Written By Elizabeth Scott
This summer Resilience Therapy decided to embark on a group therapy summer program for adolescent youth in both Tucson and Green Valley, for students entering grades 5-8. Both groups met one morning a week for five consecutive weeks, with the goal of building a positive identity, gaining confidence, and practicing positive communication skills. The campers used diverse modalities including art therapy, poetry, creative writing, improvisation, movement, and drama therapy. Throughout the summer program campers collaborated and forged new friendships with each other. There was lots of laughter as campers took confidence and social skill building risks and tried new activities over the course of the five dynamic sessions.
Summer camp kicked off with a host of community-building challenges for the campers.
Participants were introduced to the basics of drama therapy and introduced each other using “simple sculpts” in which they expressed their feelings in a physical way through embodied dramatic poses. Then campers used a “sound and movement” to introduce themselves to the group. Campers created a group contract during the first session to ensure mutual respect, trust, and confidentiality accompanied by pictures of their original symbols. Campers created their own paper airplanes with five fun facts included and then tried to say all their facts before their airplane hit the floor when flown in the air. For their first art therapy endeavor, each participants created their own “junk journal” to use as a scrapbook throughout the five weeks.
Finally, to wrap up the first day each camper wrote a “Bio-poem” to explore their unique identity and feelings through a specific poetic structure. The second week of summer camp focused on building confidence and creativity through improvisation games and exposing campers to dramatic activities. Participants learned about body awareness and relaxation through a physical warm-up that energized them and improved their level of focus. Then they embarked on many improvisation games including the popular “Yes, And” storytelling exercise that teaches kids that all ideas are valid and promotes active listening as well as spontaneity. Campers also had a lot of fun with the improvisation game “Party Quirks” that allowed each camper to channel leadership qualities.
During the third week of summer camp participants immersed themselves in a mini writer’s workshop and embraced both collaborative and individual creative writing exercises. They enjoyed interventions like “The Consequence Circle” and “Dictionary Roulette” through which they connected their characters and plot points to create innovative and original narratives. Campers also took a deep diver into character development through the drama-inspired activity “The Character Hot Seat” and also had to let go of their personal work in “The Prompt Swap” partner writing exercise.
Campers entered the world of art therapy during the fourth week and explored their unique selves through painting “Identity Masks”. Participants were encouraged to express their “external identity” on the outside of their mask and their “internal or private identity” on the inside of their mask. The exercise promoted critical thinking skills and vulnerability. Campers also had the opportunity to practice mindfulness through Zentangle patterned drawings that take a great deal of patience, focus, and concentration using just black pens and white paper.
At the end of the summer campers celebrated all their learning, growth, and success with treats and final improvisation games. Each camper created their own personal “mantra” accompanied by an original visual symbol. The campers were proud of their accomplishments and each participant developed a stronger sense of self and more self-esteem. Thank you to parents and caregivers for all your support with this wonderful new endeavor for Resilience! We look forward to more group therapy opportunities in Tucson and Green Valley.