Interventions: The person inside my outside self
Population: Ages 4 to adults
Treatment Phase: Assessment/Working/Termination
Treatment Goals:
1. To practice making positive self talk statements
2. To increase the client’s sense of competence/mastery of the environment.
3. To increase overall self-esteem.
Props:
- a cut out of a person (made from construction or art paper)
- Crayons, markers and any other arts and crafts supplies
Procedure:
Provide the child with a cut out of a person and a nice supply of arts and crafts, including markers and crayons. Begin by instructing the client to decorate one side of the person to represent how others view them, or their “outside” self. Then have the client turn the person over and decorate the person based on how they view themselves, or their “inside” self. The therapist can point out that this “inside” self is often not shared with many people in their lives. After the decorating phase is completed, therapist talks about what makes a person unique can’t always be seen from the outside. Words can be added to represent thoughts, feelings, events, etc. that have occurred in their life that makes them unique and special. Therapist can provide examples for younger children as they may have difficulty with conceptualization.
Processing Questions:
- Was it hard to think about things to put on the inside?
- What could you tell about the outside person from the outside?
- Could you identify aspects about the person by looking at the inside?
- What was the easiest part about decorating the person?
- Was it hard to think about things to put on the outside person?
- How did it feel to think and talk about the things you like to hide from others?
- What was your favorite thing about this activity?
- What was your least favorite part about this activity?
- Would you want to share more about yourself since completing this activity?
Homework Assignment:
Have the client take home their person and hang it in their home where they will see it all week. During the week have them add to their person any additional ideas they think of to include on their inside outside person. Have them bring the person back to their next therapy appointment to process with therapist.
Special Considerations:
I have not yet experienced a child who didn’t enjoy some aspect of this activity. However, clients may have such low self-esteem or are so guarded that they can’t think of anything they like about themselves to include on their outside person or remember things to include on their inside person. If this is the case, the therapist may invite the parent in for assistance, if the child would like them to be present. This can be helpful to the child to hear from their parent how they view them.
Applications and Modifications:
For children suffering from speech delays this intervention can be especially useful as they are not required to verbalize much as they are drawing and writing words to represent their thoughts and feelings. The therapist can assist younger children with the writing if needed. Young clients can choose from pictures to cut out of magazines and glue onto their person. The use of puppets can be effective to role play and practice making positive statements about oneself during the course of treatment.
