Recognizing Your Power: Reading, Brainstorming, and Discussion

This lesson can be used with two stories from this issue: "Nobody Defended Me" or “Getting It Out."

Select one of the stories above to read aloud as a group. After reading, give teens 5 or 10 minutes to write down all the ways that the writer of that story helped him or herself. (Give one or two examples to start them off.)

For example, In Anthony T.’s story “Getting It Out,” he
• Chose not to kill himself
• Stood up to his abusive mom and left her house
• Went to the police station and told the truth
• Wrote down his story, realizing it made him feel better
• Told Dr. Julia about the shield he’d been putting up
• Started approaching other kids, playing sports, socializing, volunteering
• Got himself into college
• Continued with “therapy, writing, and reflection”
• Uses his writing to help others

In “Nobody Defended Me,” the writer
• Told her friend Michele what was happening
• Fended her uncle off with cleaning products and air freshener
• Told Ms. Maley she was being molested
• Told ACS the truth
• Resolved to take care of herself and make herself proud
• Is succeeding in school
• Is being careful with boys

When youth are ready, ask for volunteers to share what they found and brainstorm a list together. Write the strategies from the stories on the board or chart paper where everyone can see them, and discuss.

You can extend this activity by asking teens to think back on a time when they went through something difficult, and write their own list of ways they tried to help themselves through that situation. Ask for volunteers to share.

Teens may start to talk about their own experiences, or they may confine the discussion to the characters in the stories, which is fine. If youth do begin discuss their own experiences and get stuck talking about being wronged or a desire for revenge, point out positive things they have done, including talking about their feelings to the group right now! It’s important not to minimize the unfairness or the sheer awfulness of having been abused, but whenever possible, shift the conversation into praise for their resilience.