30 minutes
Learning Objective(s)
- How an emotional outburst occurs
- Consequences of escalation
- What are your signals before you explode?
- What can you do to take away the tension
- Different factors that apply to you ( weight of the situation, how long the situations lasts, who is involved, mood,…)
Instructions
Step 1
Blow up a balloon until it explodes.
Reflection: – What did you notice? When did the balloon explode? – What did you notice in yourself? ( joy, fear,…?)
Step 2
Tell a daily story about the life of a youngster, every time something happens you blow in the balloon For example:
- Barry overslept ( blow one time)
- Barry didn’t have breakfast ( blow one time)
- Because he overslept, he missed the schoolbus ( blow two times)
- He gets in the class and the teacher is angry ( blow two times)
- During the break Barry can talk and laugh with his friends ( you let some air go away) …
You continue with the story until the balloon explodes You can also repeat this exercise with a story of the client, and ask him after each sentence how many times you have to blow, continue with the story until the balloon explodes.
Reflection:
- What do you notice? ( you don’t explode immediately , not everything is equally ‘bad’, sometimes you do things that take the tension away)
- What are things that make you frustrated? Can you scale them from 1 – 10? (can we use emojis instead numbers on the scale)?
- What are things you can do or that other people can do that takes the tension away? (You can use a list with examples and tools that can help you with the conversation)
Step 3- searching for the ‘point of no return’
You give the youngsters the task to blow up a balloon till the point they think the balloon will explode if they blow one more time.
Reflection:
- Why do you think it will explode?
- How do you notice?
This is very important to recognize this point in yourself and others. Because if you go over this point, if you go further in your emotions then you will cross the point of no return. When the balloon explodes, you can’t go back. Think back to a situation when you almost exploded
- What did you feel on the inside? (negative thoughts, emotions, …)
- What were the physical signals ( heart beating, making a fist, sweating , black-out ,…)
(You can use a list with examples that can help you with the conversation) If you know your own signals you can focus on taking the tension away so you will not cross the point of no return. If you recognize similar signals with others you are able to help them.
Instructions
Step 1
Blow up a balloon until it explodes.
Reflection: – What did you notice? When did the balloon explode? – What did you notice in yourself? ( joy, fear,…?)
Step 2
Tell a daily story about the life of a youngster, every time something happens you blow in the balloon For example:
- Barry overslept ( blow one time)
- Barry didn’t have breakfast ( blow one time)
- Because he overslept, he missed the schoolbus ( blow two times)
- He gets in the class and the teacher is angry ( blow two times)
- During the break Barry can talk and laugh with his friends ( you let some air go away) …
You continue with the story until the balloon explodes You can also repeat this exercise with a story of the client, and ask him after each sentence how many times you have to blow, continue with the story until the balloon explodes.
Reflection:
- What do you notice? ( you don’t explode immediately , not everything is equally ‘bad’, sometimes you do things that take the tension away)
- What are things that make you frustrated? Can you scale them from 1 – 10? (can we use emojis instead numbers on the scale)?
- What are things you can do or that other people can do that takes the tension away? (You can use a list with examples and tools that can help you with the conversation)
Step 3- searching for the ‘point of no return’
You give the youngsters the task to blow up a balloon till the point they think the balloon will explode if they blow one more time.
Reflection:
- Why do you think it will explode?
- How do you notice?
This is very important to recognize this point in yourself and others. Because if you go over this point, if you go further in your emotions then you will cross the point of no return. When the balloon explodes, you can’t go back. Think back to a situation when you almost exploded
- What did you feel on the inside? (negative thoughts, emotions, …)
- What were the physical signals ( heart beating, making a fist, sweating , black-out ,…)
(You can use a list with examples that can help you with the conversation) If you know your own signals you can focus on taking the tension away so you will not cross the point of no return. If you recognize similar signals with others you are able to help them.
Assessment Methods
- Ask your client if they have better insight in how they are going to achieve their goals
- After few weeks evaluate what has been done. And if needed add actions
Resources needed
- Balloons
- Paper
