Hello All!
Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted. I’ve been a bit busy with some exciting new opportunities on my plate. If you subscribe to my email list (link in the ‘About Me’ section) You’ll know all about Wendy Ludlow’s free consultation in helping you with direction. I’ve finished the free training and she was able to customize a personal training/supervision/professional development program for me. It’s been so helpful in moving forward with play therapy!
So for this week’s project, I will be explaining the Healing Heart exercise. I learned this intervention from Jodi Mullen (Integrative Counseling). The training was 20 Interventions for Children and Adolescents and it was held in Oswego. I again HIGHLY recommend you try to catch one of her trainings. She is holding a few more soon. Join my email list for more information.
This activity is great for a variety of clients. It can be utilized with trauma, divorce, any loss, and helps with the healing process. It not only helps them identify what “broke their heart”, but it also helps to identify coping skills and support systems.
The supplies you will need are paper, pencil, band-aids, and markers.
- Have the client draw a large heart on a piece of paper (or have one ready made for those tho aren’t there yet)
- Think of something that broke your heart. Something that happened recently or a long time ago that you’re still dealing with.
- Tell them to break it (they can rip the paper, draw cracks, however they want to break it)
- Give them band-aids to fix the heart.
- Then have them write or draw on the band-aids what helped or is helping their heart heal. This is a good way to explore support systems or coping mechanisms.
Together you can process what this was like for them, if their coping skills are adaptive, etc. Sometimes our hearts get broken, and maybe it’ll take a long time to mend it, but there are people, activities, etc that can help your heart heal just a bit faster.
I personally loved practicing this activity. I feel it would work well with children, teens, and adults. The ripping up of the paper is really cathartic and using the band-aids really helps you process how you’re healing.
Have you done this activity before? How did it turn out? Did it go in a direction you didn’t expect? Let me know in the comment section.
**Activity adapted from Jodi Mullen at integrativecounseling.us
My Journey as a Student of Play 