We finally made it to fall and my absolute favorite holiday is just around the corner…Thanksgiving! I just love Thanksgiving because most of us get several days off work and (if we’re able) time to spend with family and friends. Ok, I can’t hide the fact that I just love eating all the delicious food too! Anyways, life can move so fast and we often forget to stop and give thanks for all the wonderful blessings we may have received throughout the year. I think gratitude is such a powerful skill that we need to practice as much as we can. That is why this month I came up with the Thankful Turkey. During the intervention I created a song to prompt clients to come up with things/people they are thankful for. When they come up with one, the therapist will write it on a feather and the client can fasten the feather to the turkey. At the end of the song, the turkey will display all the things the client/s are thankful for. Below are the lyrics to the song, which goes to the tune of “Are You Sleeping?”. I hope this can be used in your sessions and spark feelings of gratitude this season. Happy Thanksgiving!
 

“Thankful Turkey” (To the Tune of “Are You Sleeping?”)
On Thanksgiving (On Thanksgiving)
We give thanks (We give thanks)
For things and people (For things and people)
That we love (That we love)
[Client vocalizes something/one they are thankful for]
Thank you [what the client wrote down] (Thank you ______)
I thank you (I thank you)
You are a blessing (You are a blessing)
I thank you (I thank you)

 

Sara Chigani, MA, MT-BC, FAMI