Cynthia's role reversal question

[REGINA SEWELL]

 Another idea about how to get people to participate in role reversals, thinking about Cynthia's question...

One thing that I've had better luck with is to start with baby steps and make it fun.  Have people role reverse with someone or something easy.  If you're working with people who are really angry, say at Dick Chaney or the lumber exec they've been protesting for years, to ask them to, off the bat, role reverse with their enemy probably isn't going to go over too well.  But if you start with having them role reverse with their cat or their dog or someone they like who likes them...  or a hero or role model.....  

Another thing... it's very difficult to role reverse with someone when there are a lot of feelings.  Perhaps those feelings need to be expressed first, sufficiently... the anger, the hurt... to get to the honest, under the surface "heart level" vulnerability.  You might need to do some empty chair work for a while first.  "Dick Chaney's in that chair, what do you want to say to him?"

And like Adam said, they need lots of support and encouragement.  Some people are really disconnected with the concept of "play" and worry about looking like idiots.  Remember the maxim, when anxiety goes up, spontaneity goes down...  

And it's important to hold the space with absolute confidence to normalize what you're asking them to do.  If you define the situation as real, it becomes real in it's circumstance (W.I. Thomas). 

If folks still aren't willing, they simply aren't warmed up... what are they warmed up to?  Go with it and see if you can direct it back.  

And if they say that they simply can't role reverse, after patience and training...  well that's simply fodder to think about.  It leads to something to explore...  How's the current strategy working?  What are they getting out of it?  (This has to be asked in a very compassionate way, a way that honors the strategy and yet acknowledges that there are other possibilities).  It also presents a great thing to think about...why, when they are advocating for social change, are they so unwilling to try something different?  

Regina Sewell