Counselling

Page number 1
Emma
Learning journal week 7
Material covered within the session
Started of with 20 minutes of portfolio work, then went on to do my check in and this weeks theme was sports. I chose to be a game of golf as felt tired and slow today. Then I done a recap of last week, I normally have my folder on my lap when doing this and normally look through my notes to remind me of what was covered last week so i had something to input to the class, but my folder was on the floor, so i went to pick it up while Phil was talking which meant I was not listening to him at level 3 so Paula mentioned this out and as she done so i felt the whole class looking at me which made me embarrassed and go red in the face, I had to cover my face with my hands so that no one could see my face and I asked everyone to stop looking at me. Not sure why this happened but it put me a funny mood for the rest of the day and was very upset with myself. I felt like i did not input much this week as was feeling crap.
Then i went on to talk about values and beliefs and the difference between the two, this can be confusing as i use both to guide my actions and behaviour towards different things, Value means the morals of life and personal beliefs and what matters to me, i.e. How important family and friends are to me.
Beliefs is what I believe to be right (even without proof or evidence).i.e. I believe to have routine in my children's life. We done a group discussion and gave a few examples of what we all thought value and belief meant.
Value; something taught ..right from wrong manners...morals Rules to live important to you but not someone else
Beliefs; Religion or non-religion Race, culture Own opinion
I then went on to do a task (see page s4p14 ) in my group of 4.
Page number 2
Emma page
When doing this task i found that we all had different value’s and beliefs which effected our choices for the task but in the end we all came to a joint decision which we thought was best.
I can see how these different value’s and beliefs would effect a helping relationship as my value’s and beliefs will more than likely be totally different to a clients, this may mean that I would not be able to work with certain people as I could find it hard to put my value’s and beliefs to one side.
I then went on to go in my triad that I had last week and went into another room so we could practise our counselling skills. I was the speaker first and Elaine counselled me which she done very well, I felt listened to and she used her skills really well, next I was to counsel Rachel and Elaine was to observe me and take notes, I don't think that Rachel was herself today as she kept forgetting what she was talking about and kept looking over at Elaine when I was trying to keep eye contact with her, this made it very difficult for me to work with her.
I felt however that I did better than last week and looking at my observation sheets I asked less questions which is what i was trying to do, I was trying to do better than last week and use some reflective skills and summarise more, I know that to stop asking questions altogether is going to be very difficult and will take a lot of practise and time.
After about an hour of skills practise we all rejoined the group and discussed about how we did, I then finished of with a check out this time I was a game of bowls, slow and ready to role home.

Page number 3
Emma page
Reflection on material
This week I felt very not with it and felt like not much effort was put in, this was because of the incident mentioned earlier (see page 1) I could not get myself motivated I felt like I wanted to go home rather than stay in class, however I did not go home and tried my best to put my emotions to one side.
I also felt that since Rachel did not seem herself today it was hard to practise our skills to our full ability, after we had finished working in our triad I asked Elaine how she thought Rachel was and she thought exactly the same as me, i am not sure if she and been drinking alcohol or taking a strong medication but she certainly was not her normal self.

Interaction between group members
I think I worked as well as could be expected today but felt I did not participate in group talk much as I was still feeling crap, when i first started this course I knew I did not like talking in front of groups and today when I was told to put file down I just felt like everyone was looking at me which I did not like. I don’t know if this is me being nervous or shy this is something I will have to find out and try and overcome.

Reflective practise
I feel that today could have went a lot better but when looking back on my observation sheets I feel like I have been using my skills well and find I have been using good body language and giving positive encouragers, I have also been using paraphrasing and summarising which I wasn't sure I was doing, this makes me feel good that I am on the right track.

Page number 3
Emma page
Personal learning from the session
Looking back on today's session I feel that i have learned a lot about my own beliefs and values and understand the difference between the two. I know that make me the person who I am today but maybe in the future they will change and I will change the way I look at things, when I look back ten years ago my values and beliefs were a lot different to what they are today and even with family and very close friends they differ. I understand that if people don’t have the same values and beliefs as me that this is fine and must respect that.