This group is intended to work with kids going through family changes. The group emphasizes that the child has no fault in a parents separation, deployment, incarceration etc. We discuss ways to cope with the changes they may be going through. Most importantly, we build a support group to help kids realize they are not alone in this situation.
Week 1-
- Group rules
- Discuss the challenges each child is facing
- Decorate a paper banana- discuss the similarities & differences of each banana
- Pros & cons of being in 2 homes if that applies
- Discuss worries we have
- Color butterflies & write our worries on them (butterflies in our tummies)
- Read When They Fight by Kathryn White
- Discuss what we feel when our parents fight. Reinforce that parents still love them even if they are not getting along or do not see each other anymore.
- Read Loon Summer by Barbara Santucci
- Discuss how families change & how students have dealt with those changes
- Watch Howard Learns About Mud & Rainbows (www.wedolisten.org)
- Discuss the fact that children do not cause the divorce, incarceration, deployment etc.
- Create a feel better box. Students can put anything that will cheer them up in the box (example: pictures, cds, art supplies, worry stones).
- Review & close