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.