This activity is often called “Minefield.” I’ve changed the title to something less violent and more treatment-oriented. Call it whatever seems appropriate for your group. This is one of my favorite group session activities. I love the metaphoric possibilities, the layers of meaning, and the fact that it works well in a small-ish group room.
Props: 3-4 blindfolds, about 10 sticky notes per participant, 2 lengths of tubular webbing (or rope), and as many obstacles as possible—tossables, rubber chickens, polyspots, inflated beach balls, whatever you’ve got.
Instructions: In advance, set up an obstacle course. At one end of the room, stretch out a length of webbing and at the other end stretch out the other webbing. The more space between start and finish, the more challenge involved in the activity. In between, distribute all the props (except the blindfolds) as obstacles.
Start off by briefly talking about obstacles to change, or recovery, or whatever is appropriate for your group. I think of this discussion as a chance to prime the pump, not exhaust the topic. Once a few obstacles have been identified and discussed, pass out about 10 sticky notes each and have the clients label each one with a different obstacle, preferably one that is true (or potentially true) for her or him.
Next, either 1.) Collect the sticky notes, briefly talk about the “interesting” ones, then use them to label the obstacles, or 2.) Have the clients label the obstacles themselves. Either way, look for potential metaphors. For example, in a substance abuse group, you are sure to get “using friends” as an obstacle, perfect to label beach balls. If bumped during the activity, the beach balls are likely to roll forward and be in the way again and again. Sound familiar?
There are lots of different ways to facilitate this activity. I prefer this variation, which minimizes instructions, maximizes client problem solving, and requires asking for help, often a challenge for teens in substance abuse treatment:
Explain the basics of the activity. I keep this very simple: The task is to get from the start to the finish line, while blindfolded, without touching any of the obstacles. Explain that if an obstacle is touch, there will be a setback of some sort.
Once the participants are aware of what they are agreeing to, ask for a volunteer willing to be blindfolded. Blindfold the participant, spin her a couple times, and then instruct her to start.
My clients (especially the ones most likely to volunteer to be first) will almost always attempt the task on their own. After a couple setbacks, the volunteer or another client will realize help is needed, a perfect opportunity to process in-the-moment. Sometimes, one person will become the helper; sometimes everyone will start shouting out directions, a real world parallel that my clients strongly relate to and another wonderful opportunity for in-the-moment processing! ("Everyone is always telling me what to do!")
The first time generally takes a while to complete because there are several issues to resolve—asking for help, improving the quality of help received, and both volunteer and other clients learning what kind of advice is useful. After the first volunteer has successfully completed the obstacle course, do it one or two more times. Next, have two or more volunteers go consecutively, alternating starting from opposite sides of the obstacle course.
Finally, consider moving the obstacles around. I usually do this only with the final participant, making barriers that have to be detoured around, then making another, and another. This sounds more mean that it is, because undoubtedly the helper or other observers will shout out what it happening and good spirited groups will enjoy the humor of it. Besides, my clients expect such things from me.
Comments: I present this activity as being about obstacles, but that’s something of a red herring. This activity is really about trust, support, and asking for help. Why not just frame it that way? Well, in my experience the self-discovery of needing help is much, much more powerful than me pairing the participants off into teams in advance.
Determine setbacks based on what is appropriate for your population. I usually have the participant answer a question relevant to the label, except if they touch a polyspot. I don’t use client labels for these. Instead, they are “relapses” and require the participant to start over.
I see activities like this one as opportunities for clients to practice real world skills. As such, I let them struggle with learning curves (i.e., I don’t suggest asking for help and I don’t suggest asking for only one person to provide that help). I also do these kinds of activities over multiple times, with a few variations along the way to keep things fresh, so that clients can improve their skills, and so they can even engage in some generalizing of those new skills.
