Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

Content:

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Block Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

I am most proud of being able to interact with the audience. I felt like I really engaged the audience and I felt like everyone was ACTUALLY paying attention. It felt good to know that they were paying attention, it made me feel like I was respected, and that in itself is a great feeling. I really loved how the class was attentive and cooperative.


(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Block Presentation (self-assessment)?

(AE)      I would give myself an AE

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

(P)        I would give myself a P

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

I felt that the things that worked for me include maintaining a log, consistent research checks, and blog posts. All these things helped me stay concentrated and kind of guided me to keep myself attentive and poised for success. 


(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

I believe that having my essential question that I ended the year with, I wish I could have had that essential question since the beginning of the year because in the beginning I had an entirely different essential question and I had to make a lot of work up due to the fact of switching my essential question, so I wish I could have gone back and picked my FINAL essential question since the beginning.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

Senior Project has worked wonders for me and my future endeavors. For example through my senior project, I met my mentor Karla Vallejo Rodriguez whom is an amazing individual and is a marriage and family therapist whom took me under her wing and showed me the ropes. It has been an unbelievable experience being able to work with somebody who is in my desired field of work. All the experience with her only reinforced my desire to pursue that career of therapy. I now have a valuable connection with somebody who works in my desired career field and I know that now my range of possibilities has opened because my mentor Karla can one day help me get a job, or reference me to her other therapist friends. Senior project has also given me plenty of volunteer hours which I may now put in my resume as volunteer experience. All in all it was a pain in the butt, but a very valuable experience and I have no regrets. I loved everything, and I am confident to pursue my career now.

Mentorship

Content:

  Literal: 

-Log is already updated and posted on the right hand side of my blog as "Mentorship Log"
Contact Name: Karla Vallejo Rodriguez
Mentorship Place: Pacific Clinics School Based Therapy. In this case: Bassett High School  

Interpretive:

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
-The most important thing that I gained from this experience of mentorship had to do with basically that, experience! Thanks to mentorship I was able to get a taste of how it would actually be to one day be a therapist. My mentor, allowed me to work with her directly as she planned, and went through with adolescents and conducted therapy. I have also gained a vital possible network through my mentor. Now if one day she lives out her dream to have a private practice then maybe one day when I'm trying to find a job when I'm out of college my mentor can possibly help me find a job. Or, if it doesn't go that way I can also possibly get a recommendation for my mentor when I try to get a job because by that time my mentor will have lots of credibility with many years of experience and possibly people that she can refer me to. All in all, my mentorship was a life changing experience.                   

Applied: 

     How has what you've done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain. 
-My mentorship has helped me answer my essential question pretty directly! For instance my EQ is "what is the best way a therapist can help an adolescent cope with stress?" and I have been working with my mentor Karla (who is a therapist) and have worked with her and high school students from bassett high school (adolescents) thus I have directly worked with the key parts of my essential question. Through my mentorship I have been able to hear real life stories about adolescents and their stress. Fore example some get stressed due to financial stability. Meanwhile others get stressed due to not being able to express their emotions because there parents aren't open minded. Thus I came up with my first answer through my mentorship because my mentor taught me how to identify the sources of stress in adolescents and explain to them how to change what they do in order to ensure a less stressful lifestyle. I have also found my answer 3 through my mentorship by hearing stores about adolescents that aren't good at expressing themselves, which they need to learn in order to release stress. In conclusion my mentorship has allowed me to work first hand with the variables of my essential question and allowed me to come up with 2 answers. 

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. 

     

Additional March Post

Content:

As it already is evident that my essential question and research is all based off stress, I decided to research some potential activities that I can use for my Final presentation activity time. I came across gold when researching, because I think that I found a pretty cool activity that demonstrates the whole "limiting" concept that I go over in my first answer.

The activity would consist of the class forming a circle with their seats, a rather tight circle (as tight as possible). I would then begin to throw balloons in the middle of the circle (the objective is to keep the balloons from hitting the ground). Each balloon would be labeled with "homework", "work", friends" and etc. I would throw in as much balloons as possible that it takes for them to finally let a balloon hit the floor. Then I would conclude by explaining how the balloons represented everyday obstacles and how we need to learn how to limit ourselves and what we take on in order to avoid being stressed out. I mean it is obvious, the more you have on your plate, the more energy its going to require for you to complete the tasks, and once the energy runs out you end up relying on stress as a survival last resort. In conclusion, I believe I have found a pretty neat activity for my final lesson.

 

Blog 18: Third Answer

Content:

• Essential Question: What is the best way a therapist can help an adolescent cope with stress?
• Answer #3: The best way a therapist can help an adolescent cope with stress, is by teaching the adolescent how to identify feelings and express their emotions.
• 3 Details Supporting the Answer:

1. Many people who are stress prone tend to have difficulty with feelings. They may have a problem knowing what their feeling. Or at times people are able to identify their feelings but do not know how to express them. When feelings begin to come up during stressful times, there is often a tendency to maintain that stress which ultimately only increases your stress. 
2. Feelings are effected by stress. When under stress, your body is in a state of psychological distress which is directly linked with emotions. Since your already set to have emotional issues, it will not take much to set you off. 
3. An important first step is identifying your feelings. Secondly, you must learn how to express your feelings. This can be achieved through sharing your feelings with another person, or writing them out in a journal, or by "physically discharging" them by crying or venting anger perhaps with a pillow. Once you've given some expression to your feelings you can reach the final step and communicate your feelings to whomever brings out these emotions from you. To sum it up, the ability to gain awareness of and express your feelings is an essential part of the process of recovering from stress. 
4. (Additional Supporting Detail) Feelings can be compared to charges of energy that need physical release or discharge from the body. When not expressed enough, they tend to be stored in your body in the forms of tension, stress, and anxiety. Your physical health as well as your sense of well-being relies on your participation of acknowledging and expressing your feelings during both good and difficult times.   

My Research Sources:
This book that my mentor gave me:
Bourne, Edmund J. The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook. N.p.: New Harbinger Publications, 2011. Print. 
My Mentor:
Karla Vallejo Rodriguez, Marriage and Family Therapist, employed at Pacific Clinics

• Concluding Sentence: Our emotions and feelings are very important to our health and well-being. Our emotions can be compared to charges of energy that need release or will be stores up in your body as forms of stress, tension, and anxiety. One of the best ways for a therapist to help an adolescent cope with stress is by teaching the adolescent how identify and express their emotions. Once they are able to be aware of their feelings and know how to properly express them, then they will begin to live a less stressful way of life.