Section 1.1.2 – Preparation for Module One: About Me

Identifying meaningful activities 

“Activity” does not have to be a big or time-consuming thing to be meaningful. Small activities are really powerful. It’s particularly important to start small if a young person currently isn’t doing very much with their time – e.g., making the bed, washing a dish, texting a friend, going outside for five minutes, going for a very short walk.

If the young person struggles to identify any activities they might be interested in, encourage them to try and think about things they used to enjoy in the past, things their friends or siblings like, or things that they have seen on TV or social media. The interest checklist in this module may also help.

If a young person struggles with anxiety, it might be really helpful to go with them to a new place or activity – perhaps joining them for an activity there or even just doing a practice run for travelling there. This can help them to build their confidence to then keep going themselves.

Identifying character strengths

It is very common for young people to struggle to identify positive things about themselves, especially if they have had problems with trauma, low mood or anxiety.

It will be helpful to remind them that character strengths are not things that only some people have – everyone has character strengths and actually, everyone has all 24 identified character strengths to some degree. The point of thinking about character strengths is to work out which of the character strengths are the “key” ones, i.e., the things that make different activities feel more or less meaningful and enjoyable.

The role of hormones

For young women and other people who have a menstrual cycle (whether or not they experience a period), hormones may affect mood, energy, and interest in doing activities. Some people may experience regular shifts in mood and energy throughout their hormonal cycle, whereas for others it may be irregular and uncertain.

It might be helpful for you to learn more about the female hormone cycle (see Information Resources) and to discuss this with the young person you are mentoring. If the young person experiences dips in their mood or energy during their hormonal cycle, they might like to plan higher intensity activities when they are likely to be more energetic.

If the young person you are mentoring is experiencing more severe problems related to a hormonal cycle, it might feel helpful to gently encourage them to discuss this with their GP. Severe problems include things like not having a period, having very infrequent or irregular periods, very high/manic or very low mood, extreme tearfulness, suicidal thoughts, extreme pain, and bleeding from areas of the body other than the vagina.