Group Activities for Anger Management
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” - Mark Twain
Finally, you have realized how important it is to get control of your temper as it is affecting your work and personal life. You need help. Managing anger all by yourself is not easy. It becomes easier if you have people with you who are going through the same problem and with whom, together you can achieve what you have set out to do.
Now is the time to regain control of your life. Here are some group activities that might help you to achieve your goal.
1. Quiz Night
Have a night at any one’s home and play quiz pertaining to your problems. This will help you to understand the nitty gritties of anger management and it will help you to bond as a group.
Steps
- Divide into two groups. One who would be the contestants and the other group would be the quiz masters and the time and score keepers.
- Prepare questions pertaining to anger related problems and their solutions.
- Create several teams of contestants based on your group’s strength.
- Issue prizes like a movie ticket or dinner for two and such so that the game is competitive.
2. Role Playing
One of the best ways to learn about anger management is to put yourself in situations where you tend to lose your cool and learn the necessary skills to control your emotions. Role playing is best for this.
Steps
- Divide the group into two segments- actors and observers.
- Stimulate anger triggering situations and have the actors re-enact such real-life events in a skit.
- Provide the actors with their roles and lines prior to the commencement.
- Have one persecutor who would trigger ager and a victim who would respond to the trigger and take notice of how they feel.
- Observers should make notes of what they think of the persecutor and the victim’s behaviour and how they think the situation could have been sorted out.
- Have a discussion session at the end of the skit to discuss possible, positive solutions to the situation and to come to the best alternative to be used in any similar future incidents.
3. Brainstorming
The idea of tackling anger in a group is to get fresher and new perspectives of each situation.
Steps
- Begin with an anger management question and how to resolve it.
- Give 15-20 minutes to each group member to come up with 1o possible answers or ways to resolve the issue.
- Make everyone read their answers aloud.
- Make the group debate over the pros and cons of each proposed solution and arrive at the best one.
4. Charades
Who said learning can’t be fun? Create awareness about anger management in a session of charades (a word-guessing game).
Steps
- Write down anger management or therapy related words in different pieces of paper and put them in a covered bag or box.
- Ask a member to pull out a paper and have him or her enact gestures giving clues about the word without speaking.
- Make the audience guess and arrive at the correct word.
5. Invite a Speaker to the Group
Have some outsider talk about anger management topics. Ensure that the person is knowledgeable about what he/she is speaking. She or he may be an author, a psychologist or an anger management guru. You can even get speakers who have faced and overcome similar issues in their life.
