A postcard for yourself

“A Postcard for Yourself” is a creative writing workshop that allows participants to use writing techniques to write a letter to themselves, express themselves, their feelings, reflect on their life experiences and set goals for their future.

“A Postcard for Yourself” uses the methodology of creative writing, a form of artistic expression, inspiring participants to use their imagination to bring personal experiences and views to their work. Also, the technique of writing a letter to oneself is a therapeutic technique that is helpful in processing emotions and easing pent-up anger, pain, or frustration, as well as emphasizing the importance of thinking about the future and concentrating on future goals.

The workshop was initially developed for Ukrainian female refugees living in Athens. Still, it is suitable for diverse groups of learners and age groups and can also be adapted to include underage participants.

The objectives of the workshops are for the participants:

• to get inspired by history and nature by exploring important locations of the city;
• to draw a New Year’s postcard for themselves;
• to self-reflect on past achievements and new goals for the New Year.

The materials needed for this workshop are a pencil or pen, markers or crayons and a piece of paper available for all the participants. Also, the participants should be informed beforehand that they will be walking a distance and, therefore, must be appropriately equipped with comfortable shoes and clothes and have water bottles and snacks with them, especially if children join.

The facilitator leading this workshop should select the locations of the workshop in advance according to their popularity and cultural interest. They should also have in hand all the necessary information and interesting facts about the selected locations in order to be able to provide answers to all the inquiries of the participants and to attract their attention. In addition, the facilitator can also arrange an official tour with a tour guide, if it is possible and available for the location.

Moreover, the facilitator should be acquainted with the use of creative writing techniques in order to be able to provide guidance to the participants during their tasks and also be aware of the structure of a postcard.

• Participants have a guided tour at a site of historical or cultural interest. Participants are actively engaged in exploring the surroundings, and they are free to ask any questions.*1
• The second part is another tour at a nearby place. *2
• Participants are asked to draw and write a postcard to themselves with their wishes for the following year.
• Participants share their pictures and wishes, if they feel safe and describe them to the other participants.
• Participants reflect on their pictures and wishes, and they are asked to set goals for the New Year.

*1 During our piloting process, the participants had a guided tour around the Garden of Byzantine Museum, a historical and natural jam of Athens. As the first step of the workshop, we propose a guided tour at a site of historical or cultural interest so that participants get to know an interesting location in their place of residence.
*2 For our piloting process, we had a complementary tour at Aristotle’s Lyceum excavation, at an archaeological site nearby.

The final step of the “A postcard for yourself” includes for the participants to share their postcards, their pictures and their texts including their wishes for themselves. The participants are asked to explain their choices and reflect on their postcards to themselves. The following questions might help: “What do you want to remember? “What don’t you want to remember?”, “What are your favorite moments from the past year?”, “How are you feeling currently sharing about the group with yourself?”, “Do you feel different from last year?”.

Lastly, the facilitator asks the participants to set goals for the New Year.

The locations of interest for the workshop should be carefully selected in order to be appropriate for all the participants, their age, mobility ability, etc. This methodology may not be suitable for individuals with mobility issues. The participants should be informed beforehand that they will be walking a distance and, therefore, must be appropriately equipped with comfortable shoes and clothes and have water bottles and snacks with them, especially if children join.

The workshop can be adapted to suit coherent and diverse groups of learners. Participants may share personal information and this process may be stressful for some of them, so the facilitator should be alert to understand any inconvenience, take the lead and handle the situation.

The group size for this workshop does not matter, but it is more challenging to manage the workshop with the participation of many individuals. Working with a big group of people makes it harder to make people feel safe to share about themselves. 8 to 10 participants would be the ideal group size.

The complexity of the workshop can be rated at 2. The facilitator needs to take some time to prepare the different phases of the workshop, prepare the walking route, find interesting facts and historical knowledge to be passed to the participants, review the methodology and prepare the workshop’s reflection phase.