Resilience... Letting Your Light SHINE!

2 Week Resilience Curriculum for Group Therapy

Week 1: Understanding

Monday
Define...

Introduce this week's theme, define resilience, talk about events that clients have had to overcome, and things they are dealing with today.  Discuss resilience as an adjective and how people, places, and things can all be resilient.

We will be using a lot of light inspired activities to encourage "Letting your light SHINE!"  Today we will introduce the light table and allow clients to manipulate the light through color.  After everyone has a turn we will tie this in to how we can use our light to manipulate our emotions, reactions, and level of "calm and happy."

Picture Credits:
http://pinterest.com/pin/11540542766428992/
http://pinterest.com/pin/11540542766429013/
http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/11/exploring-the-light-table-in-preschool/

Tuesday
Fair vs. Equal

Explain fair versus equal, how each person is given their own unique set of challenges, and how they can overcome these.  Looking inside to overcome instead outside to compare and develop resentment and anger.  Then watch a short YouTube video that further explains this idea...

Fair vs Equal Resiliency Video

Picture Credit:
http://msfultz.blogspot.com/

Wednesday and Thursday
Cinematherapy activity.  If you and your children/students/clients have not seen this video... you need to!  It is such a great movie, and has themes of resilience!

Friday
Review and take the Resiliency Quiz!

How resilient are you? QUIZ

WEEK 2: Application of Knowledge

Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday
Craft project of creating lanterns.  My lovely MHPP (and partner in crime) had the idea of adding battery powered lights to each so that we would have hanging luminaries in the group room.  We will really get into processing trials that clients have and are currently facing.  We will work together as a group to support each other and apply interventions to build resiliency.  The finished project will be an opportunity to "Let our Light Shine" when things seem difficult and overwhelming.

Balloon Tutorial

Thursday
Read "Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes" and tie it in with our resiliency theme!

Here’s a synopsis of the story...

I purchased it for my iPad so I can also share it with my individual clients who are not in my group.  I love the interactive features!!

Friday
Review and Reward.  Reward, Reward, Reward!  My favorite part of reviewing is hearing how clients are implementing skills into their daily lives and the impact it is having on them and those around them :)

Related Reading...

All of these books are available on www.amazon.com .

This was such a fun theme to research and brings out so much positive in the kids.  I can't wait to see what parts are their favorites and how they respond to the curriculum!

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."
Romans 5, 3-4

Appropriate Anger and Conflict Resolution Recap

Well my Appropriate Anger and Conflict Resolution curriculum actually took two weeks to complete instead of one...

We added in a comic strip to show use of a favorite conflict resolution skill.

The most popular part of this series by far was the PlayStation remote control activity.  It ended up taking three days to complete, and the kids have worked it into our regular group conversations every day since then.  In the moment, I added a line down the middle of the controller.  I asked clients to put negative ways to respond to anger on the lefthand buttons, and positive ways to respond to anger on the right.  We then did skits where clients "controlled" their anger with the giant controllers.  It was a riot. Almost all of the kids reported that they shared this activity with someone in their home!

We also implemented a new behavior plan this week (which I shamelessly copied from one of my favorite 2nd grade teachers)...

Everyone starts with a clothes pin on green and has a chance to "clip up" or "clip down."  This gives many chances to use positive reinforcement.  Parents will be contacted if they land on red or pink.  This week I did not have to call parents for a red day, but I did get to send home 5 fantastic notes for a pink day!  The orange says "no sticker." If they receive yellow or higher they will receive a daily sticker that can be redeemed at the end of the month for our special outing or to shop in our group store.

It is so exciting to see how much progress that some clients have made already this school year.  It has been a rough start adjusting to the school schedule for me.  I have been implementing a few new personal boundaries to help stay caught up and to avoid feeling so burnt out including scheduling the most taxing paperwork at the beginning of the week so that it does not carry over into the weekend, not scheduling clients after hours, and planning vacation days into my schedule this semester.

For the first time since school started I feel "caught up" with paperwork.  Just now.  This evening.

***Note to self for next year... It will take a good 4 weeks to feel adjusted to Back to School!***

"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.  He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.  They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.  Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men."
Psalm 107, 28-31

Appropriate Anger and Conflict Resolution Group Curriculum

Had a wonderful Labor Day with my family and friends, but I am excited to get back to work tomorrow.  A four day work week is often a struggle for me because I try to fit 5 days of work into 4 (as many people do).  This week our group theme is appropriate anger and conflict resolution.  I teach that anger is a healthy emotion, but how you handle it is a skill that we continuously cultivate.

Tuesday:  Transition from last week's theme (no bullying) to this week's theme.  My group LOVES videos.  They are the most attentive when I break the iPad out and show them something on YouTube. This short from Pixar has some bird bullying and then their reaction to anger is one that does not produce a desired result.  Adorable and open-ended.  I give very little guidance at the beginning of processing projects and activities as I like to see where the kids take it first.

Link to this YouTube Video

We will then define anger and discuss the importance of learning conflict resolution skills.  We will connect skills that we often use that can be used as conflict resolution skills, like iContact and iMessage.  We will connect different levels of frustration tolerance to filling up different sized buckets.  Our goal this week will be to make our bucket a little bigger and to chose how we empty our water.

Wednesday: Anger Map and Triggers.  What makes us mad?  What fills up our bucket?  Complete and share an anger map to gain insight and to practice communication skills.

Click for Anger Map Printable

Thursday: Reaction Mapping.  The kids love this exercise.  I roll out the butcher paper and draw the outline of a huge PlayStation controller.  They then decide how to direct a character to react to anger.  Every button = a reaction.  I usually to groups of 3-4 so they can share their creations with the group.  I enjoy displaying the end result so that I can refer to them... just in case conflict occurs.  I can empower them to choose which reaction from their controller that they want to use at that time.  Some of the reactions are positive and some are negative.  All have a consequence.  

Click for link to example via Pinterest  (This is a test taking strategy poster, but it is where I originally got the idea for the activity.  I just free hand the outline and leave the rest up to the kids!)

Friday: Apologies and making it right!  I created an adaptation of the below apology form for my group this summer and it was a huge hit (I obviously deleted the "I was drunk" portion).  What I like about it is that it gets to kids to think about their behavior, reaction, and another's response in a sequential way.

Link via Pinterest

When kids are ready to "say sorry" I say... Well, thats a good start.  This helps really mend and add some humor to the art of apologizing.  It walks kids through who was involved, when it happened, what they did, how it was portrayed (behavior, words, action, inaction... this may be my favorite part!!), WHY it happened, and at the bottom it states; "this note represents my awareness that my words or actions in some way upset, hurt, or otherwise alienated you.  In light of this understanding, I __ WILL ___ WILL NOT do it again."  We have used these in group since July.  I encourage clients to use them with kids, grown ups, siblings, teachers, staff, bus drivers, anyone who they want to express themselves to.  Many of my families use these in their homes as well.  Most importantly, it builds empathy.  Beautiful.

I feel like I wrote a lot, but these are my notes for leading group this week.  Things can get pretty hectic around children so I like to have my curriculum pretty well laid out.  However, some of the best groups are when I throw the plan out the window and go where the kids need to go that day :)

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Philippians 2, 3-4

Chiropractic Before Medication and No-Bully Week Review :)

To touch on Wednesday's post, here is more on how chiropractic can be another option before medication.  Thanks to our guest blogger, Josh Barney...

More and more parents of children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are looking for new options to get their children well. There are a number of reasons for this change. First, many parents don’t like the idea of their children taking medication to resolve the disorder. Another cause is that research suggests that up to 30% of psychostimulants (the first line of therapy) do not show clinically significant outcomes (Karpouzis, 2010). As it stands, psychostimulants are still the most effective treatment for the disorder. However, as stated, up to 30% are not receiving the benefits they were hoping for. This leaves the door open to look elsewhere for treatment.

Chiropractic care has shown improvement in a number of studies done on adolescent patients diagnosed with AD/HD. The chiropractor uses his or her hands to adjust the spine in order to restore normal mobility of the spinal column and maintain/restore the function of the spinal cord and nerves that are adjacent. There are a number of causes that may have previously resulted in a problem within the spine of the child. Chiropractic philosophy identifies three sources: Physical Trauma, Inadequate Nutrition, and Emotional Distress. As you can see, those three can make an almost endless list of everyday causes for dysfunction. There may be a problem lying within the spinal column that needs to be attended to by a chiropractic physician.

Keep in mind that all research done on the results of chiropractic are still in the preliminary stages, and are in need of further testing. As Giesen et al. have stated “chiropractic manipulation has the potential to become an important nondrug intervention for children with hyperactivity. Further investigation in this area is certainly warranted.”

Anthony V. Bastecki, Deed E. Harrison, Jason W. Haas, Cervical Kyphosis I a Possible Link to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Volume 27, Issue 8, October 2004, Page 525, ISSN 0161-4754, 10.1016/j.jmpt.2004.08.2007
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161475404001642)

Giesen JM, Center DB, Leach RA. An evaluation of chiropractic manipulation as a treatment of hyperactivity in children. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1989 Oct; 12 (5) :353-63. Pub Med PMID: 2607226.

Karpouzis F, Bonello R, Pollard H. Chiropractic care for paediatric and adolescent Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A systematic review. Chiropr Osteopat. 2010 Jun 2;18:13. PubMed PMID: 20525195; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2891800.

Also,
No Bully week was a success! The kids got so much out of it and were so brave to share their personal stories.  They are motivated to "Be The Change" that will stop bullying in our schools.  So inspirational :)

"Haven't I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don't be timid; don't get discouraged.  God, your God, is with you every step you take." 
Joshua 1, 9