Fishing for thoughts!!!!

Fishing for thoughts

This is a simple and easy technique; I devised which incorporates some ACT principles.

This is purposefully designed to be KISS, as when we do it allows us to bend and shape the technique in the moment with the child, in fact it will be, as always you and the child that make the technique! Not the technique itself. So play have fun and build your own fishing magic.

The idea is to get them to fish for thoughts or emotions, allowing them to describe and talk about how they perceive them, allowing us to map their cognitive processes, and discover their avoidance/control strategies. This then helps us structure the session in a more targeted and child centred way.

Have the child imagine they are fishing, this can be on a river bank, of a peer, a pond, of a yacht a or even an aquarium anywhere that they feel safe and comfortable we are trying to catch the fish so we can look at them more closely and discover what kind of fish are out there!! I wonder what we will catch.

We cast out or if aquarium put our net in and catch a fish, we ask the child to describe the size, colour and shape of fish and ask if that fish was a feeling or a thought what kind would it be?

Here we can also use clean language and Socratic question to further explore the fishes meaning to the child now we have set the context we get them to provide the content.

Now we also get them to accept the fish is a fish even though to them it represents x,y,z and we can hold on to that fish (thought, feeling) and experience it in a safe and new way or we can just put it back or place it down in the river or back in the aquarium or anywhere else the child may suggest which could be quite telling in its own right..

 Allowing us to use this opportunity to help the child realise thoughts and feelings are just that not facts just how we perceive things to be not how they actually are.  This allows for some cognitive diffusion to take place. It may also open up other more value orientated loops that we can explore with the child.  We can also harness the contact with the present moment aspects as we fully absorb ourselves in the fishing task. All of these then help us build in a mindfulness and psychological flexibility.  It may be the first time the child has actually allowed experiential learning to take place and not been experientially avoidant. You will find that ACT core processes overlap and dove tail each other and for those of you who don’t use them, you will find in some way you already are you may just not know it!!

We can also use the metaphor of the river or pond as a healing metaphor of how all sorts of things happen and live in the pond and how they all help and support each other even if on the surface it doesn’t look like they do. The river also allows for some timeline aspects to be incorporated as well as future pacing and anchoring.

This approach allows us to empower the child to explore and learn safely about themselves and their presenting issues, thoughts and emotions giving us the space in collaboration with the child to apply a host of our therapeutic tools to help bring about positive change.

After all, we are all just fishing for thoughts and ideas anyway, even if we don’t know we are!!! Smiles Nath.