Therapeutic Group Activities

The uncharted depth of our minds are almost impossible to fathom. They can only be reined and bought in control by our own efforts. Nobody else can help you restore your sanity and a sense of reality. Yes, you can always bank upon a therapist or a psychologist or a counselor or even a like-minded person. But that person can only guide you. Ultimately you have to chart your own course to being mentally healthy and not let things affect you and maintain your mental balance in any condition. However, if the mental imbalance is the result of a specific situation, then, there is a better chance of restoration of the imbalance or the disruption. But there are those who are born with some disabilities and they cannot win over it. Group therapy activities help them cope up with this not being 'normal' state. But these are needed at all ages by some people, be it a 7 year old kid, 27 year old woman or a senior citizen.

These activities are a part of psychotherapy and in that, specifically recreational therapy. They really work wonders and serve the dual purpose of entertaining the patients as well as the patients are able to get a clearer picture of what is going on in their minds. Let's have a brief overview on therapeutic group activities.

For Adults

Icebreakers: A fundamental aspect of any group activity is the members knowing each other. So this activity is a path way as it seeks to introduce the members to each other. This also makes the members comfortable with each other. It helps them open up more and express themselves freely.

Trust Building: This involves some trust building activities like Willow in the Wind, Trust Lean, Eye contact and so on. In the Willow in the Wind, a participant stands in between a circle of other group members. The one in the middle will lean on the others and he or she will be passed around. In trust lean, one becomes the catcher and the other the faller. But any one leaning or falling is not pre-decided.

Your Story: In this activity, all group members are asked to feel free and uninhibited about their lives and life experiences. This is a crucial follow-up to the trust building exercise. This will make those who are kind of hesitant to share their lives, to do so after hearing others telling about their lives. And if members find some common aspects in each others lives, it gets easier.

Role Playing: Role Playing is a very interesting activity, where the participants can don a role or portray some character which they are not. Or they can vent their emotions better by playing someone else. The members have to although make a conscious effort to portray that character. This is supposed to be quite an effective activity.

There are other things like debates, embroidery, jokes, listening to music and knitting, which are meant more for the elderly.

For Children

Ice breakers are common activities. So after that is done, these are the following ones which can be done with kids.

The Not so Common: Divide the children in two groups and a maximum of 4 children in each one. Ask them to find three things common to each other. This is of course for older kids. The answers should be given in turns while reading it out to all the other members.

Did someone do this?: Ask a question and ask every one to take the signature of all those who did it. In case they require different signatures for every question, they will get to know as many people as they can.

Ball of a Time: For those who are not confident about writing and have problems writing, this activity is effective. In this, the members sit in a group and just like passing the parcel, pass the ball, but the only difference is that the leader passes the ball to a member. Whoever gets the ball has to give her or his name and tell something about him or her.

There can be a lot of variations, depending upon what kind of a group it is. It can be very general and can go to be very specific activities meant for serious psychological and personality development issues.

At the end of the day, a wide array of group activities is great, as far as the people suffering from a problem feel and traverse the path towards normalcy and self realization.