Forgiveness Collage Exercise

Objective: To help clients explore and process their feelings towards someone they need to forgive and facilitate emotional release through creative expression.

Materials Needed:

• Magazines, newspapers, or printed images
• Scissors
• Glue sticks
• Large sheets of paper or poster boards
• Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
• Stickers or other decorative elements (optional)

Steps:

1. Introduction:

• Begin by discussing the concept of forgiveness with your client. Explain that forgiveness is a process of letting go of resentment, anger, and negative feelings towards someone who has wronged them.

• Ask the client to take a few minutes to think about the person they need to forgive. Encourage them to reflect on the situation, their feelings, and how holding onto these feelings impacts their well-being.

• Provide the client with magazines, newspapers, or printed images. Instruct them to cut out images, words, or phrases that represent their emotions related to the person or situation they must forgive.

• Ask the client to arrange and glue the cut-out images, words, and phrases on a large sheet of paper or poster board. Encourage them to be as expressive as they want, adding drawings, colors, and other decorative elements to enhance their collage.

• Once the collage is complete, invite the client to share their creation with you. Ask them to describe the images and words they chose and what they represent. Discuss how creating the collage made them feel and if it helped them gain any new insights or perspectives.

• As a final step, ask the client to write an affirmation or a positive statement about their journey towards forgiveness on the collage. This could be something like "I release the past and embrace forgiveness" or "I choose to forgive for my peace."

• End the session with a reflective discussion on the importance of forgiveness and how the client feels after the exercise. Please encourage them to display the collage somewhere they can see it as a reminder of their commitment to forgive.