ECCAY RESOURCES
Exercise nr. 30
VISION BOARD
|
Minimum number of participants |
Average time length | Individual setting |
Group setting | Special Equipment | Unit | Online | Challenges/ competition |
| 1 | 30 min | yes | no | yes | 2,3 | yes | no |
A Vision Board is a visual and attractive representation and manifestation of a young person's desired short, medium or long term future in life, which works as a way to attract what he/she wants. It is a very common activity in online environments such as Pinterest or TikTok, platforms where younger generations share their visions of what they want to achieve or accomplish in their lives through a collage created from inspirational images that represent what they want for their lives. In addition, sharing individual Vision Boards with other like-minded people online allows them to develop a stronger commitment to their vision and a stronger sense of community on social media.
The aim of this exercise is to adapt the creation of tailored Vision Boards to work with young people at risk of social exclusion to explore what your client(s)' desired futures are and then reflect on the means to achieve their vision.
Aim / Benefits
● Vision Boards are a very useful tool in setting personal goals and objectives, and allow us to organise our priorities, values and desires.
● By creating a collage representing the desired future, it will be easier for young people at risk of exclusion to visualise clearly what their wishes and goals are and to focus on them.
● Furthermore, by having a graphical representation of this desired future - either as a physical version or as a digital document - young people can refer to this "guide" whenever they need to reaffirm their goals and visualise the change that is possible.
● Vision boards act as visual affirmations, keeping dreams and goals active and believable in our imagination and world.
UNIT(s) related
As such, it is related to Unit 2: Solution Focused Inquiry, as the bulk of the exercise will be based on the reflective conversation you have with your client about the goals for the future, ... as well as to Unit 3: Building the Relationship, as it can be used for a better common understanding of the other person(s).
How to do the exercise
As a professional, you should clearly explain what the purposes of the exercise are, especially in terms of representing those goals that the young person wants to achieve on a personal, professional or community level. You both should jointly agree on the time frame to which this particular vision board refers (this may be short, medium or long term, in which case the dreams expressed will vary depending on their feasibility time-wise).
Step 2
Once the client has understood the purpose of creating his/her own vision board, provide them with the necessary tools and materials to create the actual collage. Namely, old magazines with different types of images and headlines that might be of interest to them, newspapers, brochures, online image repositories and printers, cardboard, scissors, glue...
The vision board can be created in physical format (using a piece of paper or cardboard) or in digital format (there are numerous digital tools that can be useful to complete the task, have a look at the “Online Version” section below), depending on the resources available. In either case, you should ensure that once the task is completed, the young person will have recurrent access to their vision board for it to be a reminder of his/her goals and objectives, and a guide for his/her actions towards making a positive change in one’s own life.
Final Step / Conclusion:
When the young person has had time to reflect on their goals and desired future in the short, medium or long term, and has created the vision board, ask him/her to please present it to you. In this way you can start a conversation about hopes and desires that will allow you to learn more about his/her motivations and aspirations, and guide his/her reflection process with a focus on highlighting already existing skills and strengths, as well as the resources already available to achieve the positive change your cliente hope for in his/her live and role in the community.
You can reinforce your clients’ sense of agency by focusing on the routes they can take to achieve the desires outlined in their vision board.
You can pose some questions such as:
- Why have you chosen these specific kinds of images?
- Is there a common thread running through the images and desires captured on your vision board? What does this common thread tell you?
- Can you share with me how you would like to achieve these goals and why they are important to you?
- Let’s create a little scenario now… Imagine you’ve already accomplished the goals in your vision board and it’s already yours,
- What changes would your life experience?
- How would you feel?
Debrief
Ask your client to put the vision board somewhere where he will regularly visualise it, be it hanging on his bedroom wall or as wallpaper on his mobile phone. It will be useful for him to stay connected to his desires and the process of achieving them.
Later in your work together, you can make periodic reviews based on the achievements and skills that have been developed or resources that are available.
Specific materials
- A piece of cardboard, whiteboard, cork board, etc.
- Pencil/pen/marker
- Tape, glue, pins, etc
- Old magazines, newspapers, brochures, or online repositories to browse and select images for the collage
Tips and Tricks
● Make sure your client(s) covers all the important aspects of his/her life in the vision board: relationship goals, professional goals, education goals, financial goals, happiness goals, spiritual goals, community goals, etc.
● If necessary, ask your client(s) to include some positive affirmations on how they want to feel on the board. Handwritten ones may be really helpful for them to reinforce their expectations and objectives.
● Another approach you can use as a debriefing activity is to ask your client(s) to go on and try to sell himself or herself his/her vision board, sharing some powerful reasons on why they should work towards its accomplishment.
● For a further reflection on his/her vision board later down the road, it may be useful to keep a copy of it in your professional office, so that you also have access to it when necessary during a session.
On-line version
In this case, the practitioner should use a digital tool to organise a video call with the client - well-known tools such as Zoom or Teams will be useful. The purpose of the exercise should then be clearly presented, telling the client where they can find images online to create their Vision Boar (e.g. Pinterest, Pixbay, Google Image, iStock, etc.). If necessary, provide them with basic instructions on how to use tools such as PowerPoint, Pages, Miro Board or Canva to create their collage. Allow enough time for the activity: time to reflect on their desired future, search for images, create the collage, and then ask your client to share their screen and explain their Vision Board, why they have chosen these images, how they think they will be able to achieve their goals, and how they think they will be able to achieve their goals.
You can also propose to do this activity at the end of an online session with your client, as homework, and you can discuss it in the next session, so that the young person has enough time to develop a good Vision Board to guide their future adventures.
Bibliography - Sitography
How to Make a Vision Board that Works In 9 Simple Steps
Vision Boards: How to Create One & Reach Your Dreams
How to Create a Vision Board | Jack Canfield
Print
eccay-curriculum-en.pdf