I Am Handout (one per person)
Optional: Decorative materials
Objectives
• To increase a sense of self-awareness in the present moment.
Directions
1. In a quiet setting, encourage participants to use the opportunity to self-reflect and compose comments about themselves that are both truthful and positive. For those who are having a good day, it is reflected in the ideas. For those who struggle, it takes some extra effort but can bring out a feeling of hope and purpose.
2. Pass out a sheet of paper and the I Am Handout as a poem template for each line, which can be adapted by participants.
3. Encourage volunteers to share their poems.
Observations
This activity was done twice in groups of twelve to sixteen. Most read their poems to the group, who had touching and heartfelt responses. All participants kept their poems and expressed pride in their work.
Inspired by: A website for educators produced by the Educational Technology Training Center. They have numerous templates to help write “instant poetry” created by Alysa Cummings, Certified Poetry Therapist.
Sample poem that demonstrates personal creativity with the format.
I Am HANDOUT
Use these sentence stems to write a poem about yourself.
Sample poem that follows the provided format.
I am a Mother myself.
I woke up this morning missing my Mom.
I found myself remembering things she did for me.
I saw that I had forgotten that she died a long time ago.
I thought about keeping her alive within me.
That reminds me of how important it is to be the Mom I want to be.
I am a Mother myself.
I believe my children are a gift from God.
I want to believe I am worthy.
I know that I love my children.
I hope that they know that I do.
I’m sure about the love that I feel.
I am a Mother myself.
I already send my love.
I will learn to let them have space to grow apart.
I am moving through time.
As I grow in God.
I will be loved.
I am a Mother myself.
Images of Belonging
Location: Indoors or Outdoors
Time: 60 minutes
Materials: A designated “stage” area observable by the audience
Optional: list of potential poses for the actors
Objectives
• To bring internally held images into the open.
• To represent a social constellation from the participants’ past, present, or future.
• To create a “snapshot” of a family or identity group using the media of “actors.”
• To better understand internally held images and work beyond them.
Directions
1. Have a cofacilitator monitor activity and provide grounding in case anyone begins to find the activity upsetting or is triggered by a past trauma.
2. Introduce the purpose of the activity.
3. Review the terms used in the activity.
• Stage: the end of the room visible to the audience
• Audience: all group members with the exception of the artist
• Artist: the individual in charge of creating the sculpture—a rotating role
• Actors: two to five audience members selected by the artist to pose in the sculpture
• Sculpture: the art generated by the artist as he or she poses the various actors
4. As a demonstration, compose your family of origin sculpture using participants as actors. For example, the actor representing father is posed as Statue of Liberty, and the actor representing mother is posed in adoration. Actors representing multiple siblings are posed in closeness to mother. The artist is represented by actor holding on to father’s shirttails.
5. Describes the actors and what they represent.
6. Select a volunteer artist to demonstrate his or her sculpture.
• Artist chooses first actor and positions, beginning the sculpture.
• Artist selects second actor and positions.
• Artist chooses third actor and positions.
• Artist continues positioning actors until the sculpture is complete. Do not use more than half the number of people in the room. Most sculptures involve no more than three to four actors. One actor, for example, may represent a group or class of people, parents, or siblings.
• Once the sculpture is complete, artist turns to the audience and describes the work.
• On completion, the actors return to their seats ready for the next artist demonstration.
7. Have all group participants take a turn being the artist, demonstrating their sculpture.
8. A second round of demonstrations may be desired in which an identity group is used instead of the family origin, such as a workplace, a group of friends, or a support group. The artist repeats steps as demonstrated previously, using group members to construct the new sculpture.
9. Once each participant has demonstrated their sculpture, initiate a discussion about any of the works presented.
10. Conclude with a debriefing process to put matters into current perspective.
Observations
This activity was performed twice with groups of eight and ten. In each group, a member was present who had been raised in foster homes, but each adapted quickly to the suggestion of choosing one family to represent. The facilitator’s demonstration of her own family image proved to be a powerful stimulus to engagement, and all group members participated enthusiastically. The discussion that followed each of the demonstrations revealed a good deal of feelings held within and opened channels for working through unacknowledged emotions. During the discussion phase, it was necessary to emphasize identifying actors by their actual names: “She’s not really your mother, she’s Judy.” The potential list of actor poses were developed after the first session to facilitate imagery and used by only a few of the participants. There was a tendency to use a tall, stately woman as the father image and a tiny young woman as the child in all the sculptures. This repeated choice of actors was acknowledged in the concluding discussion.