Autobiography Time Lines
Suggested Group(s): Middle/Teen
Purpose: To examine where the loss of a family member fits in the context of their lives
Task/need: Living on the grief spiral
Activity Setup Ideas:
- Ask the group members to think about their entire lives from the time that they were born until the present time. As they think about their lives, ask what jumps out at them as far as the events and experiences that they have had.
Materials:
- Large pieces of construction paper or legal sized copy paper
- Rulers
- Pens or markers
Description: Based on the events and experiences that they were thinking about in the introduction, instruct the group members to draw a line representing their lives. The beginning of the line represents the beginning of their lives (for some, this may predate birth) and the end of the line represents their future. Ask the group members to plot the important parts of their lives, the events and experiences that stick out to them, on the line, focusing on both happy and sad times. Leave part of the line for the future…ask what might be on that line?
Activity Wrap Up Ideas: Invite group members to share their timelines. Discuss the decisions that they made regarding what to include on the timeline. What are the emotions that go with the different parts of the timeline?
Suggestions: Group members may want to add collage pictures or drawings to the timeline to graphically represent their experiences.
