Teaching how to let go of insecurities is easier said than done. For the entire month of January, I have the amazing privilege of working with 20 tweens (11 & 12 Year olds) in order to guide them through the simple and difficult roads of being a female. We'll be working on building self esteem, increasing self confidence, tackling those negative self thoughts, bringing forward insecurities, healthy relationships, social media and much more.
I personally chose this project because I remembered what it was like being a girl in Middle School and High School. In all honesty, 30 minutes in one week for a child to receive Counseling is not enough and there are students who don't even receive any type of Counseling. As a Counselor, I see and hear on a daily basis the ongoing quiet battles these girls personally struggle with. I'm excited to give this project the eight hour school day, five days a week for an entire month if it means that it'll help my girls fully understand, value and love the amazing young ladies that they are becoming.
So Week 1 kicked off with Insecurities and negative thoughts about the self. The highlight of the week and one of the activities the girls loved was "Popping and Releasing Negative Distortions". The idea is to write their negative thought(s) on an index card and be fully in the moment with it. They then were able to blow up a balloon which symbolized their negative thought. The bigger the balloon, the bigger their negative thought was. They followed by coming to the front of the class to either present their thought(s) outloud to the group or simply reading it to themselves. After reading it to themselves or to the group they then popped the balloon which meant they were releasing and parting with that negative thought. After popping the balloon, the girls had to say exactly what they felt as they read it, while popping it and after they popped it.
Based off the girls feedback, they felt that the activity was powerful because they never had the opportunity to confront a negative self thought. As stated by one of my superstars, "I just hold everything in. I don't want anyone to know I'm going through stuff or for them to know that I think I'm fat. They'll use it against me". As educators, that's the binded mentality we should all want every of our students to let go of.
"The moment you face your troubles and struggles, no one else has the power to ever bring you down".
-SchoolCounselorJenna