Equipment of Students with Additional Hands-on Experience - Report Example

ACAP Student ID: Name: Course: ASSESSMENT DETAILS Unit/Module: Educator: Assessment Name: Assessment Number: Term & Year: Word Count: 2, 176 DECLARATION I declare that this assessment is my own work, based on my own personal research/study. I also declare that this assessment, nor parts of it, has not been previously submitted for any other unit/module or course, and that I have not copied in part or whole or otherwise plagiarised the work of another student and/or persons. I have read the ACAP Student Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct Policy and understand its implications. I also declare, if this is a practical skills assessment, that a Client/Interviewee Consent Form has been read and signed by both parties, and where applicable parental consent has been obtained. Introduction Practicum experience or student placement as popularly known, serves to equip students with additional hands-on experience in their respective professional fields. The experience allows students to familiarize themselves with working in organisations and also build a network with fellow professionals who might prove very helpful in future. For this reason, students must approach practicum experience with the level of seriousness that it deserves. In fact, majority of universities treat practicum experience as a mandatory requirement in fulfilling a particular course. The following is a report of my practicum experience at Creative Dynamics where I sought to practice as a life coach. This company deals with life coaching as a professional to assist people attain their best in their lives. The report will use the support of theory to justify various actions throughout the period of the practicum experience Preparedness I understand that practicum experience is a course requirement that I must fulfil if I am to fulfil all undergraduate requirements. However, I also considered this as an opportunity to put to practice my knowledge as a life coach. The first step that I embarked on in preparing for the practicum experience is to search for an appropriate organisation that fits well with my profession. As a life coach, I had to seek an organisation that offers life coaching services. This organisation had to be well established and with a proven track record. Creative Dynamics was my choice of organisation. This organisation offers inspirational and motivational speaking services, personal life enhancing services, life empowerment and change workshops. The organisation is headed by Joseph Ticehurst, popularly known was Joe, who is the lead life coach and motivational speaker working alongside a number of other employees. In undertaking this practicum experience, I knew I had to start with an open mind ready to learn. I acknowledged the fact that I am not ready to work as a professional something that is supported by Brew and Kottler (2008) who write that The transition between the skills class and your practice/internship is a critical time in which you prepare yourself for applying what you have learned to the real world. If you have been doing your work all along, we still cannot in good faith reassure you that you will be ready. In truth, you will never be ready (p. 382). This readiness, calls for linking of the theory learned throughout the course which is “knowing that” and being able to apply it in practice which is “knowing how” (Roth 2002, p. 128). Westberg and Jason (2001) add that experience does not automatically result to learning. However, the authors say that for learning to occur, one has to process the experiences by reflecting upon it and integrating it into a framework of pre-existing concepts. The other step in attaining knowledge fully is active experimentation. This underscores the importance of practicum experience for budding professionals. Hands on Experience My experiences at Creative Dynamics only strengthened my long lasting relationship with motivational speaking and life coaching. As a profession, I am attracted to life coaching and motivational speaking because it affords me an opportunity to add value in people’s lives not only when they are down but when they are doing well in life but assist them to do even better more than they probably ever imagined. In life coaching, a coach only acts as a supervisor and a guide while the client discovers his/her inner potential. The coach thus works together with the client to maximise the latter’s potential and avoid pitfalls in life. I witnessed this in the first few days of watching Joe at work. With the client’s approval, I would be in one of his private sessions with a client. Where this happened, I was supposed to act as a ‘colleague’ to Joseph and the sessions were recorded on tape. Later on, Joe and I would go through the recorded sessions and he would advise me and pinpoint the common pitfalls that a life coach can make. This helped in building my confidence. I also happened to attend a number of motivational speeches and life empowerment workshops. During these workshops I gained more confidence in public speaking by just watching Joe do the talking and even talk to some people after the workshops. This proved very helpful in identifying and recruiting clients. I identified and recruited two clients, Lili and Luke who were enrolled into the life coaching program. The first client that I handled in my stay at the organisation was Lili. Lili was a recovering addict who never really got on her feet and never really kicked the habit of drug use. Lili had spent some time in a rehabilitation centre for Methamphetamine (popularly known as meth) addiction. Life before the addiction problem and afterwards was relatively the same for Lili. She and her baby remained fully dependent on her partner for upkeep. After leaving the rehabilitation centre, Lili had nothing much to do to keep her busy. She stayed at home with the baby as her partner worked as nearby construction site. All this time, she was still battling with the urge for meth and she found herself frustrated and highly irritable. She started experiencing mild but regular headaches which gradually drew her into prescription drugs. She spiralled into depression and tried killing herself, landing her in the psychiatric ward of the local public hospital. This has affected her life negatively with her family disowning her and being separated from her partner. I first met Lili at the hospital where she was admitted. During her admission, she spent most of her time sedated because according to the nurse on duty at that time, she was violent and unpredictable. Again, this was meant to help her rest her mind as the depression was at advanced state and hence she needed to rest. Her partner who was present at the time agreed to his wife enrolling in the programme after I explained to him what it entailed. Lili was to start with life coaching immediately she was discharged from hospital. After, being discharged from the hospital, Lili visited the organisations premises where I had a familiarisation talk with her. I explained to her why it was important that she get professional help and also giving her hope in life. At first she was sceptical about life coaching as she kept repeating that she was doing it only to please her partner. However, I successfully managed to convince to fully embrace life coaching by highlighting how it would impact her life. At this juncture, I realised that Lili had technical skills in accounting which meant that she could easily land a job. Lili was my client though I had to coach her with the assistance and supervision of Joe. This offered me a real-life experience to put into practice what I had learned so far and interact with a client on the job. Lili offered me a chance to put into practice life coaching theories that I had learnt in class with close supervision from Joe. One important thing that I learned from Joe is that a client has to be given the chance to decide what he/she wants in life and what is missing in that life. The idea of coaching in this instance was to help Lili understand that there is more to life than the drugs that she trusted. I was to help her understand what a rich life she had at her hands yet she was lowly letting it slip between her fingers through her dependence on prescription drugs. Joe trained me on how to apply the "four agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz which I used on this case and the next. The other case that I handled involved a middle aged man named Luke. Luke had just gotten out on parole after three months in jail for attempted murder of his girlfriend and baby girl. Luke suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar. In the last six months leading up to the event, he had stopped taking his medication and instead taken up to hanging around ‘bikies’ and finally ending up with a Methamphetamine addiction. This is when I was introduced to Luke by his girlfriend who indicated that Luke was in dire need of help. I was thus to visit Luke at home on a weekly basis though at one time he was in a foul mood and chased me away. In another occasion, he was not available at home though I talked to him over the phone under the supervision of Joe. During this time, Joe advised me not to let my emotions show no matter how big the problem is or probably annoying the client is. He insisted that a life coach should always be stable and calm to win the trust of the client. He should always be the voice of reason and hope. Sessions with Luke were not delivering results as quickly as I wanted. While Joe seemed content with the progress, I became frustrated. Joe however, insisted that I should be patient and that I should overcome my personal issues and be objective. Nonetheless, one month before Luke was arrested, his problems had escalated into violent threats and outbursts all directed to his girlfriend and baby girl. It was clear that he was a threat to all around him. In fact, on several occasions, Luke’s girlfriend had to call me to go and calm him down. On the third time to be called to calm him down, I went around to his house only to meet him with a loaded gun which he pointed to my face and threatened to kill me. At this point, Luke’s girlfriend and I decided to call the police to handle the matter. It is in police custody that Luke agreed to continue with his medication. His parole was awarded on the condition that he would seek professional help. Joe enrolled him into the life enhancement program using the four agreement model and ever since he has made considerable progress. My experience with Luke was an eye opener. Never had I imagined that a person working in this profession could face such a high risk situation. The fact that I faced a client who had a loaded gun and ready to shoot at the slightest provocation really scared me but helped me understand better the magnitude of the problems that some clients and people around them go through. In this regard, I now better understand the risks involved in this career and the necessity of being calm in handling some clients. Joe on the other hand had told me that some clients and individuals were more than willing to express their frustrations in different ways and the life coach can at times be the victim. After I shared the experience with Joe, he assured me that such scenarios are common though he is not aware of any life coach or therapists who had received grievous bodily harm from a client except for minor and rare cases. The manner in which I fitted in at Creative Dynamics was a very huge boost to my confidence levels as a life coach. Before I started the practicum experience at Creative Dynamics, I had my fears that I might not be the best colleague to any employee at the firm. However, the fact that I was able to build rapport with Joe and other employees gave me the confidence I needed to start my career as a life coach. Again, the opportunity that I had of introducing two clients who I had opportunity to coach also erased any fears that I had over my image as a life coach. Furthermore, I became more psychologically prepared to deal with clients who are not mentally stable or are heavy drug users and are in need of help. By the time I was done with my practicum experience at Creative Dynamics, I was better assured of my ability to be a professional life coach not by name but by actions. I also learnt a lot especially on the application of the Ruiz Miguel’s four agreements to particular cases and clients. These agreements are 1. Be Impeccable With Your Word. 2. Don't Take Anything Personally. 3. Don't Make Assumptions. 4. Always Do Your Best. This strategy will forever be engraved throughout my professional practice. Conclusion From the above report, it is apparent that learning is incomplete without hands-on experience and reflection upon the same. The report shows how the practicum experience will affect my professional development and specifically encourage me to use the Miguel’s four agreements strategy. Supervision from a practicing professional and learning on the job also improved my confidence and also refine my language in addressing clients. Reflecting on the whole experience allows me to see and re-think some of the decisions I made and also the actions that I took. The experience at Creative Dynamic exposed me to supervision and training from an actual professional. Furthermore, I exercised the knowledge that I already have on being a life coach. References Baird, B.N. (2007). Working with diversity. In the internship, practicum and filed placement handbook. (5th ed. Pp. 102-118). Englewood Cliff: Pearson. Brew, L. & Kottler, J. (2008). Applied helping skills: transforming lives. Thousand Oaks. Sage. Cummins, D. (2009). The role of practicum and Intern supervisees in professional identity Development. London: ProQuest. Noble, C. & Henrickson, M. (2011). Social work field education and supervision across Asia Pacific. Sydney: Darlington Press. Power, R. & Bogo, M. (2002). Education filed instructors and students to deal with challenges in their teaching relationships. The clinical supervisor, 21 (1), 39-58. Roth, W. (2002). Being and Becoming in the Classroom. London: Greenwood Publishing Group. Westberg J. & Jason, H. (2001). Fostering reflection and providing feedback: Helping others learn from experience. New York: Springer. Read More

The other step in attaining knowledge fully is active experimentation. This underscores the importance of practicum experience for budding professionals. Hands on Experience My experiences at Creative Dynamics only strengthened my long lasting relationship with motivational speaking and life coaching. As a profession, I am attracted to life coaching and motivational speaking because it affords me an opportunity to add value in people’s lives not only when they are down but when they are doing well in life but assist them to do even better more than they probably ever imagined.

In life coaching, a coach only acts as a supervisor and a guide while the client discovers his/her inner potential. The coach thus works together with the client to maximise the latter’s potential and avoid pitfalls in life. I witnessed this in the first few days of watching Joe at work. With the client’s approval, I would be in one of his private sessions with a client. Where this happened, I was supposed to act as a ‘colleague’ to Joseph and the sessions were recorded on tape. Later on, Joe and I would go through the recorded sessions and he would advise me and pinpoint the common pitfalls that a life coach can make.

This helped in building my confidence. I also happened to attend a number of motivational speeches and life empowerment workshops. During these workshops I gained more confidence in public speaking by just watching Joe do the talking and even talk to some people after the workshops. This proved very helpful in identifying and recruiting clients. I identified and recruited two clients, Lili and Luke who were enrolled into the life coaching program. The first client that I handled in my stay at the organisation was Lili.

Lili was a recovering addict who never really got on her feet and never really kicked the habit of drug use. Lili had spent some time in a rehabilitation centre for Methamphetamine (popularly known as meth) addiction. Life before the addiction problem and afterwards was relatively the same for Lili. She and her baby remained fully dependent on her partner for upkeep. After leaving the rehabilitation centre, Lili had nothing much to do to keep her busy. She stayed at home with the baby as her partner worked as nearby construction site.

All this time, she was still battling with the urge for meth and she found herself frustrated and highly irritable. She started experiencing mild but regular headaches which gradually drew her into prescription drugs. She spiralled into depression and tried killing herself, landing her in the psychiatric ward of the local public hospital. This has affected her life negatively with her family disowning her and being separated from her partner. I first met Lili at the hospital where she was admitted.

During her admission, she spent most of her time sedated because according to the nurse on duty at that time, she was violent and unpredictable. Again, this was meant to help her rest her mind as the depression was at advanced state and hence she needed to rest. Her partner who was present at the time agreed to his wife enrolling in the programme after I explained to him what it entailed. Lili was to start with life coaching immediately she was discharged from hospital. After, being discharged from the hospital, Lili visited the organisations premises where I had a familiarisation talk with her.

I explained to her why it was important that she get professional help and also giving her hope in life. At first she was sceptical about life coaching as she kept repeating that she was doing it only to please her partner. However, I successfully managed to convince to fully embrace life coaching by highlighting how it would impact her life. At this juncture, I realised that Lili had technical skills in accounting which meant that she could easily land a job. Lili was my client though I had to coach her with the assistance and supervision of Joe.

This offered me a real-life experience to put into practice what I had learned so far and interact with a client on the job.

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