the printable versions of SH+'s grounding and unhooking sessions, with the values sheets carrying its engaging-with-life module.
This manual is a publication of World Health Organization. Therapy Resource is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, its publisher. The summary above is our own; always follow the manual itself and your clinical judgment. If you are in crisis, contact 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or call 911.