reflective statement

As promised, I managed to get a copy of my female owner's reflective statement of her placement.
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I enjoyed my placement at XXX tremendously. The team at the Counselling Department took great efforts to make me feel included and welcomed during my stint. They took time to answer my queries and educate me on the workings of the school system. In addition, they always made sure that I had a sufficient caseload and the resources I needed in order to undertake my responsibilities. The resources include access to students’ information, access to therapeutic materials and a dedicated office.

There were a few important takeaways from this placement which I would like to highlight. Through the encouragement and faith expressed by the team, my confidence as a budding psychologist increased. Being a perfectionist, I started the placement looking at my weaknesses and things I could have done differently. Through the patience of my clinical supervisor, I was able to identify (and acknowledge) my strengths and harness them for the benefits of my students. Being more confident of myself, I developed a stronger intuitive sense of the needs of the student and hence, was more sensitive in the choice of my words, tone of voice and non-verbal cues. Students often cried during my sessions and I became more comfortable with such expressions of emotions. In addition, I gained a deeper understanding of what therapeutic alliance meant. I became more comfortable with the notion of “being” with the student, rather than just “doing” or “teaching”.

In terms of working with the child and adolescent population, I learnt the importance of setting clear boundaries and limitations and being firm with them. For instance, there was a group of four girls who wanted to be seen together but I had to go beyond what they wanted and split them into pairs in order to enhance therapeutic outcomes. However, I did this as gently as I could, selling them the rationale for splitting them in terms of mutual benefits for everyone involved. In addition, there were students who tried to manipulate my good intentions by scheduling sessions just to escape lessons or by being flippant about their appointments. After a few such instances, I learnt to be assertive and not give in to such whims and fancies.

In addition, working with this population reminded me not to underestimate the benefits of seemingly small interventions. For example, I always wondered with skepticism, the therapeutic effects of drawing for children. I had the opportunity to use this therapeutic tool when I worked with a pair of girls who were trying to cope with their parents' divorce and friendship issues. I soon discovered that drawing out their current situations made it easier for them to verbalise their story. Starting from the negatives of their lives, the girls were later able to draw the positives of their situations. They also started to take ownership of each session, deciding beforehand what they would like to talk about.

Having the privilege to work in a team-oriented department, I soon embraced the importance of knowing “who needs to do what”. The synergy of working together to bring about the best outcome for the individual student cannot be further emphasised. Whether it would be the Head of Counselling, the counselor, teacher, year-level coordinator or even parents, it soon became clear too that timely communication among stakeholders was paramount in this line of work.

I experienced countless moments of satisfaction. These arose out of different situations: when my student gets a “ah-ha” moment, when the reticient student breaks down in front of me and shares long-bottled up feelings with me, when I know I had gained enough trust to enter into someone else’ private world and simply knowing that I restored hope into a hopeless situation.

Working from a Rogerian framework, I also began to learn to communicate (better) unconditional positive regard in a sincere and non-patronising manner. When once I looked for big changes as an indication of therapeutic success, I now learnt to slow down and celebrate small successes with my students. I realised that it was unrealistic of me to expect big changes, because defeats and rejections were big parts of the students’ life. Hence, “small successes” in my once-ambitious eyes were actually milestones for them.

Overall, my experience at XXX has been rewarding and fulfilling. Besides deepening my clinical interest in working with the adolescent population, I feel that I had become a better person through working with the staff and students. The staff taught me professional conduct and skills; the students encouraged me with their resilience, creativity, love for others and never say die attitude.