I had been working with a 10-year-old who has experienced trauma throughout her lifetime and she had been doing so well we were working on graduation from services. Together we created our crowns and decorated them with pompoms, feathers, googly eyes, and sequins. Then I invited her to include her strengths and abilities, goals, past accomplishments she was proud of, and other things of that nature.

While she worked, I spent time coloring my crown. She told me she was struggling to think of strengths, so I would reflect to her something that I knew to be true about her and then she would come up with a strength word that described that ability. Before I even realized what was happening, she started to do the same for me. So for every “I hear you ask permission every time before you hug me. What strength is that?” that I would share, I would hear back “You always say please and thank you. That’s you being kind!”

When we were finished creating, we marched down the hall wearing our creations, did power poses in the mirror, and gave ourselves a pep talk. As that kiddo floated out of the building, I sat at my desk quietly crying because not only did I see that 10-year-old, she saw ME.

I will never forget the opportunity some cardstock, art supplies, and an amazing workshop gave for both of us to heal a little more.