A trust exercise with many variants, all having the main goal in common of catching a deliberately falling person, to reaffirm the trust of the falling person in the person(s) that is catching/supposed to catch him/her. Used regularly in teen retreats, Christian youth meetings, small groups, ropes courses, etc. Featured in the movie Mean Girls during the "attitude
makeover" scene, and in season 5 of HBO drama
The Wire.
There are at least 3 kinds of trust falls
1.Two-Person Standing (also called the trust lean): Both people are standing, standing some distance away. The person in front (
the faller) falls and the person behind (the
spotter) catches them. Either the spotter can catch the faller by his/her armpits, or (if they are close enough) the spotter can put his/her hands on
the faller's back to stop his/her fall.
2. Three-person kneeling:
The faller stands, but there are two spotters behind the faller on one knee. The spotters catch the faller with their hands raised behind the faller's back.
3. Group: There are different variants of this, but the most known is this: The faller stands on the edge of an elevated plane, like a table, with a group of spotters standing behind him or her in 2 lines on either side. The spotters hold their arms outstretched as they catch the faller.
