ROLE PLAY 3 | MANAGING SENSITIVE SITUATIONS

Characters:

1. Grace (Age: 67) – A woman who has faced significant life challenges, including loss and personal trauma. She tends to avoid discussing her feelings and often suppresses her emotions to maintain control. Grace finds it difficult to express vulnerability and prefers to handle things on her own. She values independence but struggles to manage emotions in sensitive situations.
2. Harold (Age: 70) – A calm, reflective man who is deeply empathetic but can be emotionally overwhelmed in difficult conversations. While he wants to be supportive, Harold struggles with expressing his emotions in healthy ways and often withdraws when sensitive topics arise. He tends to shut down or distance himself when faced with emotional intensity, making it harder for him to engage in deeper discussions.
3. Anna (Age: 45) – A facilitators of the session. Anna is warm and understanding, skilled in managing emotional dynamics. She helps participants identify their emotional triggers and teaches tools for handling intense feelings in sensitive situations. Anna’s approach is to gently guide the group through their emotions, providing them with strategies to stay present and process feelings without becoming overwhelmed.
4. Tom (Age: 50) – A second facilitator who works alongside Anna. Tom is more pragmatic in his approach but equally empathetic. He focuses on helping participants manage their reactions during emotionally charged situations, offering coping techniques and mindfulness practices. Tom is focused on providing a sense of structure, so participants feel supported while learning to process emotions in healthy ways.

Scenario:

During a session focused on emotional management in sensitive situations, Grace and Harold find themselves confronted with a challenging topic: navigating grief and loss. Both participants have experienced deep personal loss, but they each react very differently. Grace tends to suppress her emotions, avoiding discussion of her grief, while Harold becomes overwhelmed by his feelings and withdraws from the conversation. As the group discusses their experiences with loss, Grace remains largely silent, not wanting to confront her emotions. When Anna asks her to reflect on how she manages her feelings, Grace becomes uncomfortable and quickly changes the subject. Harold, on the other hand, becomes visibly distressed and withdraws, his eyes welling up with tears as he struggles to maintain composure. What should the facilitators do to handle this situation?

Questions for guided discussion on ROLE PLAY 3 | MANAGING SENSITIVE SITUATIONS:

• What strategies were most effective in helping the participants manage their feelings in a healthy way? Were there any approaches that worked better for Grace compared to Harold, or vice versa?
• What were the main challenges when dealing with Grace, who tends to avoid her feelings, and Harold, who becomes emotionally overwhelmed? How did the facilitators adapt them approach for each of cases?
• Were there moments when the facilitators felt the session was veering off course or when a participant was struggling more with emotional management? What could we have done differently in those moments?