Feelings and Art Therapy

I really enjoyed class last Thursday. This was my second practice day and I found this one a lot easier. I think it was easier because we talked about something I could relate to. We were asked to describe our feelings in general. In describing our feelings, most of our feelings were directed toward school. School is pretty much the center of our world right now so it makes perfect sense that It would be the foundation of all of our feelings. I found this really easy to talk about because it is something I can understand and relate to. It was really easy for me to ask questions and really get the client to talk about their feelings. I also really liked the coloring even though I didn't really find it that necessary. However, some people may find it helpful so I think it is very important to try different things when you are counseling.

Observing and Reflecting Feelings

I like how the book describes reflection of feelings and paraphrasing as closely related.  It is very important for the client to reflect on their feelings. As a counselor you can help your client do this by paraphrasing. As a client is talking, a counselor may repeat back what he or she has heard and by doing this you may in turn open your clients eye to something they didn't see before. It is also good to paraphrase so that the counselor is clear on what he or she is hearing and if they have heard something wrong the client then can clarify. Paraphrasing can help the counselor identify the feelings or emotions the client is expressing and also allow the client to reflect on his or her own feelings. I think this is a very useful technique to use in a counseling session or even it regular conversation.

Practice Day 1

Last Thursday we had our first practice day. We had to only worry about the skills we had learned so far in the class. I thought it was going to be just like talking to someone like I do everyday but it wasn't. This first practice day was a real eye opener. I was paired with C. who is from China. I never took into consideration the differences we might have. One of the hardest things for me to overcome and get use to was the language barrier. Even though C. spoke English, her English was no as good as mine. I could tell she did not understand some of the things I was saying and I too, could not completely understand some of the things she was saying. Another thing I found to be very difficult was the culture differences. I, not knowing anything about China but knowing there are huge differences in the culture, didn't know what types of questions to ask or even where to begin when talking to her. I think it is very important to discuss things such as language and culture differences with your client before hand. Discussing these issues would make the session go smoother and allow me to not be so disorganized while talking to that person.

Attending and Observation Skills

I really enjoyed the class and chapter on attending and observational skills. During class I realized a few things about myself when it comes to listening. I absolutely hated trying to completely ignore someone when they were trying to tell me a story. However, I started to think to myself that it is easy to pay attention to someone for 2 minutes but it tends to get a lot harder the longer someone talks. I think this will be a hard thing for me to over come. I tend to get distracted easily and have trouble keeping eye contact for long periods of time. When we started talking about body language and watched the clip on body language, I realized that this was something I was pretty good at recognizing or reading. The more I thought about class and what I had read in the book, the more I realized that you can't be good at everything. There are going to be things that I struggle with and there are going to be things that just come naturally.