Affectivity Workshop with Dott. Franchitti

Exploring bullying, empathy and toxic relationships

Author

Isabella Mo Zhou

Recently, the students from First ICE started a workshop on affectivity with Dott. Franchitti, psychologist and psychotherapist with 30 years of experience in Turin.The project took place over three separate days, ranging from January to April.

Students have discussed and reflected deeply on crucial issues such as bullying, inclusion, and relationships. It is not only an activity where they listened passively, but also one where they:

learned the skills to express their opinions
respected others' perspective even if they are different
developed emotional skills such as empathy, critical listening and critical thinking
strengthened the sense of responsibility, solidarity and mutual support within the classroom
identified risky situations both online and offline

Section 1: Cyberbullying, shame, suicide risk, asking for help

We watched and commented the movie “Il ragazzo dai pantaloni rosa” which tells the story of Andrea, a teenager who wants what most people want: to be accepted, to belong, to be seen for who he is. The film invites us to look closely at how pain can grow quietly, especially when it is ignored, minimised, or treated as “just joking”. It also asks us to reflect on the people around Andrea: friends who care but don’t know how to help, classmates who follow others instead of thinking for themselves, and adults who struggle to notice what is really happening.

Section 2: Bullying, inclusion and empathy

We explored this topic through a role-play activity. In this way, the students could experience the emotions of both the victims and those who bully others. During the play, Dott. Franchitti led us to reflect and guide our reflection by asking penetrating question. The play was based on a real-life incident- a teenager who was being bullied in Turin.

Section 3: Toxic relationships

In this section of our programme, we had a meeting with Dottore Franchitti that lasted about four hours. It was a long, intense but interesting session focused on toxic relationships.

We started by watching a dramatic film called Mia, an Italian story about a girl who tragically dies by suicide because of a toxic relationship. The film made a strong impact on many students, and afterwards a lot of us started reflecting on what we had seen and thinking more deeply about the topic.

Then Dottore Franchitti guided us through different scenes from the movie, replaying and analysing them in detail. I remember especially how he focused on the boy’s behaviour towards Mia — the way he talks to her is very controlling and commanding, which clearly shows an unhealthy relationship. This helped us understand more clearly what toxic behaviour can look like.

We also discussed how to recognise toxic relationships in real life and what you can do if you find yourself in one. He introduced some psychological terms that helped us understand the topic better, even if at times some students found it a bit difficult to follow or lost focus.

Overall, the session was very interesting and made us think a lot. Even though it was quite long, it helped us understand toxic relationships in a deeper way and made us more aware of how important healthy relationships are.