Building Community

Isn't this a great handout?!?  How can you apply it at your facilities??

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Dictionary Definitions

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Group Size: 4 to 10

Equipment: pencil, paper, dictionary

Focus: social interaction, family involvement

Before there was Balderdash, there was Flibbertigibbet. Before there was Flibbertigibbet, there was just a dictionary. What ever the name, a dictionary can be a source of fun for everyone in the group.

Description: Invite one person to look through a dictionary till he finds a word he believes no one else would know its meaning. This person reads the word aloud and spells it out for others.

The other players tries to think of a good definition for that word.

Encourage players to try to make the definition sound as if it really belongs in the dictionary as they are attempting to fool others as if there definition is the real one.

Meanwhile, the player who shared the word from the dictionary writes down the real definition on a sheet of paper.

When everyone is done, the definitions are collected and read aloud one at a time. Everyone listens and tries to guess which is the real definition.

Point distribution:

• Anyone who guesses the correct definition gets a point.
• The writer of a false definition that is voted upon gets a point for each vote he receives.
• The player who shared the word from the dictionary gets a point for every person who guessed a wrong definition.

Continue the game with each person having an opportunity to share a word from the dictionary.

Discussion: What family games do you play within your family? How do you think that games can promote communication within the family? Would a regular family game night help improve communication in your family?

Expected Outcome: participants will learn a new leisure activity and add to their repertoire of leisure interests and skills. Participants will understand the need for family activities.

submitted here 

Exercise: Stretching

Here is our list of stretches we include just about every day!  Stretching is one of my favorite parts of our exercise groups!

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Standing Stretches:

·        Lean down – touch your toes

·        Arms behind your back – stretch out your shoulders

·        Arms in front – stretch up to the sky

·        Arm straight up, bend at the elbow, push down with other hand, alternate [also sitting]

·        Arm across the chest, use opposite arm to pull shoulder, alternate [also sitting]

·        Left and right lunge

·        Lean down towards to left, right, center

·        Stand on one foot (FLAMIGO!), alternate

·        Look left, right, up and down [neck stretch] [also sitting]

·        Roll your neck [also sitting]

·        Roll ankles

Sitting Stretches:

·        Butterfly

·        One leg out, stretch to your toe, alternate

·        Legs out, stretch to the center

·        Legs together, stretch forward

·        Roll your wrists

·        Pigeon legs (leg out, other leg up like butterfly, turn over [bottom of the foot facing up], lean on body), alternate

·        Leg forward, bring knee to chest over leg, twist direction leg is up, alternate

Self Care Card

This just popped up on my Pinterest feed and I couldn't wait to share it for a Friday handout!

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Leisure Boggle

Submitted here by Kira Paran on April 6, 2009

Size of Group: 2 - fairly unlimited

Equipment: paper, pens, stop watch, alphabet on slips of paper in a container to draw from

Objective: Cooperation, communication, and leisure awareness

Description: In teams, have participants brainstorm positive leisure activities that start with that rounds letter. Each round consists of 1 minute, draw from the container, state the letter, and start the timer. Teams share their answers with the entire group. One point is gained for each answer that no other team wrote down. Note: Game can be played individually. 

Debrief: Discussion around the diversity of leisure activities. Can you name one activity you had never heard of? Was there an activity mentioned that you would like to try? Was there an activity mentioned you used to participant in and would like to again?

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Exercise Groups

At our facility, one of the RT groups each day is held in the gym.  We do some kind of exercise each day to help the patients get in the habit of daily exercise, as well as recognize the value and importance of exercise in treating mental illness.  Here is our current schedule:

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Monday:

·        Arm workout and stretching

Tuesday:

·        Leg workout and stretching

Wednesday:

·        Abdominal workout and stretching

Thursday:

·        Yoga/Relaxation*

Friday:

·        Cardio and stretching

Saturday:

·        Cardio and stretching

Over the next few weeks, I will post our exercise routines.  Hopefully you can use them or modify them and incorporate them into your own program.


Thanks Adrianna Markley, CTRS for typing all this up for us!

Activity Night: Lawn Games

Here's another activity we did for one of our "Activity Nights" at our facility.

Materials:

·         Horse shoe

·         Bean Bag Toss

Procedure:

Divide the group into teams of 4. Each team will go to either a horse shoe or a bean bag toss station and within each team divide into pairs. Patients will be playing 2 v 2 on the games. Play the best out of 7 rounds and then switch to the other game. Divide into three groups, the team who won bean bag toss, team who won horse shoe, and the teams who won neither. Within each group find a new partner and play against another set of partners for the final. Play best out of 5. The players who win this will receive a candy.

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Trust Circle

Size of Group: 8 to 10

Discussion: Open group with discussion on trust, how long it takes for one to trust another, how long it takes to lose trust in another, and what specific words or behaviors one must take in order to establish trust with others.

Activity: Form a circle with the participant's shoulders touching. Have a volunteer or yourself stand in the middle with their arms crossed and legs straight and stiff. Those forming the circle must stand with one leg forward and the other backward with their knees bent. Their hands must also be in a ready position to catch the person in the middle from falling.

The group may develop a list of rules or behaviors that will not be permitted in the group (ex, no hard pushes, no fooling around, keep hands up and eyes focused). Also a list of positive expected behaviors (ex, you're doing good, stay focused, good job) can be generated.

When the group is ready, and when the person in the middle is ready, instruct the middle person to fall. Others catch the person and gently guide them back to the center of the circle. Its important that people adjacent to each other help each other out ("at least 4 to 6 hands on the falling person").

If the middle individual is scared, bring the group closer. Once comfortable, the group can move a step back. For a "kool" experience, the "faller" may do this activity with their eyes closed.

Safety: REINFORCE SAFE BEHAVIOR and trust building behavior. If participants engage in unsafe behavior or behavior promoting distrust, stop the group immediately and process such behavior.

PROCESS: Discuss feelings felt by the falling individuals. Were they scared? Did they trust the group? What things did group members do that reinforced feelings and thoughts of trust? What things did group members do that generated feelings and thoughts of mistrust? What are things we can do in our lives to generate feelings of trust in others? What have you done in your live that generated trust/mistrust?

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Found here