Power Walk


(Duration 1-1.5 hours)

Where does your personal power come from? This activity is designed to promote empathy, and develop understanding of the different levels of power that individuals have based on their personal experience and identity. It asks participants to consider the impact of these things on choice, vulnerability and resilience. It is most effective with a small group of 8-10 participants.

Look at, Read, Listen to

1. Each participant is given a character from a list and asked to think about their character for a few minutes, building an imaginary picture of them in their minds. Some are offered more information than others.

Note to facilitators: Consider who you give each character to in order to challenge their current thinking. Ensure you impress on the group that it is their character taking part and not them.

2. Participants all stand in a line. Then the facilitator reads out 25 statements.  As each statement is read out, participants step forward or backwards depending on their response.

3. At the end, discuss who reached the other side of the room first, and what this might say about how much power or control they had in their lives. Ask each person to reflect on their positioning.

4. Ask the group to identify the kinds of experiences that mean people feel less or more in control of their lives.

5. Ask each member of the group to come up with three words that describe how they (not their character) feel at the end of the walk.

Statements

  1. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you are able to talk to your parent (or another adult) you trust about most things.
  2. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you have a good group of friends who support you.
  3. TAKE A STEP BACK if you spend a lot of time outside your home, sometimes staying out all night.
  4. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you enjoy school – or did enjoy school when you were younger.
  5. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you feel you can join in class room discussions when everyone talks about their boyfriends and girlfriends and who they think are gorgeous on TV.
  6. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you feel that you have your needs met in life.
  7. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you feel comfortable in your body.
  8. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you have friends who identify as LGBTQ+.
  9. TAKE A STEP BACK if you feel you can’t talk to anyone about the fact you are attracted to someone who is the same gender as you.
  10. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you often see people positively on TV who identify as you.
  11. TAKE A STEP BACK if you feel that would like to talk to someone about gender reassignment but you don’t know where to go to find out these things.
  12. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you feel that you are well liked by most people.
  13. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you are good at more than one thing.
  14. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you feel that you are attractive.
  15. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you feel you have a lot of options for what you want to do with your life.
  16. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you feel confident and like yourself – most of the time.
  17. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you feel that you wear clothes that conform to gender norms.
  18. TAKE A STEP BACK if your parents aren’t able to talk to you about relationships or about making choices about sexual orientation.
  19. TAKE A STEP BACK if have started going to clubs with much older people because at least they have accepted who they are.
  20. TAKE A STEP BACK if you sometimes feel anxious because you’d like to talk about the fact that you may be questioning either your sexual orientation or your gender.
  21. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you have a best friend.
  22. TAKE A STEP BACK if you often feel lonely or isolated.
  23. TAKE A STEP BACK if you feel you can’t be yourself at school.
  24. TAKE A STEP FORWARD if you just went to your first PRIDE with a group of friends who are LGBTQ+ and you had a really good time.
  25. TAKE A STEP BACKWARD if you have been bullied more than once.

Characters 

  1. A young woman aged 15 who lives at home with her mum and dad. You don’t have many friends and you’re starting to be attracted to other girls.
  2. A young woman aged 16 who is homeless. You don’t have any contact with your family or friends from home.
  3. A young person who plays in the school orchestra, runs for the athletics team and has a sister and brother who they get on with really well. You are popular and have just started to have a relationship with your best friend who is also popular at school. You’ve decided to go to the prom together. You both identify as women.
  4. A young man who is gay but hasn’t told anyone else in your family or in your friendship group. Your parents have a very strong faith where not to be heterosexual is a real problem.
  5. A 12 year old young person who is cis gendered male but who increasingly feels that they identify as female. No one else knows that this is how you feel.
  6. A 14 year old young man who has learning difficulties and who kissed his best friend at school. They were caught by a group of other students. They have been bullied for three weeks now because they both identify as male.
  7. A young woman living in a foster placement. You are 15 and don’t attend school regularly. You have a group of friends who are really open and talk about lots of different things. This is your main source of emotional support. You don’t know whether you are more attracted to boys or girls or whether that even matters.
  8. A young person who identifies as straight. You have a really good friendship group and enjoy school. You feel as though your friends and you talk about lots of things and that in your friendship group you have a friend who is bisexual and someone else who is trans. You have two mums.
  9. A young person who identifies as straight – you don’t have many friends and not much emotional support at home. You sometimes feel lonely and angry and so sometimes you bully other people.

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