Health Promotion Session Plan

Overall Health Content targeted: Aging/ Death and Dying

Specific Component targeted: Coping Mechanisms
Client or Group Profile: This seminar will be delivered to individuals ages 18 and older who have experienced the death of a
loved one or who are anticipating the death of a loved one. The group will bring together a variety of different backgrounds,
personalities, experiences, perceptions, and beliefs.
Opening activity Group experiences
Activity Objective: To create an engaging and supportive environment where participants can feel comfortable disclosing personal experiences in
order to understand that others experience similar things.
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Time frame: 15 minutes
Activity Description: Participants will form a large circle around the room. The facilitator will call out different categories or experiences and
anyone who relates or identifies with that will step into the middle of the circle for a moment. After completion of the activity, there will be large
group discussion about the participants thoughts, feelings, perceptions and insights.
Materials needed: Note cards with the following categories. Emotional: fear, sadness, helplessness, anger, guilt. Cognitive: slowed down,
preoccupied, strange dreams, altered perceptions. Physical: fatigue, sleep problems, loss of appetite, physical distress. Social: loss of interest, strained
relationships.
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Main activity Short lecture followed by a small group case study activity
Activity Objective: To provide participants with a basic knowledge of common coping mechanisms and allow them an opportunity to apply critical
thinking and decision making skills regarding unhealthy situations.
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Time frame: 25 minutes
Activity Description: The facilitator will provide a short lecture about common coping mechanisms, normal vs. abnormal coping strategies, and
healthy alternatives. Next, the participants will be divided up into small groups of three or four where they will be assigned one case study. The group
will think critically to assess the situation, determine the current coping mechanisms, provide possible alternatives, and offer up possible paths to
resolution.

Materials needed: A short power point presentation for the lecture portion in addition to individual case studies that detail s specific situational
experience.

Additional activity Individual prompt

Activity Objective: To engage the participants in a personalized reflection where they will determine the ways in which they cope and define at least
one possible alternative.
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Time frame: 10 minutes
Activity Description: The facilitator will present the prompt and provide the necessary materials. The participants are not required to share their
writing.
Materials needed: A written prompt, paper, and writing utensils.

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Closure: Questions and Answers
Closure Activity: Application exercise
Time Frame: 5 minutes
Activity Objective: Allow the participants the opportunity to reflect on the session and determine one thing that they learned or were able to take
away and apply to their individual lives. This will be turned in following completion.
Activity Description: The facilitator will provide a hand out with the following prompt: What is one thing that you took away from todays session?
Why was it important to you? How will you work to apply it in your own life?
Materials Needed: Individual prompt handouts and writing utensils.
Question # 1:
Desired Client Response:
Question # 2:
Desired Client Response:

Description of additional supporting activities for individual to perform on their own: Challenge each participant to discuss their thoughts,
feelings, perceptions, and insights of the days session with someone who is close to them (a spouse, family member, or best friend) or disclose their
situation for the first time if they havent already.

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Health Promotion Reflection
Please answer the following reflective questions.
1. As I reflect on the activity, to what extent will / were clients productively engaged? (Brief description of how they were or were not
productively engaged.)
2. How and when will I know if the clients learn what I intended them to learn? (list objective)