I had a new client this week who I knew had anxiety. I used a tool I have used in the past. Stickums. These are sticks made of wax. They allow so much creativity. This client's fear is people. I did only an intake and was not sure he would share so much.
Hoping he would share, I gave him the stickums and said like McDonald's has their logo: the golden arches, I would like you to create a symbol of your worry. He soon completed a "monster" shaped creature. When he shared what he came up with, he identified it as "people. " His interest and willingness to speak (not an easy task for him) was astounding. This boy is in the fifth grade. He has quite a few signs of selective mutism, but we won't be stating that just yet.
Hope this sparks your own ideas for hands on activities. They make such a difference!
Friday, January 8, 2016
New client ideas
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
It's been awhile...
Well, it has been a while. I can’t even tell you about all of the changes since I last posted. Let me just start with where I am now. I am working in the same school district but as an School-Based Outpatient Therapist. It’s the exact job I love. It’s the exact work I love. It is what I dreamed about when I left community-based. Yes, there are challenges. Yes, I am sometimes overwhelmed.
Right now, I am taking a much needed break from creativity at home as the creativity in my job takes all of my energy.
But here we go, some ideas from today. Ok, I was providing individual counseling to a student who is very distant and negative. I won’t go into the history. I am often challenged to get her to leave her classroom to see me. We talked about the virtue of kindness and made a kindness doll with a pipe cleaner and a balloon. She is also very compulsive, so the face on the balloon became an all out coloring adventure. She covered every bit of the balloon with marker. In any case, I wanted to talk about kindness using this poster from the following blog:
http://schoolcounselorsrock.blog.com/files/2012/11/kindness.jpg
And this iron on:
The student enjoyed the activity and as usual, did not want to return to the classroom with the activity we worked on. But I am still taking it slow, as the therapeutic nature of our relationship is still precarious. More on that later. I am so enjoying this job, and learning, and developing new resources. What are some of your go-to get to know you activities?
Right now, I am taking a much needed break from creativity at home as the creativity in my job takes all of my energy.
But here we go, some ideas from today. Ok, I was providing individual counseling to a student who is very distant and negative. I won’t go into the history. I am often challenged to get her to leave her classroom to see me. We talked about the virtue of kindness and made a kindness doll with a pipe cleaner and a balloon. She is also very compulsive, so the face on the balloon became an all out coloring adventure. She covered every bit of the balloon with marker. In any case, I wanted to talk about kindness using this poster from the following blog:
http://schoolcounselorsrock.blog.com/files/2012/11/kindness.jpg
And this iron on:
I am super obsessed with these graphics. I will definitely be looking into these lessons/materials.
The student enjoyed the activity and as usual, did not want to return to the classroom with the activity we worked on. But I am still taking it slow, as the therapeutic nature of our relationship is still precarious. More on that later. I am so enjoying this job, and learning, and developing new resources. What are some of your go-to get to know you activities?
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