Who am I? How do others see me?
I am sure that most Youth Workers have carried out the activity of writing how you see yourself inside a picture of yourself or unrecognisable figure. Then writing how others perceive you on the outside. I like this activity but on its own it doesn’t seem enough, you need to have a dialogue with the young people, encourage deeper thought and challenge their perceptions and feelings about themselves. You need to be there to support them through the process, I have seen some awful examples of this activity being carried out!
On the outside it looks like a general fluffy activity but actually you are asking a lot of young people, even just thinking about different descriptive words can be a challenge and a lot of issues can arise when they really start thinking about how they feel about themselves or what they think other people think of them. I am quite fed up of having to justify why I think that ‘not just anybody’ can carry out this activity. You need to have a safe space, have a good relationship with the young people and have a safe environment for them to be able to open up. You could be opening a can of worms or you could be challenging their arrogance!
The picture below shows the version I have made and used, which is slightly extended. You are free to use it if you like, the link is below the picture. Let me know how it goes!
Download the activity sheet here About-ME-sheet-activity
I don’t know if these kind of activities would be of interest for people to use, I have plenty more that I can share and may do weekly. All of them will have been tried and tested and where possible will include the users views as well.
Memoirs of a Youth Worker 