[Lab 8- May 10: Enabling Occupation Through Self-Regulation]
This lab made me ask questions that I would't intuitively ask myself. What are my sensory preferences? What are my emotional regulation strategies? Definitely Not questions I've ever asked myself and at first glance, I genuinely think that I don't know how to answer!
Throughout the lab, I thought back to that stressful situation that I blogged about in my previous reflection on the lab about Cognitive Strategies (Appying the TIC TOC Technique), I realized that I know how I self-regulate better than I thought! There are...
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Role Playing a Psychoeducation Group
[Lab 7- May 3: Enabling Occupation Through Learning]
Engaging in role-playing in this lab really made me think about the emotional experiences of the parents of those who had their first incident of psychosis and/or going through their own recovery process. I think that my role as the eldest child and older sister to three siblings helped me settle into the role of "Patrick's mother". After our session, I felt oddly relaxed. The students who played the OTs in our psychoeducation group did a great job of leading and facilitating the discussion. All of our group members actively participated and volunteer to share their experiences, so the group ran very smoothly.
Engaging in role-playing in this lab really made me think about the emotional experiences of the parents of those who had their first incident of psychosis and/or going through their own recovery process. I think that my role as the eldest child and older sister to three siblings helped me settle into the role of "Patrick's mother". After our session, I felt oddly relaxed. The students who played the OTs in our psychoeducation group did a great job of leading and facilitating the discussion. All of our group members actively participated and volunteer to share their experiences, so the group ran very smoothly.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Can You Hear Yourself Think?
[Lab 5- April 19: Enabling occupation through coping – Lived experience exercise]
I often have my earbuds in whenever I'm walking, waiting for the bus or commuting. Even when I'm not out and about, my room is rarely a complete silence because I enjoy working with a bit of background music. But hearing music is different from hearing voices. I'm sure that we all have a voice or two inside our heads. That inner self-talk that guides us through everything from high-stress situations to making mental lists of what to do throughout the day. Without hearing myself think, I'm sure I'd feel a bit lonely when I'm without my music on my long walks home. But I would never describe my self dialogue as disturbing or interfering with my everyday activities. My experience in this Lived Experience of Psychosis lab, showed me how difficult it really is to live with hearing a constant cacophony of voices and odd noises.
I often have my earbuds in whenever I'm walking, waiting for the bus or commuting. Even when I'm not out and about, my room is rarely a complete silence because I enjoy working with a bit of background music. But hearing music is different from hearing voices. I'm sure that we all have a voice or two inside our heads. That inner self-talk that guides us through everything from high-stress situations to making mental lists of what to do throughout the day. Without hearing myself think, I'm sure I'd feel a bit lonely when I'm without my music on my long walks home. But I would never describe my self dialogue as disturbing or interfering with my everyday activities. My experience in this Lived Experience of Psychosis lab, showed me how difficult it really is to live with hearing a constant cacophony of voices and odd noises.
Applying the TIC TOC Technique
[Lab 6- April 26: Enabling occupation through thoughts and feelings: Cognitive approaches]
One of the cognitive strategies I learned about in today's lab was the TIC TOC technique. Let's see how it can be used to dissect a recent emotionally stressful situation of mine:
One of the cognitive strategies I learned about in today's lab was the TIC TOC technique. Let's see how it can be used to dissect a recent emotionally stressful situation of mine:
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Letting Things Slide, While Not Letting the Present Slip Away...
I found our Mindfulness and Relaxation lab very helpful because I have never taken the time to seriously give relaxation techniques or mindfulness a try. My one and only exposure to Mindfulness exercises from a Positive Psychology class had been a memorable one. I have never thought of myself as being patient enough to sit still and focus on something as subtle as my own breath. But since then, I have not tried it again. It was great to experience how relaxation techniques (both passive and progressive!) can feel and compare it to mindfulness exercises.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
At One with Nature.
One of the readings for this lab, Vitamin Green: How viewing, being and “doing” in nature affects our health and well-being (Moll, Gewurtz & Saltmarche, 2013), reminded me of an experience in nature during my placement.
Monday, April 8, 2013
The JDA: More than just your job description.
[Lab 2- March 22: Cognitive-behavioural job demands analysis]
Coming out of this lab, and the role playing that was involved in our simulation of conducting the Job Demands Analysis (JDA), made me realize the complexities of the many occupations that we engage in throughout our everyday lives. The JDA brings out the implicit elements and skills that a typical job description would fail to include, bringing attention to some psycho-emotional determinants of occupation compared to a functional assessment or activity analysis. If I ever decide to use this in my future practice, I have to keep in mind that I need to be more resourceful to attain the full occupational profile of my clients. It's unfortunate that the JDA doesn't ask about how the client's different life roles impact her job performance and experience in the workplace. The stresses of her other occupations definitely plays a role in how she demanding she feels her job is at this point in her life. We're not super humans who perform each of our occupations in isolation from each other. As much as we try our best to put one hat away when we put on another, our stack of hats is usually in within our peripheral vision as we carry out certain occupations because we never know when we'll have to switch roles!
Coming out of this lab, and the role playing that was involved in our simulation of conducting the Job Demands Analysis (JDA), made me realize the complexities of the many occupations that we engage in throughout our everyday lives. The JDA brings out the implicit elements and skills that a typical job description would fail to include, bringing attention to some psycho-emotional determinants of occupation compared to a functional assessment or activity analysis. If I ever decide to use this in my future practice, I have to keep in mind that I need to be more resourceful to attain the full occupational profile of my clients. It's unfortunate that the JDA doesn't ask about how the client's different life roles impact her job performance and experience in the workplace. The stresses of her other occupations definitely plays a role in how she demanding she feels her job is at this point in her life. We're not super humans who perform each of our occupations in isolation from each other. As much as we try our best to put one hat away when we put on another, our stack of hats is usually in within our peripheral vision as we carry out certain occupations because we never know when we'll have to switch roles!
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