Tree of life
The Tree of Life is a powerful psychosocial support tool designed to help children, young people, and adults navigate the challenges of life. The metaphor of a tree represents different aspects of our lives, fostering a sense of belonging, identity, and hope.
The Tree of Life was created by Ncube-Mlilo and Denborough to support individuals who have experienced adversity. Here, we introduce an interactive version of the activity to guide strengths-based discussions to promote well-being.
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The activity offers a powerful, strengths-based tool for supporting mental health, fostering resilience, and helping to articulate life stories in a positive and empowering way.
Each part of the tree represents a different part of your life!
Your history
Roots
Your hopes & dreams
Branches
Your life now
Ground
Important people
Leaves
Your skills
Trunk
Gifts received
Fruit
How to use this page
The information you type onto this page will not be saved. We recommend making a note or taking a photograph of your answers to reflect on later.
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You will be guided through each stage of creating your tree of life. The activity takes approximately 40 minutes but you can complete it at your own pace.
Step 1: Roots - your history
To begin our tree, we start with our roots. The roots represent our history, heritage, and significant life influences.
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For example:
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- Where do you come from? (region, village, town)
- What is your family history? (origins, family name, ancestry, extended family)
Step 2: Ground - your life now
After the roots we have the ground.
The ground represents features of our current lives.
For example:
- Who are the people you love the most?
- Who do you live with now?
- What do you do every day?
- What is your favourite song or place when at home?
Step 3: Trunk - your skills
The next part of our tree is the trunk. The trunk represents our skills and values.
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For example:
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- What are you good at and proud of?
- What do you do well?
- What do other people say you are good at?
- What values do you live by such as kindness, courage and respect?
- Who taught you these values and skills?
Step 4: Branches - your hopes, dreams, & wishes
Now we have our roots (history) and trunk (skills & values), it is time to consider our branches.
The branches represent our hopes and dreams for the future.
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For example:
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- What are your hopes, dreams and wishes?
- What is the history of these hopes, dreams and wishes?
- How are these linked to important people in your life?
- How have you been able to hold onto these even through difficult times?
Step 5: Leaves - people who are important to you
The leaves are the next stage our tree.
They represent the supportive people in our lives.
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For example:
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- Who has been important to you in your life?
- What is special about this person to you?
Step 6: Fruits - gifts received
The final part of our tree is the fruits.
They represent gifts you have received.
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For example:
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- What gifts have you received in life? (material or non-material like love and kindness etc)
- Why do you think the person gave you this?
- What did they appreciate about you that would have led them to do this?
- What do you think you contributed to their life?
Whether you have completed this page individually or you have delivered it to a group of people, we encourage you to engage with the next stage of the process - reflection!
Reflection
Forest of Life
If delivered as a workshop, the trees can be collated into a forest or garden for example, this is best done with cultural sensitivity taken into account. For example, the idea of a forest may be distressing if associated with devastation and a garden preferred.
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Storms of Life
Some of the challenges faced by the group collectively can be discussed, but not specific examples. This is to maintain a psychologically safe environment.
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Celebration
​Once the tree has been completed, it is time to celebrate your tree of life! ​
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Don't forget to keep adding to your tree as your life develops.
The SPRINT project interactive Tree of Life tool has been inspired and adapted from Ncube-Mlilo (2006), Denborough (2008), and Hughes (2014), with question prompts from Catholic Relief Services, by Dr Georgia Bird and Tasha Jordan-Dewhurst.
For more information
The Tree of Life - The Dulwich Centre
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Catholic Reflief Services, tree-of-life.pdf
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Denborough, D. (2008). Collective narrative practice (pp. 72-98). Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications.
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Hughes G. Finding a voice through ‘The Tree of Life’: A strength-based approach to mental health for refugee children and families in schools. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2014;19(1):139-153. doi:10.1177/1359104513476719
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Ncube, N. (2006). The tree of life project. International Journal of Narrative Therapy & Community Work, 2006(1), 3-16.
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If you enjoyed our interactive Tree of Life then you may enjoy our other strengths-based tools