Journalling

1. Gather your group after a ‘significant’ experience or event.
2. Distribute pen and paper to every person.
3. Ask each person to find a space to themselves for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. During this time, ask everyone to write down their thoughts in response to a particular topic you pose, eg how did you feel during the experience?
5. Once everyone has returned to the group, you may choose to invite one or more people to share what they wrote.

As group leaders, we often lose sight of the value of allowing individual group members to be alone with their thoughts from time to time. We get so caught up in doing stuff in groups, we sometimes lose sight of the individual.

The guts of this processing strategy is to invite individual group members to spend some time on their own and write one or more personal thoughts in a journal, or other writing pad. Hey, these days, it might be entering data on a portable device, eg smart phone or tablet.

But, before you send your group off, consider these three important points:

Take a look at Useful Debriefing Tips to learn about the benefits of processing your group’s experience, and how to run a successful debrief.

This simple processing technique leverages the value of solitude, if for no other reason than to provide a space for people to think. In a world seemingly ruled by extroverts, solitude matters.

Importantly, the process of ‘journalling’ invites people to get their thoughts out of their heads and put them down in writing, to gain insights they may not otherwise see.

With young people, you may wish to distinguish the difference between writing about what happened (unless this is your goal,) and how they felt about it.

Beware, that for some people ‘sitting by themselves’ does not necessarily mean far enough away so as to not distract others. Manage this if necessary.

This technique is really just an extension of ‘solo’ time whereby people go off on their own for an extended period of time to reflect, seek clarity, and possibly solve tricky problems.

Outward Bound has leveraged the value of journalling during the compulsory three day ‘solo’ time which forms part of their standard 26-day expeditions. The only things that would accompany an OB participant, other than their tent, food and water, was their journal.

You could integrate Journalling as part of a well-designed SEL program to develop your group’s ability to understand their emotions, thoughts and values and how these influence behaviour in different situations.

Specifically, this activity offers opportunities to explore and practice the following social & interpersonal skills:

Self-Awareness

• Identifying Emotions
• Linking Feelings, Values & Thoughts
• Identifying Personal, Cultural & Linguistic Assets
• Recognising Strengths, Prejudices & Biases
• Demonstrating Self-Confidence, Honesty & Integrity
• Experiencing Self-Efficacy
• Having A Growth Mindset

Self-Management

• Controlling One’s Emotions
• Demonstrating Self-Discipline & Self-Motivation

Responsible Decision-Making

• Demonstrating Curiosity & Open-Mindedness
• Making Reasoned Judgements
• Anticipating & Evaluating the Consequences of One’s Actions
• Promoting Personal & Collective Well-Being

You can learn more about SEL and how it can support character education here.

There is no specific health & wellness perspective to this activity other than promoting the benefits to one’s well-being of purposefully reflecting and becoming aware of one’s thoughts and actions.

That said, you could certainly frame this self-reflection exercise as an opportunity to leverage awareness of mindfulness, emotional intelligence and accountability skills. For example, being left with one’s own thoughts for an extended period can be a powerful way to become profoundly related to one’s feelings, values and thoughts. This process can also be a calming exercise in and of itself. The key to helping your group make these connections would be your intention to invite each person (soon after) to share what they discovered through the process of pouring their thoughts out into words on paper. After an extended solo time, strong elements of self-efficacy can then be enjoyed as a result of this purposeful sharing.

If you can think of more explicit ways in which Journalling could be purposefully integrated into a health and wellness program, please leave a comment at the base of this page.

• Adapting this reflection technique to a virtual context is reasonably simple, but it’s more than just asking your group to switch off their webcams and microphones for an extended period. To provide a sufficient distraction-free zone, it may be necessary to ask people to deliberately switch off all of their devices and retreat to an appropriate spot to think and record their thoughts. This is really no different to the context of an in-person program – you must still trust that all group members will ‘disconnect’ from various distractions and be alone with just their thoughts.