April Extra Blog Post

Content:

Over the course of the month of April I have been conducting group therapy sessions with some participants and I even created certificates of completion. They allowed me to teach them the ways of stress relief and trusted me with their inner most personal information.

Blog 20: Exit Interview

Content:

1.) What is your essential question and answers? What is your best answer and why?

My essential question: What is the best way a therapist can help an adolescent cope with stress?
Answer 1: Helping the adolescent identify causes and be an effective gatekeeper of their emotions.
Answer 2:Teaching the adolescent to develop relaxation skills to employ when a stressful situation occurs.
Answer 3:Teaching the adolescent how to identify and express their emotions.
Best answer: My best answer is my answer 1. Answer 1 is my best answer because I have talked it over with my mentor and it is basically a common ground for all the other answers, like without the understanding of your stress you are helpless. Understanding the causes and being aware of the warning signs prepare you to cope and be ready to deal with stress. I also found the most research on my 1st answer which helps me justify and prove that it's the best answer.

2.) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

In order to arrive at my first answer It came through an article I had researched and discovered and I didn't quite understand the article so I asked my mentor for clarification and she helped me understand it better and explained everything in detail. It was a mixture, and ultimately it is my favorite and the answer I have the most confidence in as being the "best."

3.) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

I unfortunately encountered my fare share of set backs and problems throughout my senior project, however I was lucky enough to overcome them. For instance, I had to change my whole essential question and most of my research became virtually worthless due to a setback. The setback was that my mentor, Karla Vallejo Rodriguez, had to cancel her group sessions. This left me in a frenzy because my essential question was about group therapy sessions. I resolved the setback by changing my new EQ to revolve around adolescents and stress, and I had to start all over with research in order to turn the tide and research more stress oriented literature. Everything turned out fine and I was able to cope with the setback.

4.) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

Easily the two most significant sources that I used to answer my essential question are my mentor, and the "Anxiety and Phobia Workbook". My mentor obviously was my most important source because she guided me throughout 60 + hours of knowledge and hands on activities. I couldn't have made it this far without her. She gave me the opportunity to work with her and I'm grateful for her guidance. The Phobia and Anxiety Workbook was my other significant source because every chapter in the book covered different aspects of stress and anxiety and gave in depth explanations and examples so it made everything very easy to understand. The combination of the book and my mentor were impeccable to my understanding and developing of my answers to my essential question.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Content: 

LITERAL:
(a) Statement: "I, Jorge Mancilla, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work."

(b) I had my mentor Karla Vallejo Rodriguez as my mentor.

I also used a book: The Anxiety and Phobia Work
Citation  Bourne, Edmund J. The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook. N.p.: New Harbinger Publications, 2011. Print.

(c) Done. Digital log is on the side of my blog labeled "Independent Component 2 log"

INTERPRETIVE:
For this independent component I wanted to do something different. My mentor encouraged me to try and get some hands on experience and do a group therapy session so I started one with people that were willing to do it and help me. It was a remarkable experience because my mentor supported the idea and I was able to try out some stress relievers on my group. It was a great experience to be able to talk to my peers and be able to help them out with their troubles and stress. This experience only laminated my wish to want to be a therapist some day. It also helped me out with my essential question because I was working with 4-7 adolescents and helping them cope with their stress. Here are some pics of the "highlights" of the group sessions.

Close up on 1 of the surveys I made them take

Playing a good game of "high and low" (I explain what that is in my independent component 2 log)

One of the first days of therapy sessions. Getting the group together!

In deep thought thinking their survey answers through

They were taking their surveys I got for them

5 out of 7 with their certificates (Jesus and Christian Vasquez weren't present)

Christian with his certificate

Juan with his certificate

Victor and Danny with their certificates

This is the book that helped me think of ideas for my group

We sometimes went over chapters during group sessions.

I taught a mini lesson based off this chapter

We went over this chapter

This chapter inspired one of my sessions

APPLIED:

This independent component helped me out tons actually! It gave me confidence from my mentor to try something new and take on the role as the lone leader of group sessions. Thankfully I got some volunteers and I was able to do a couple of group sessions. It helps directly with my EQ because I worked during this independent component on actually helping adolescents cope with stress. For instance, I would ask my group to share their "lows" of the day which was the lowest point of their day and then I'd talk to them and try to help them out and prevent being stressed. I also implemented my EQ answer 2 by making them perform  stress relief tactics such as yoga and meditation. In conclusion I gained valuable knowledge on what works and what doesn't. I thought that doing "high and low" works well because it gave the group an opportunity to give moral support and also allow me to be able to use my EQ answer 1 and be able to explain that by knowing what triggers stress you'll be able to prevent. All in all, it was a great expereince.