Building Blocks of Life

Purpose

Building Blocks of Life provides a visual and practical way for clients to explore the different experiences, pressures and supports that can affect stability in their lives.

The aim is to recognise the stresses and difficulties that may make life less stable while identifying positive relationships, activities, strengths and supports that can help build a stronger foundation.

Approach

The resource uses three types of building block. Blue blocks represent the stresses and pressures of life. Green blocks represent positive and supportive parts of life. Red blocks represent experiences or behaviours that may have an unhelpful or destabilising effect.

The client chooses blocks they feel represent their own life and, with the therapist, discusses the significance of each before adding it to the structure. Each red block is deliberately uneven, so the structure becomes less stable as more are added.

If the structure falls, client and therapist can explore what contributed to its instability and what could be changed, strengthened or supported. They can then rebuild, adding positive blocks and considering coping strategies and sources of support.

The central idea

The aim is not simply to build the tallest structure, but to explore what helps make a life stronger and more stable, one block at a time.