[humanser] verbal techniques and reading affect

[Ericka]

Is it permissible to walk about the room together more not a verbal information or would that make the people nervous while the music is playing?

Ericka Short
1750 Fordem Ave. #508
Madison. WI. 53704
608-665-3170

 from my iPhone 6s

> On Sep 25, 2016, at 12:15 AM, Kaiti Shelton via HumanSer <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
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