‘Here comes the end’ by Katie Storer

Supporting children as they experience endings

As the sun starts to shine, leaves return to trees and things start to feel (a little) warmer, we all know that summer is approaching, we are entering our final term of the school year, and that (for these children) Speech Bubbles will soon be coming to an end. As Teachers and Practitioners we know that, but for children who are of younger age (especially those that are below the age of 6 years in the Pre-Operational stage), they have a much less clear understanding of timelines and when things might be coming to a close.

Speech Bubbles may well have become a place where they have learnt new skills, built new friendships and experienced a lot of personal growth and they may well see it as a loss in their life when it’s no longer there. Coupled with this, some of the children may have experienced traumatic or abrupt endings and for these reasons it is important to give them an experience of a positive and considered ending to our time together.

So how can we do this?

We all have our own ways of marking these moments, but here are a few things we could do to help our young people prepare for the end of Speech Bubbles sessions.

1. Naming the end and preparing a countdown:

In play therapy sessions they tend to do this a third of the way through the process, so in Speech Bubbles it would be good to acknowledge this at the start of the final term and perhaps create a visual countdown for the final 4 sessions.

This could be as simple as a pie chart that they colour in, (or place a coloured piece on). Or you could think of your own visual that relates to your particular group or Speech Bubbles as a whole. I have drawn one with four bubbles floating off into the sky which you can use too if you like! (insert image) I imagine that in the final session they could perhaps walk through a shower of bubbles as they exit through the door. The image of bubbles not only ties in with the name of Speech Bubbles but also relates to an exercise we often do in the sessions where we blow up imaginary bubbles, get inside them and float off to the different places we visit in our story that week. Bubbles also float gently and happily away.

2. Celebrate some of the individual or group achievements:

By acknowledging or looking back over our time together and things we have learnt, the young people can own the journey for themselves and know that they can take these skills and experiences with them even when the sessions have ended.

You might do this as a group by recapping all the things you have done together such as: “We have all told a story, we have all played games in a group, we have listened to each other’s ideas (etc).” You could start this off but then open this up to the group to suggest other things they’ve done together, and even go on to think of things they have been such as “Sometimes we have been…brave, kind, generous (etc).” You could back these up with visuals too if you have them, or create some physical representations of these with your faces or bodies.

In the penultimate week you could gather their favourite games and play some of those in the final session along with creating a shared story all together.

There is a phrase in play therapy they use which is: “Boats aren’t built to sit in the harbour”. In Speech Bubbles we are just one aspect of helping them to build their boat. I like this image of building a (metaphorical) boat of skills in the sessions and then sailing it away on the rest of their journey.

Exercise idea:

As a closing activity in the final session, you could take it in turns to each say something that you’ve enjoyed or learnt in Speech Bubbles (after perhaps a quick recap of the year). When each person has said their thing, they start to make a boat from their bodies; each person joining the boat in turn. Some might be the bow, some the sides, some the mast or sails, others might just want to sail inside the boat. When everyone has said something they can ‘set sail’ on the ‘Bubble sea’ and travel out on their ‘journey beyond’ (through the door) taking with them everything they’ve done and learnt in Speech Bubbles. They could perhaps make a stop at ‘Celebration Harbour’ on the way to collect their Speech Bubbles certificates as something they can keep forever to remember these sessions by.

Whatever you do in your final session I’m sure it will be special, meaningful and acknowledge the important journey you have all been on together.