When I first began counseling, I was astonished at the number of foster children that I was seeing in my daily practice. At least half of my caseload consisted of children who had been adopted or were in foster care. While each of their stories were different, they had the same underlying issues: abandonment, fear, anger, insecurities. Many were overwhelmed with emotion and did not know how to release it.
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Like most new counselors, I experimented with many different techniques to help the children. Some worked well, some not at all. I scoured the internet looking for resources for these children. There was not much available. So, I created a game. This is one of the first counseling games that I created and it has worked well for me over the years. I recently revamped the game board to create more spaces. The game was over too quickly in my original version.
The game incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy to address thoughts of self and others, to process emotions related to the change, and to help the children identify their place in the new family. The prompts discuss family dynamics and feelings related to family. The cards should be read thoroughly before use. It may be necessary to remove cards that would be inappropriate for the child.
