Reflections on Counselling Session

This week our facilitator guided us in devising a learning agreement so that each member of the group could have the opportunity to express their ideas and requests regarding the general outline of our allocated learning hours etc.

Summary of Theoretical Input and Its Practical and Professional Relevance to My Own Context

One of the main aspects of learning within a group/one to one setting is for the people involved to feel safe and secure within a structured environment so that they can become actively involved without the fear of being made to feel inadequate, intimidated or ridiculed by others. The area of confidentiality received quite a lot of input and it made me realise that no matter what group people take part in, we need the assurance of some degree of confidentiality.

What I noticed during the confidentiality discussion was that we described what it meant to us by using words and explanations according to our age, experiences and abilities. Some members of the group could explain quite clearly what their expectations were and I listened to them in agreement as I could relate to their reasoning’s.

However, three weeks ago I facilitated a group of teenagers with limited life skills, vocabulary and had low levels of confidence within group settings, and their input to their learning agreement was stinted so I had to use my skills to draw on their wishes and expectations so we could devise a learning agreement. During Friday’s session, I was very mindful of the younger members of the group and of other members who may not have had experiences in devising learning agreements and speaking out about confidentiality so I was wondering how they were feeling about this new method of planning learning. I voiced the topic of T-breaks because a younger member had mentioned this at the start but didn’t return to it and I thought she may have seen her request as being minor compared to confidentiality issues etc. I wanted her to feel her input...