Personal Growth Module

1. SESSION – HOW TO SEE YOURSELF IN A POSITIVE WAY

Welcome to your first session of the Personal Growth module.  

It will take two hours.

Objectives: 
1. To empower mothers by helping them see their strengths,
2.  To help mothers notice what is good in people around them by focusing on their positive aspects.

Learning outcomes:
After this session, Mothers will become more confident, aware of their strengths; they will also be open to noticing positive features in others, which will contribute to positive thinking.

Scenario for the trainer.
Each participant introduces herself in two sentences.  After each introduction, everyone else tells her what they like  about her, (e.g. ‘I like your smile’,’ You have a very nice sweater/top’,  ‘You have beautiful eyes’, etc) for 1-2 minutes per each (20 minutes in total)

Reflection: We talk as a whole group about how each of us felt while receiving positive feedback about ourselves.  1 minute per person  (15 minutes in total)

Each participant writes down 25 things she has done so far in her life which she is proud of. (20 minutes) 

Reflection: we talk as a whole group about how we felt while writing about our achievements (15 minutes)

Meditation practice   SA TA NA MA (film for meditation included)
Follow-up Homework: in the WhatsApp group, every evening, write down about what  you are proud of today. Keep writing at least for the duration of the project or, preferably, much longer.

2. SESSION: Public dialogue on "Is it possible to have both professional success and a happy family?"

Welcome to your second session of Personal Growth module, online version
It will take two hours.

Objectives: 1. to develop  ability to listen to others in an open-minded and empathetic way,

2. to develop ability to express oneself,  one’s emotions and opinions in a clear and non-confrontational way.

Learning outcomes:

After this session, Mothers will become more open to others, understanding others and able to accept differences in opinions, attitudes and behavior.  They will also be more confident in expressing themselves.

Note to the Trainer: 

Public dialogue is based on the methodology of the Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue, Norway, which was developed in order to build bridges across ethnic, cultural, political and social divides.  (eg. used in the Balkans after the 1990s war conflicts),

Scenario:

1.   The facilitator presents principles of a public dialogue in the following way:

Principles 1.1-1.5 on the the screen, in an enlarged size each, one after another: 

1. it is not a debate so we are not going to persuade each other that we are right and they are not,  

2. It is a conversation based on mutual respect and openness, which allows us to learn about each other.  

3. Listening to each other is essential, we focus on what others talk about and we listen to them in an open-minded, empathetic way.  

4.  Everything said during a public dialogue is  confidential.

5. Participants listen to and talk to each other, focused on understanding and accepting their opinion.

Principle 1.6 could be presented as a spoken comment of the Trainer/Facilitator:

6. During a public dialogue, the Facilitator presents a question to talk about and, if necessary in the course of a conversation, asks additional/specifying  questions.  He/she does not participate in the conversation in any other way.

Principle 1.7 serves as a tip to the trainer/facilitator and it is recommended that the participants  shouldn’t know it before their dialogue:

7. At the end, the facilitator provides a summary of what has been said, by referring to the points raised in a direct way, e.g. ‘Paula said that we can be successful professionally and have a happy family.’  ‘Joanna pointed out that is possible but only if we have support from our partner and/or others around.’  The facilitator gives no opinion nor interpretation.

After this introductory presentation of rules, a dialogue starts:

2. The question „Is it possible to have both a successful professional career and a happy family?’  appears on the screen. The question must be visible to everybody during the dialogue.

3.  The facilitator reads the question aloud and the Participants start talking.

4. At the end, the facilitator provides a summary of what has been said, by referring to the points raised in a direct way, e.g. ‘Paula said that we can be successful professionally and have a happy family.’  ‘Joanna pointed out that is possible but only if we have support from our partner and/or others around.’  The facilitator gives no opinion nor interpretation.

Bear in mind: No direction from the facilitator, apart from additional questions.  The facilitator cannot react  even if the conversation goes off the initial topic.  Let the participants talk freely. 

3. SESSION – Six Pillars of Self-Esteem

(based on The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden)

Welcome to your third session of Personal Growth module, online version.

Objectives:

1. To develop mindfulness, self-acceptance, assertiveness, sense of responsibility and purpose.

2. to show the value of being honest towards oneself and others.

3. to build Participants’ self-esteem by making them realise how much depends on them.

Learning outcomes:

After this session, Mothers will become aware of  how much being assertive helps them be in control of their life. They will appreciate the importance of being in harmony with themselves and of being in control of their  life. 

Scenario:

The participants answer/discuss the following questions. 

Tip to the trainer: in order to keep the focus, each question should appear on the screen separately, you or one of the participants read it aloud.  It is up to you whether to refer to the terms of the Pillars at the beginning, or only after the questions referring to them are discussed, The order of the questions asked should be as given below.:

Pillar One: Living Consciously

1. How much do you think about what is happening now, not about what happened or what will/may happen?

2. What have you noticed about yourself and the people/world around you since you got up today morning?

Pillar Two: Self-Acceptance

1. You are worth it!  What do you like about yourself and why do you think you deserve your own love and respect?

2. We are all not perfect.  What imperfections should you accept about yourself and which of them could you try to fight with?

Pillar Three: Self-Responsibility

1. Do you accept responsibility for what you do and what you decide?

2. If something goes wrong, do you look for reasons in yourself or you  blame the others?

Pillar Four:  Self-Assertiveness

1. Do you tell other people clearly when you disagree with them or don’t accept something, or rather you stay silent?

2. Could you say about a situation when you stood up for yourself, said: „No, I won’t do this!”?

Pillar Five: Living Purposefully

1. Do you set goals for yourself every day?   

2. What are your goals for today? 

For the coming week?  

For the year ahead? 

For you life?

Pillar Six: Personal Integrity

1.  Are you always honest with yourself?  

2. How important do you think it is to be honest  with yourself and with other people?

Then, the participants do the following activity:

For a few minutes consider a feeling or emotion that you do not easily deal with, e.g. anger, humiliation, fear. Once you choose the feeling, focus on it and see it as closely as possible. Then try to breathe in through the nose and then breathe out through the mouth, followed by breathing in through the mouth and breathing out through the nose.  Repeat this ten times, trying not to judge the feeling but fully accept it. Say to yourself: I feel (name this feeling) and fully accept it. At first it may be difficult, but focus on your breath and try to relax your muscles.

Homework: a) prepare your speech for 3 minutes- one  situation in my life that changed everything for the better

4. SESSION: SETTING GOALS

Welcome to your fourth session of Personal Growth module, online version

Objectives: 1. to develop  ability to set goals that are both ambitious and achievable

                          2. to develop ability to specify goals and set the way to reach them.

Learning outcomes:

After this session, Mothers will be more aware of the importance of setting goals that are motivating but not frustratingly impossible to achieve.  They will be able to specify what they want to achieve and plan the timeline of achieving them.  Thanks to this, they will be more in control of their life.

Scenario: 

1. Goldfish game: The Trainer asks the Participants to write down one dream they want to come true.  The answers are sent to the Trainer, who  says „I am a goldfish and I will make your dreams come true’ , draws one piece of paper and reads the dream aloud, e.g. „ I want to have a lot of money’.  The trainer says: ‘ OK, I have made your dream come true.  You are 99 years old, lying on your deathbed and somebody is saying to you your lottery ticket has won you 70 million dollars.’   

Then, the next dreams are read out , one after the other,  and commented in a similar way.   It is assumed that the dreams are written in a general way, which is usually the case.  

               Then, the Trainer says something like:  ‘Your dream has come true so why aren’t you happy?  The Universe is listening to you and making your dreams come              true.  It’s up to you how you formulate your dreams and set goals.’

Your dream must be turned into a specific goal, e.g. „I want to have a lot of money’ should be turned into: 

Specific  goal: How much? 1 million Euro,

Measurable goal: OK, it’s specific but it is unlikely you will get it overnight.  How will you measure the progres of getting it? 

Achievable goal:   you may win 1 million Euro in the lottery, you can inherit it, you can marry a millionaire.  Do you think it is possible to have this money in any other, more realistic way?    Bear in mind that it may be possible to multiply your income no more than three times over one year.  If your yearly income is 25,000 Euro, you can increase it up to 75,000 Euro a year.  How much time do you need to reach your goal of 1 million Euro?

Relevant goal: how much is having this money important for your life?  What do you want it for?

             Time-bound goal – the deadline:  I want to have this money by the time my 

                children go to university.  

(SMART  Technique of setting and achieving goals: goals must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound).

Follow-up:  time permitting, during the session or at home :

– drawing on the SMART Technique, turn the dream you wrote down at the beginning of the meeting into your goal.

5. SESSION: Expressing yourself through theatrical performance

Welcome to your fifth session of Personal Growth module, online version

Objectives: 

1. to develop  ability to work in a team, to work out the way of cooperating  with each   other in order to reach a common goal.

1. to overcome anxiety and stress of public performance thanks to suport of your team-mates.

2. To develop ability to express yourself on stage.

Learning outcomes:

After this session, Mothers will become confident in presenting themselves.  They will know how to deal with stress and how to support each other in a team.  After performing in such non-judgemental conditions, they will become more open-minded and appreciative of others.

  Scenario

Prepare a set of four topics:

1.  happy family, 

2. success in a woman’s life,   

3. successful career and family , 

4. happiness and success , 

Divide the participants into three groups.

Each group chooses one topic and, in a separate room,  prepares for a ten-minute performance on the topic.  Preparation time: 15 minutes.

They perform in front of the other mothers  and express their feelings, opinions, appreciation after each performance.