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8 weeks: Wednesdays 4PM-5PM
Ages: 7-10
6-8 Members
Purpose of the Group: Being able to describe how we feel is an important part of developing healthy strategies to deal with negative emotions. As children continually expand their vocabulary and discover other methods of expressing themselves, finding the space to acknowledge and explore how to manage emotions may not come easy. The purpose of this group is to provide children ages 7-10 a safe environment to explore identifying different emotions, understanding emotional triggers, and developing healthy age-appropriate emotional regulation skills. Throughout the 8 weeks, group members will focus on understanding, identifying, and coping with emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger, nervousness, and fear.
Group Structure: All group sessions will begin with an open discussion for group members to share thoughts, updates, progress, and/or setbacks about the previous week. Group members are encouraged to share only to the extent that they feel comfortable. Each week a new topic and discussion prompt is presented by the group facilitator, along with an activity. To end the group session members will summarize the week’s topic, discuss goals to work on before the next meeting, and are encouraged to participate in a short mindfulness exercise. Group structure is subject to change based on group members’ needs during sessions.
Schedule:
Week one: Introductions and Group Expectations
- Get to know you/Icebreaker activity
- Create group rules and expectations as a group
- What is emotion?
Week Two: Emotions We Feel
- Review definition of emotion
- What are the different emotions we feel?
- How do we feel different emotions?
- Emotion wheel activity
Week Three: When I am Happy
- What does happiness look and feel like?
- What makes you happy?
- Emotion wheel activity (Happy: triggers and coping skills)
Week Four: When I am Sad
- What does sadness look and feel like?
- When do you feel sad?
- What do you do/can you do when you feel sad?
- Emotion wheel activity (Sad: triggers and coping skills)
Week Five: When I am Angry
- What does anger look and feel like?
- When do you feel angry?
- What do you do/can you do when you feel angry?
- Emotion wheel activity (Anger: triggers and coping skills)
Week Six: When I am Nervous
- What does nervousness look and feel like?
- When do you feel nervous?
- What do you do/can you do when you feel nervous?
- Emotion wheel activity (Nervous: triggers and coping skills)
Week Seven: When I am Scared
- What does fear look and feel like?
- When do you feel scared?
- What do you do/can you do when you feel scared?
- Emotion wheel activity (Sad: triggers and coping skills)
Week Eight: Summary
- Emotions wheel review
- Discussion of take aways and skills
- What to do if problems arise
- Feedback about the group
- Emotion game
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