2 • MODULE SIX: COPING WITH EMOTIONS
their own emotions. Case management sessions
where facilitators, counselors and other mental
health professionals participate have been found to
be helpful for all those who interact with the
children.
Warm-up activities may be required in the sessions.
Some children need simple physical exercises to be
ready for the LSE activities. Others may need
“settling down” activities. Both can be
accompanied by deep breathing exercises. For
others, there are a number of meditative and
relaxing exercises to help them work constructively
with their feelings. The time for meditation, deep
breathing and relaxation is not to be rushed, as
children need to come to terms with their feelings
and bodies. Understanding and coping with
emotions is linked to a child’s self-esteem,
communication skills, supportive relationships and
managing conflict situations, areas which have
been covered in other modules. Activities in this
module, therefore, may be combined with relevant
exercises from other modules. The activities in each
session are arranged from simple to complex. The
sessions move from the simple exploration of
feelings to managing and coping with more
complex emotions. It is recommended that
facilitators take care in choosing the activities and
follow this natural progression and always be
sensitive to the children’s comfort level. The group
size for these activities should preferably be small;
about ten children would be the optimum size.
Briefly, the aim of this session is to:- Help children be aware of feelings;
- Understand degrees or intensities of feelings;
- Learn how to express these emotions; and
- Suggest options for coping with emotions.
The facilitator should take care to avoid deeper
exploration of these feelings or be equipped to refer
children to a trained counselor.
SESSION ONE
Understanding Feelings
The activities in this session help children identify
and understand the different feelings they
experience, be aware of how feelings are expressed
both verbally and non-verbally and recognize that
each person has a unique way of expressing his/her
emotions. This session consists of four activities.SESSION TWO
Feelings that hurt
Some feelings like sadness, anger and fear hurt us.
If we learn to understand them, we can learn to
approach them in a productive way. This session
explores how what we feel and think affects how we
behave and suggests safe ways of expressing our
emotions. This session consists of six activities.SESSION THREE
A Stronger Me
This session has activities for children to work
constructively with emotions, strengthen
self-esteam and learn to be sensitive to and support
others in need. This session has two activites.