All About​ Community Building Circles!

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What are Community Building Circles?

We feel connected to other people when we sense that they see us, know us, and care about us.  That is what connection circles are about: being seen, being heard, being known, and developing affection.  Therefore, the objectives for these circles are that youth, their family and their friends will feel:

That they have been seen;

That they have been heard;

That they have been understood;

That they are connected to other students;
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That they have given and received respect—and perhaps affection—from their family and their friends.

Circle Values and Guidelines

​​Respect the talking piece
Confidentiality
Speak from your own experience/your own truth/your heart
Listen to understand/from the heart

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Community Building Circle Break-Down

Part 1; Mindfulness Moment & Opening

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​Two Minute Mindfulness Activity: Ask the group to stand up and stretch anything that feels like being stretched, inviting the group to connect to their bodies and needs during a time where there is so much screen time (circle keeper can guide the stretching if your group needs more structure).

Invite the group to take a collective three deep breaths together (remind the group that taking deep breaths is an easy way to connect back to the present moment and let stress or worries fall away).
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If comfortable, exhale through pursed lips, as if you are blowing a bowl of hot oatmeal (this increases their exhale and provides more of a calming effect on the brain).

Part 2; Introduction of Centerpiece & Talking Piece

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​​About the Centerpiece;
Centerpieces are a visual representation of the center of the circle--the point that connects us all...this is an invitation to let our desire to make time to be in community with one another to connect us and be our center. 


​About the Talking Piece;
A talking piece can be ANYTHING! A smooth stone, a piece of driftwood or even a tiny marble. The talking piece is an invitation to listen when you don’t have it, invitation to speak from your own personal experience when you have it.
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You can always pass, always moves in order around the circle.

Part 3; Hold a Community Building circle- here’s a simple sample script you can use:

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Open with a 2 minute mindfulness activity!
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Round 1: Personal Needs
What do you need? 
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Round 2: Tapping into Resilience
What is a strength you have these days and what can you offer to those around you?

Round 3: Tapping into a Broader Perspective
Tell a story about life going on around you. 

Check Out Round
What are you taking away from this circle?                                                                                                                                                        Closing                                                                                                     Group Stretch (invite each person in the group to choose              a stretch for 15 seconds, everyone else mimics that                    stretch)

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