Games groups therapy

Life Timelines: Pull up a virtual whiteboard, draw a line, and ask the client to add a certain number of important events in their life. You may also want to make your own timeline to share. Let the conversation flow from there! Pictionary: This can be played on any virtual whiteboard! You may want to ask the client to draw something that has a story behind it or is important to them. Then, enter all the participants' names into the wheel on wheelofnames.

The wheel will spin and land on a name. Whoever it lands on gets to answer an icebreaker question from your list! To help make your clients more comfortable, you may want to give them an option of two or three questions to choose from. To provide a visual, you could type the questions up on a powerpoint for your clients to read.

Show and Tell : This works especially well for clients who are in their homes. Tell them they have 1 minute to go grab something from their house that is important to them, then ask them to come back and tell you all about it.

You may also want to take a turn showing and telling! Name, Place, Animal, Thing: This popular game works well via telehealth, especially in groups.

To play, someone picks a letter. Each player has to list a famous person's name, a place, an animal, and a thing that begins with that letter. This game has become a smart way to break down barriers and discuss what matters. This trust-based game will help you to uncover what fears people face and open the floor to how they handle this and whether they are currently facing these fears on a daily basis. Fears can trigger conditions and grow into mental health problems if not addressed.

Ask all of the group members to come up with their three favourite animals. From this, the group needs to write down the name of the animal and three qualities each animal has that you appreciate. The first, second and third animal represents how you want to see people, how you see others, and who you really are.

Going around in a circle, you then reveal the traits of your animal and why you agree to discuss with the thoughts. To round this off, everyone must end the exercise by drawing a merge of the three animals. This is a relaxed, fun way to end the session and help reflect on the discussion learnings. Reflecting is important for your mental health, overviewing why you made those decisions will help to produce insights and learn about yourself in a constructive manner.

Therachat empowers mental health professionals to engage therapy clients in between sessions. Therachat empowers you to engage your therapy clients in between sessions without taking up all your time or violating boundaries. With Therachat , you know before a session start what to address and which skills to focus on. Therachat is a free, secure app that will help you manage your anxiety by sending you daily journal and tracking activities that are created by therapists.

With Therachat you can text and chat message unlimited with all your clients. A robust notification system will let you and your clients know when you have a new message And you can easily export all messages into your EHR. Therachat empowers psychologists and counselors to help their clients finish their homework. Therachat offers pre-made activities for psychologists and counselors to engage their clients in between sessions and achieve better outcomes.

Your email address will not be published. Also subscribe me to the newsletter. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. What is Group Therapy? Here are just some of those benefits: Less Intense — One to one therapy can be very invasive for those new to therapy.

The intensity of one to one interaction with a therapist might feel daunting, whilst the inviting circle of friends and family could be a more welcomed starting point. Safe Environment — Friends and family can sometimes be the best people to help tackle your condition.

They know you best. Allowing them to be involved will also help them come to terms with your struggles and needs. Cost-Effective — Paying for a therapist upfront can be a big investment for many, without the test run of group therapy activities with friends, you might not know whether this is able to help reduce your conditions symptoms.

Please note, this is only advice and does not extend as medical advice. Icebreakers — For new friends that could have a stigma around mental health, these activities can be a great icebreaker.

Types and Functions of Group Therapy Activities Some activities encourage insight and communication, while others are great for personal growth and building trust. Icebreakers These are the most common types meant to help group members get to know other members in a non-threatening way.

Group Juggle The activity involves throwing balls to others in a systematic order. Categories It's a fun and highly interactive group activity that involves asking a group to organize them into smaller groups on the basis of different categories such as favorite color. Gotchya Grab the Finger It's a fast-moving activity that involves arranging people in a circle with right finger on the left palm of the person sitting next in the circle.

Human Knot Group members get in a circle while holding someone else's hand and then try to unravel the knot while maintaining the circle and not letting go of hands.

Fear in a Hat Group members write their innermost fears anonymously on paper and then every person picks a paper, reads it and identifies who may have written it.

Have You Ever? Zoom Group members create a unified story using a set of sequential pictures. Animal Sounds Participants are blindfolded and then are required to make animal noises.

Building Trust It is important for all group members to trust others in the group as well as the person arranging these group activities. Names of Activities How to Play Mine Field Two players play this game with one blindfolded and looking for objects scattered everywhere with the help of the other partner.

Willow in the Wind Eight people take part in this activity with one in the middle with his eyes closed doing a "trust lean". Trust Lean Two people take part in this activity with one being a Faller and the other one the Catcher.

Slice 'N Dice It involves forming a gauntlet and asking a person to walk down it with arms out in front. Eye Contact It involves staring each other's eyes for 60 seconds and helps group members understand the importance of maintaining eye contact. Proximity It teaches the importance of physical proximity by making them work in a pair with faces towards each other. Trust Fall It involves making a person fall backwards from a high table without looking behind just trusting that the rest of the group members will catch them.

Bungee Jumping A group member leaps into space from a height of up to m completely relying dynamic rope. Psychological Exercises for Self-Awareness These group activities and exercises help you understand why you and others in your group behave or think about something in a certain way.

Locus of Control It explains more about external and internal locus of control using self-scoring questionnaires. Illusions: Exercises Which Illustrate Perceptual Fallibility The activity involves making use of 17 illusions to trick the human mind and help understand more about their perception.

Write Your Own Eulogy Performed in a church or graveyard, the activity helps understand the meaning of life and death. Free Lunch for a Life Story The task involves looking for someone over 60 and asking them to share their life story.