To the Teacher
This healing activity is designed to give participants (whether young people or adults) an opportunity to share deeply about what we are grieving and how we are healing.
Preparation
Post four different pieces of chart paper throughout the room, each headed with a different question:
- How are you feeling in this moment?
- What are you grieving?
- How are you healing?
- What do you need to hear right now? (eg, words of affirmation, encouragement, solidarity)
Arrange chairs in a circle.
Create a centerpiece in the middle of the circle – or use the centerpiece your group has already created. Add to the centerpiece plenty of sticky notes and markers for everyone to use.
Circle Check In
Invite each person in the circle to share, in a go-round, their response to this prompt:
- What or who are you holding (in your heart or mind) in this moment?
Once everyone has shared (or passed), acknowledge that we are all carrying a lot right now.
This activity is designed to help us share and process some of the feelings that have come up for us throughout the past year, and to remind us that we are not alone.
Creating a Grief and Healing Wall
Ask participants to consider the prompt on the first sheet of chart paper:
- How are you feeling in this moment?
Ask participants to write down their response or responses on as many sticky notes as they need (if they need two, they need two, if they need 15 they need 15).
When people have written all their notes in response to this first prompt, invite them to add their sticky notes to the chart paper with that question.
Repeat this process for the remaining three questions:
- What are you grieving?
- How are you healing?
- What do you need to hear right now? (words of affirmation/encouragement/solidarity)
Gallery Walk
Once every participant has responded completely to each prompt and written as many responses as they want for each, invite participants to do a “gallery walk.” Participants will silently make their way around the room and read the responses their peers and colleagues shared.
After everyone has completed the gallery walk, invite participants to return to the circle, and invite them to share their responses to these processing questions:
- What did you notice about the responses you read?
- How did it feel to participate in this activity?
- How did it feel to read your peers’ and colleagues’ responses?
Closing: Appreciation Circle
Invite each person in the circle to offer an appreciation to the person sitting to their right.