CONCEPT AND APPLICATION SHEET 5

CONCEPT AND APPLICATION SHEET 5 Board Game "My Inner Team" A visualizing board game for resource activation, conflict resolution, and fostering emotional self-regulation

1. Pedagogical Concept

Making Inner Processes Visible – Playfully Understanding Aspects of Personality "My Inner Team" is a deeply effective reflection game that helps educational professionals engage in conversations with children, adolescents, and adults about inner conflicts, strengths, and blockages. Players select traits as team members, set up opponents, and reflect on their inner dynamics in a systemic and solution-oriented manner.

The football field aesthetic of the game board provides an accessible metaphor: life as a game – with a lineup, strategy, captain, opposing team, and training plan. The game approach creates emotional distance while fostering high self-commitment – ideal for people with low frustration tolerance, speech inhibition, or complex inner conflicts.

The game is not rigid – it can be changed over time, just as (self-)perception changes and development happens.

2. Why the game is effective in an educational context

🧠 promotes reflection – structures internal parts and facilitates self-understanding 🎯 solution-oriented – promotes resource activation instead of problem focusing 🧩 systemically adaptable – supports counseling, support & goal-setting 🎲 playful and low-threshold – particularly helpful in residential, school, and counseling contexts

The difference to classic tools such as cards or scales: While reflection cards often offer visual impulses, the board game creates a haptic, interactive, and dynamic process. It's not just about selection, but about positioning, role distribution, and strategies – using terms from team sports: captain, substitutes' bench, lineup, training.

3. Game content at a glance

• 1 high-quality wooden game board in a football field design
• 52 coins with terms:

1. Strengths & Competencies: Courage, Creativity, Humor, Self-confidence, Discipline, Patience, Athleticism, Independence, Self-efficacy, Tolerance, Empathy, Clarity, Intuition, Determination, Team Spirit, Willpower, Perseverance, Responsibility, Empathy, Charisma, Intelligence, Trust, Structure, Agency, Balance, Explosive Power
2. Blockages & Challenges: Perfectionism, Defiance/Stubbornness, Fear, Sadness, Anger, Fear of Failure, Pessimism, Shame, Dependence, Egoism, Distrust

• 6 game cards with targeted reflection questions:

1. Who is the strongest player on the opposing team? Which of your players could counteract them?
2. Which of your competencies/strengths form your strongest team?
3. Who is your team captain and thus the most important performer?
4. What dream team would I create in the future to tackle my future with it?
5. Who is on your opposing team? Who do you have to compete against?
6. Which team/which players would I need to overcome a current problem?

4. Application Recommendation (Short Version)

Quick start for professionals – just like in a real game:

• Warm-up: Prepare board and coins – enter the setting
• Lineup: Participant chooses 6–8 coins for their own team (strengths)
• Opponent analysis: Then 3–6 coins for the opposing team (blockages)
• Name captain: Who is currently calling the shots? Who should lead?

6. Case studies from practice

Case Study 1: Youth Welfare – Working with a 12-year-old boy A boy from a residential facility often appears tense, withdraws, and shows resistance to group activities. In a supervised setting with "My Inner Team," he assembles his team from the coins Courage, Perseverance, Creativity, Self-confidence, Humor, Agency, Team Spirit, and Intuition. He chooses Courage as his captain. His opposing team consists of Fear of Failure, Fear, Dependence, Shame, Distrust. The choice of captain helps him talk about his fears. He realizes: "My Courage player sometimes helps me participate anyway, even if I'm scared." The professional uses the image for goal setting: When does Team Courage need support? Who on the bench could be substituted in?

Case Study 2: Mother-Child Work – Overwhelmed mother reflects on family dynamics A single mother feels overwhelmed with her 10-year-old son, who has many conflicts at school and at home. In coaching, she assembles an inner team of Patience, Clarity, Self-efficacy, Charisma, Intuition, Discipline, Empathy, and Responsibility. She chooses Responsibility as her captain. Her opposing team consists of Overwhelm, Self-doubt, Anger, Distrust, Perfectionism. In the conversation, she realizes: "I try to do everything perfectly all the time – that overwhelms me." Through visualization, she can let go, allow for changes in perspective, and create a training plan for self-efficacy and patience to act with more confidence in everyday life. ?

• Game analysis: Use reflection cards – pair players, find counter-strategies
• Create a training plan: What should be strengthened, what should be substituted in?
• Evaluation: Make insights visible – e.g., draw, write, speak

Duration: 30–45 minutes Setting: Individual work, tandem work, small groups (up to 6 participants)

5. Application Recommendation (Long Version)

When?

• In individual counseling, group sessions, support settings
• In social skills training, conflict discussions, coaching
• During transitions, decision-making processes, goal definition

How?

• Introduction: Invitation to "Team Lineup" – Which players belong to your inner team?
• Player selection: Define own team members + opponents (strengths vs. blockages)
• Name captain: Who is currently leading? Who should lead?
• Use reflection cards: Develop solution ideas, target vision, counter-strategies
• Training plan: Which players need more playing time? Who goes to the bench? Which strengths need training?
• Ask transfer questions: What will you take away? What can you specifically use tomorrow?
• Create visibility: Draw players, document in portfolio, reflect

In-depth Game Application – Attitude, Communication & Transfer Work

The game unfolds its full effect when it is understood not as a "tool" but as an invitation to self-discovery. An accompanying attitude of genuine curiosity, openness, and trust in the child's or adolescent's ability to process is important.

• Professionals should not interpret too quickly, but first ask questions: "What does this trait do to you?", "Why is this player important?"
• The choice of captain often mirrors what is currently dominating the experience – or what should prevail. Here it is worthwhile to ask: "What does it mean when this player leads the team?"
• The substitute bench offers room for ambivalence: "What would you like to bring into the team soon? What are you still unsure about?"
• The metaphor of the training plan can be wonderfully used: "What does your Courage player need to become stronger?" – "How can Team Discipline work better with Team Creativity?"
• Especially with adolescents facing multiple burdens, working with the game over several sessions can build trust and lead to long-term change.

8. Implementation tips for professionals

🔁 Establish rituals: Repeated use promotes security 👥 Utilize team analysis: Who brings what strength to the group team? 🖍️ Visualize reflection: Portfolio, wall poster, creative documentation 🎯 Think long-term: Not as a single tool, but as part of a pedagogical process

9. FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Is the game therapeutic? No. It is a pedagogical tool – strong in reflection and methodologically effective, but not a substitute for psychotherapy.

How do I deal with overwhelm? The game can be interrupted or simplified (e.g., only one player per side). Important: Reduce pressure.

What if a child doesn't want to say anything? The game also works non-verbally: setting up figures, painting, noting – language is helpful, but not essential.

10. Summary

"My Inner Team" is more than a game: It is a professional instrument for promoting self-reflection, emotional competence, and inner clarity – playful, systemic, and profound.

For professionals in schools, youth welfare, and counseling – who want to help people take charge of their own team again.

Areas of application:

• Youth welfare & residential groups
• School social work
• Coaching & career orientation
• Psychotherapy & trauma pedagogy
• Family support & couples counseling
• Assistance for people with disabilities, elderly care, biographical work