A VALUABLE LESSON...

This week I did a values clarification sessions with one of my clients. After watching my client struggle away at trying to identify his top core values I walked out of the session thinking wow that was the biggest flop of a session ever. But when I sat down and thought through what had happened it was actually far from a flop. Until the first time we did a values clarification session in lectures one day I had never sat done and really identified what my values are. Ya I know what values are, I had heard of them, probably had a few conversations centred around them but I had never thought about what mine actually are. It was the same for my client, he had battled and found the activity hard because he like many people walking around today had never really given much thought into “what are my values”. Just because he had struggled to do the activity in my session did not mean the session was a complete fail. After the day when we did values clarification at varsity I became consciously aware of the decisions I made, the choices I made and the way I was behaving and how they related back to what I had identified as my values that day. We never think about why we behave the way we do or why we make the choices we do. It all boils down to our values and what we place importance upon. For someone like my client who is sitting at a place in his life where he knows that change needs to occur but is still wary of how to bring about that change, identifying his values or even just beginning the process of identifying and thinking about his values is such a big and important step to take. Gaining insight into what is important to him is one of the first stepping stones towards leading the life he is yearning to live. But even though it is important for people like him to do values clarification I strongly believe we could all do with some clarity on these kinds of things in life not only the drug addicts or alcoholics. Everybody will find a values clarification activity hard because everybody has an idea in their head of how they want to live and who they want to be but when you really take a closer look you will find that what you are actually doing, the decisions and choices you are actually making may reflect some underlying values you didn’t even know you had.

 

Experiences in life or life situations can sometimes change our values, when I saw this video I just had to post it - moving to Durban to study OT and being away from my family has made me value time with my family and my dogs so much more than I used to. This is pretty much what my dog does when I go home. I think its safe to say I am one of her top values :):)  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF_o-iJ1Rk4

 

 

 

 

THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND TWO DAYS...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOksW_NabEk

After spending literally the entire weekend sitting at my desk planning and writing up my treatment programs for my clients at Newlands Park Centre I must admit I was thinking to myself I can’t believe I spent my whole weekend working. But then I watched the video posted above and it says something like you spend approximately 3202 days doing work, hopefully something that is satisfying. I immediately thought of my weekend of work and I realised hey, those two days spent fussing over my clients and their problems was actually kinda satisfying. Putting everything together and eventually getting to the bottom of all that is your client and realising this is what I need to do was really satisfying when I think back on it now. What was even more satisfying was yesterday doing sessions with my clients and seeing how well they responded and then when one of them turned to me and said “wow thank you that was really great”. My work is satisfying. Sometimes when I am on prac and working with my clients it doesn’t feel like work. They say if you enjoy your work and do what you love you will never spend a day working and I am beginning to feel that way about my soon to be career. Those 3202 jelly beans set aside for work do not need to be removed and written off like they are in the video. Those 3202 jelly bean days that I will spend working are important days for me and I want to keep and cherish them.

STUCK ON THE FENCE

After just one day at Newlands Park my emotions, thoughts and worries have done a complete 360. Although I am still feeling fairly anxious about this prac in terms of being able to understand what the true core issues of my clients are and being able to deliver therapy suitable to address those issues I am actually feeling quite positive and excited about it. I think the reason for this is because these clients are SO high functioning - proper relationships can be formed with them and therapy has the potential to be so effective and rewarding because these guys can actually work with you, set goals for themselves in terms of their therapy and visible results can be achieved and seen both by you and them. I just think if done properly therapy with these guys can do amazing things for them. We ran our first groups and it was so awesome to see for the first time what we had been taught in group work lectures. The individual roles of each group member beginning to develop, the group dynamics and the whole process of reflection on the task done during the group.

A problem I am experiencing however is establishing if what my clients are saying and telling me is because they think it’s what I want to hear or if it really is the ‘truth’. Being the person that I am I naturally just want to believe them and buy into what they are saying but because they are people who unfortunately typically have characteristics of being manipulative and untruthful and want to hide their past and make themselves sound like a changed person I have to stop myself from doing that. My one particular client has identified and told me the reason he abused alcohol and has a set plan to change it, and quite honestly it is all very logical and makes sense to me and without a second thought I would buy into it but how do I know if that really is the reason? Am I being naïve or am I actually just being too suspicious?

I previously spoke about how these clients would have such rich stories to tell and one of my client’s proves this to be very true. There is so much too him – so many experiences and parts to his story that it is actually quite difficult to “figure” him out even though he’s not really hiding any details. I think it’s going to be challenging for me to figure out what the core issue behind his drug abuse is.

So once again I am standing with mixed emotions. Some things I feel positively about and some things that are playing at the back of mind worrying me. BUT I am excited to get back there on Friday!

THE WEEK AHEAD...

After an extensive meeting with our supervisors during which the module was broken done and all our expectations and requirements were given to us it is hard not to feel at least slightly overwhelmed. The reason for me having these feelings is because I know this prac is going to be challenging for me. Mainly because my previous psych experiences were not enjoyable for me so I already have this negative feeling towards it and also because I have chosen to go to a substance abuse institution which is a field I have limited knowledge and experience in. I also know that the client’s I will be dealing with are going to be higher functioning and may also be manipulative and test me as a therapist which for me is going to be a huge learning experience as one of my weaknesses is not being firm enough and taking control over client’s. However I do have this feeling of excitement hiding behind all the anxiety and worry. I am excited to grow as a therapist and to develop some skills I think I am lacking. I am also looking forward to working alongside the three other girls in my prac group as they are girls I haven’t really done much work with and it is always fun to see how different people approach their therapy. We can learn a lot from each other not only from our supervisors and clients. I am also excited about my individual clients as I believe that the clients at this institution will have such rich life stories and experiences to tell. So for me based on my previous blog I am going to try to find the positives in every situation I find myself in during this prac, yes I am feeling anxious but there is also excitement in me that cannot be squashed by my anxiety. So I am ready for the challenges, the tears, the late nights but I am also ready for the growth, the experiences and the lessons.  

THIS IS WATER

Ever been stuck in traffic and your thoughts immediately are along the lines of "agh look at that idiot blocking the traffic", "what a waste of my time this is" ,"why is this stupid guy in front of me letting everybody in" etc etc etc... When you think about what is actually running through your mind you might realise how negative your cycle of thoughts is. How selfish and self-centred are those thoughts? How easily have we slid into a pattern of me me me! What if the traffic is the result of a huge accident where paramedics are working frantically to save the lives of 3 children? Or what if the guy blocking the traffic is just trying to get home to his wife and two kids that he hasn't seen for 6 months because he has been away doing work? We are free to choose how to think and what to think about. Being aware of our thoughts and what is around us is so vitally important. We as human beings seem to live unconsciously- missing life because we aren't actually aware of it but how can we miss life if it is such an obvious thing? Because we are so stuck in our own thoughts of me me me we miss what is right in front of us. Naturally as humans we find things to worship, not just religious worship such as god but things like money, beauty, power. Having awareness about what we worship and what we choose to worship is a hugely important choice that we as human beings make, most of the time without even knowing we have.

 

Please take 20 minutes out of your day to listen to this speech: This Is Water by David Foster Wallace! May just change the way you think :) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhhC_N6Bm_s