Updated: Published
I'm in my psych clinical and each of the students need to lead a group activity for the patients. One student did stress bingo, meditation, drawing, talking about fears, exercise. it's my time to lead soon and I have a few ideas but I'm worried they won't like it. I thought about doing collages with magazines (but not sure if we can have scissors), decorating picture frames. What are some good ideas?
In our group, we do introductions, then we read "principles of support", and then I pass out "mental health community resources" which is a sheet that has every possible community resource available for people with mental health problems. Then I read from A Year Without Fear which is a daily reading from every day of the year by a Yale Law graduate. Then we talk about our goals and have an open sharing time at the end.
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
When I was in school I participated in a drumming circle in which there were all sorts of drums. I got down on the floor with the patients and chose a pair of bongos. Soon we all found a rhythm and the sound was amazing! It didn't matter if you were the least bit musical---drumming is relaxing and fun.
Years later when I was a patient on the same unit, I participated in drumming circle again and I swear it was better for me than the meds. I got to try different types of drums this time and by the end of the session my anxiety was gone. I recommend it highly. Check with the music therapist (if the unit has one) and see if you can lead a drumming circle or other musical group activity.