FIRST PRACTICAL EXAM INSIGHT

Our first practical exam, we must say, is really nerve wracking! We were the first dyad to take the exam and we had no idea on how it was going to be. But the task was given prior the said exam and it helped us a lot in preparing for it. The task assigned to us was to give an activity to the sexually and physically abused girls in a shelter and to use the psychoanalysis as a design for our activity. We had so many questions in mind prior the exam like do the girls know each other already? Is it their first time to meet each other? Or are their ages the same or does the group have very young or very old members? Since we weren't sure about the answers to these questions, what we did was we created a design for three age groups - young girls, adolescents to young adults and adults. We had to admit that we really had a hard time thinking of a psychoanalytic inspired activity because we had just finished discussing the client centered therapy by Carl Rogers and this therapy is still very fresh in our minds. Maybe we didn't have careful thoughts or probably not enough resources because during the exam, our activity for the adolescents turned out to be very client centered in approach. We felt bad but we've had significant learning about it. And though the second activity didn't turn out so well, we were commended for the first and third activities - the activities for the young girls and adults. For the young girls, we designed a game called Trust Building Maze Game, we designed this game in order to build trust among the young girls because as we all know abused girls, especially the young ones, experienced trauma and are more likely to have trust issues (Jaberghaderi, N., Greenwald, R., Rubin, A., Zand, S. O., & Dolatabadi, S. (2004) Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 11, 358-368). The activity we used for the adults was the Word in a Jar activity; this is one form of free association that helps release their anxieties.

It was so nice that Mr. Saplala made the necessary considerations despite the fact that we leaned towards Client Centered therapy instead of the original Psychoanalysis. We focused too much in looking for a free association activity that we neglected to consider Erik Erickson’s contribution to Psychoanalysis. We should have designed an activity that tackles Erik Erickson’s psychosocial stages for adolescents (crisis: Identity versus Identity Confusion) or probably dream analysis. We are happy though that he still noted on the positive things about the activity we made and how we presented the activity. This is a very good experience and learning for us as counseling students and this would surely help us further improve and prepare more for our next practical exams.

Links for further reading:

http://www.efficiencyandeducation.com/faqs.php
This link is the top ten links on how to become a good school counselor

http://www.br.cc.va.us/techprep/counselors/counselors.htm

Tips for counselors and teachers

http://www.goer.state.ny.us/Train/onlinelearning/EC/siteMap.html
Using effective counseling to improve employee productivity

http://www.goer.state.ny.us/train/onlinelearning/EC/201.4.html
Counseling process for employees / people at work

http://webserve.govst.edu/trauma/crisis.html#9
Counseling tips from University of Iowa Counseling Services - This link provides an overview of what counseling is all about and the major responsibilities and tasks of a counselor

http://www.allaboutcounseling.com/whats_counseling_about.htm
Tips for counseling children

http://www.assuredcounseling.com/personal.html
Counseling for personal concerns

http://www.umich.edu/~msjrnl/backmsj/012797/counselor.html
Counselor PerspectiveTop 10 List For Interviewing: Don't Do Any Of These Things by Paula Grimes and Indrani Mallik

http://www.calvarychapelcostamesa.com/onestep/english/PurposeandUse/3-CounselingGuidelines.html
Keys to Good Counseling

First Dyad Activity Insight

Based on our class discussion in our subject Counseling, we really find Psychoanalysis a very important therapy to help counselors HELP their clients, though we are aware how difficult it is to apply it in actual practice. We felt really grateful when we had the chance to practice one of Sigmund Freud’s famous psychoanalytic techniques called Dream Analysis. Freud referred to dreams as the royal road to the unconscious. Some people are almost always eager to know what their dreams mean, and some people neglect the possibility that their dreams are trying to say something about their situation or present lives. In whatever way we view it, it would not hurt if we give Freud a chance and see if there's really something else behind our simple dreams.

We were tasked to write our recent, most frequent,most memorable dream and associate words until we were able to come up with a single word or idea related to that dream. During class, we were asked to discuss it with our partners with the help of the guide questions given by our professor. We were able to analyze the things, persons and events present in our dreams in relation to the specific experience or feelings we had during the time that we had that dream. One of us tried to censure during our dream interpretation but as our professor reiterated during the discussion, it is very much important not to censure so we can have a clearer perspective of what dream was trying to convey to our conscious states. In the process, we became more aware of our own biases in interpreting our dreams. At the same time, it came to our realization that it is important that we be sensitive and objective as we discern its meaning.

This activity helped us realize that dreams are unique; no other individual can have our back grounds, emotions and experiences. Every dream is connected with our own “reality” thus, in interpreting it, it is very much important to draw from our personal life and experiences. We believe that dream unifies our body, mind and spirit. It provides us with insight into ourselves and it serves as a means for self exploration. Thus, understanding our dreams leads us to a better understanding and discovery of our “true self”.

Other people's insights and experiences about counseling:

http://www.4uman.info/seiten_en/interviews/interviews1.html

http://lifecoachchristiancounseling.com/Experience/

http://www.alcounseling.com/indexd.php?pagename=brucesbio&img=1

Case Study about Psychoanalysis:

http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/case_study.html

Dreams and Psychoanalysis:

http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/key_of_dreams.html

Enjoy!