[humanser] verbal techniques and reading affect

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

This semester my practicum is in a substance abuse treatment facility.
I'm working with a partner and my supervisor on a women's unit and
have found that in spite of previous assumptions I had about the work
that I love it.

One skill that is addressed in this particular practicum is the use of
verbal techniques and counseling skills.  It is different from my
previous practicum experiences.  My first experience with older adults
on a dementia unit of a nursing home was all about just getting
comfortable using the music with clients, engaging them, and learning
to consider their various strengths and areas of growth in the various
domains of functioning.  The next two practicums with a teenager and
young children in a special needs classroom were about working in an
experience-oriented way rather than an outcome-oriented way, and using
music to work on global group needs that contributed to academic
learning, such as behavior and social skills as many of the children
had Autism Spectrum Disorders respectively.  This is my first
experience working with cognitively typical adults, who are processing
complex emotions and life situations including various forms of
trauma.

My supervisor definitely thrives while working with this population
and has a history of working in psych, particularly with juvenile
offenders.  Sometimes she can get carried away with the group and
doesn't leave much room for students to practice leadership, but she
recognizes this and has told us to not be afraid of asking/reminding
her to step back if she seems overbearing to us.  Right now as we've
only just begun co-leading (my partner and I), we often appreciate her
stepping in when she does.  The issue for me is that often times when
the group starts processing song material the clients often have
physical responses to the music, lyrics, or both that I can't see.
With the amount of vision I do have I can sometimes notice if a client
is hunched over in their seat to form a closed position, but I often
can't tell if they're silently crying or have a sad expression on
their faces.  My supervisor uses this information a lot as she
facilitates processing and will say thinggs like, "Client X, I noticed
you had some tears.  Can you share about that?"  I noticed my
supervisor also often just asks other members of the group, "Client Y,
what about you?  Can you share what you thought of in that
experience?"

While I suppose I could always use the latter example as a means of
engaging the clients, I'm wondering how I could pick up on some of the
physical expressions I'm missing.  This wasn't so much of an issue
with the older adults or children I worked with as they were more
likely to verbally express their affect.  My supervisor says I'm doing
a good job of inserting my voice in the processing even though she
doesn't always leave a lot of room for that, and also understands that
right now I'm using her facilitation to gather information about the
clients that informs my use of verbal techniques when I do speak.
This has led me to use a lot of paraphrasing and reflection of feeling
and my supervisor understands why that is happening, but I'd like to
be able to lead processing experiences with a greater repertoire of
verbal techniques if at all possible.  I know how to use a lot more of
them than just paraphrasing and reflection, I'm just not sure how to
best gain information that will inform my facilitation when the
clients aren't verbal or don't give auditory indications of their
affect, E.G sniffling or grabbing a tissue from the box in the center
of the circle.  I acknowledge that it is okay to rely on information I
get from my partner and supervisor as a co-therapist in this setting,
but I would like to be able to also perform as well as I can when
facilitating on my own.

-- 
Kaiti Shelton