Strengths Activity: DBT House

The featured activity this week has become a recent favorite of the TeamMates Strengths Team. I learned of it by attending the Green Hills AEA Conference this past summer. The breakout presenter, Louise El Yafoori, taught on mitigating culturally sensitive trauma. This activity comes from the practice of Dialectical Behavior Therapy. While it can be used in very targeted ways for working with certain groups of kids, we found it a powerful reflective exercise that we all could benefit from. We facilitated this activity at our annual strengths day at the Gallup campus this year and the results of this learning and self reflection were highly impactful. Consider doing this activity with your mentee as a way to deepen the conversation around strengths and talent by incorporating discussions of values, role models, support systems, and more.

Activity Instructions: 

• On a blank piece of paper, sketch out a house. Your house should include: a foundation, walls, windows, a door, roof, chimney, and billboard. 
• In each area, write the corresponding element: 
• On the foundation, write the values that govern your life. 
• On the walls, write anyone or anything that supports you. 
• On the roof, write people or things that protect you. 
• On the door, write or draw the things you keep hidden from others. 
• On the chimney, write ways you blow off steam or reduce stress. 
• On the billboard, write something that you are proud of or want others to see. 
• On the windows, write a goal, vision, or dream that you have for the future. 
• Made additions to your home. Use the ideas below or your own ideas to enhance your house. 
• Draw planter boxes on the windows and write the tools you use for personal growth. 
• Create a front porch and name the things you are grateful for. 
• Make a front path and note the mentors who have helped you get to where you are. 
• Put lights on the path, and share the moments of resiliency and tough circumstances you have had to overcome. 
• Add shingles to your roof and note moments in your life that you are proud of. 
• Create a grandmother suite and name the things you will look back on with awe. 
• Add a library to your house and list the books, ideas, or media that have impacted you. 
• Build a garage, and in it, list the activities and pastimes which bring you joy. 

Here are a few examples of houses: 

Once you have completed your house, dialogue together as a match, reflecting on the things you learned about yourself. Strengths spot each other throughout the activity, noting how what you wrote, added, and drew on the house reflects your strengths. 

Let us know how this activity goes! Email us at tstarman@teammates.org to share how you used this activity with your mentee! 

We did this activity in a recent Genn and Millie Episode. Click HERE to listen in.