After surviving sexual assault, it may be difficult to imagine a positive future. However, creating a vision board can be incredibly useful in reframing negative thinking

surrounding upcoming events and implementing helpful activities that can assist your growth, healing, and reaching your aspirations.

A vision board is a method to manifest your hopes and dreams for the future, presenting as a physical board or a document/note on your digital device where you collect images, words, and phrases that inspire you. You can cut out pictures and phrases from magazines, print them out, or digitally download them to create your collage combining your positive intentions.

This vision board can include self-care activities essential for your journey, like exercise, journaling, or eating delicious food. These activities can assist in the short and long term, developing a clear plan for coping with life stressors and manifesting increased healing.

Your vision board can also be a place to set longer-term career and interpersonal goals. You can attend a particular school or enter a new career field. Alternatively, you can adopt a specific fashion or hairstyle. By visualizing your goals, you can feel they are easier to reach and have the capability to implement a particular course of action to accomplish what you desire. This activity can be an effective way to plan your strategy to fulfill your aspirations, from significant long-term endeavors to shorter-term goals.

Lastly, your vision board can include positive affirmations and imagery to reframe unhelpful catastrophic thinking, entering a confident mindset beneficial for self-development.

For example, your collage can consist of sentences like, “I love myself no matter what happens,” or “I can reach my aspirations easily” to adopt this optimistic attitude. Alongside these affirmations and goals, you can include associated images that foster the visualization process, helpful in imagining the vision board as an achievable reality.