Skip to main content

12 Step

I recently attended a Al-Alon groups meeting on 3-5-18 with one of my classmates. This group was meant specifically for those who had family members struggling with different types of substance abuse. The experience was not easy to listen to. Hearing real struggles and issues that are a daily occurrence for some was very eye opening, and allowed me to put things into perspective when dealing with my own life.
The role of the group facilitator included keeping the group members motivated and actively participating.  She seemed very approachable as well as keen on making sure every one felt welcome and that everyone felt they could speak freely. She was very honest and began the group by giving her own testimony which really opened the floor in my opinion for others to feel comfortable while discussing their own stories.
In my opinion I would say that this group was built on the expectation that it would be more of a support group more than anything else. It's a safe heaven for those struggling with addiction a well as for the loved ones of those suffering. I personally found this group to be very enlightening, not only for the actual group members but for myself as well. This all began due to the open dialogue the group leader set by being so intimate and honest about her own story. This openness and honesty became a major theme throughout the meeting. 
I truly believe this experience has opened the door for me as an OT to see how a real groups session is ran and it added in that extra bit of reality compared to what we did as a class in facilitating groups.

Comments

  1. OT2BEMarch 22, 2018 at 11:57 AM

    This is an experience that I would love to be able to participate in. I'm sure you got tons of insight into what addiction is like for those people struggling and made it easier to relate to them. We as OTs will most likely in our careers have to facilitate talk in a group setting like this and it sounds interesting to see how people in other careers facilitate discussion and get people to open up.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Neuronote #2

On Wednesday we were given the opportunity to attend the Memphis Rolling Grizzlies practice. The Rolling Grizzlies are a group of guys that are athletic, entertaining, and very inspiring. The individuals who make up the team all have different backgrounds, lifestyles, and goals, however there are two things they all share; they love the game of basketball and they play in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). For those of you who think the words disabled or paralyzed entails that someone is unable to compete or perform in an athletic sense get in contact with me and I’ll take you to the next practice and be more than happy to show just how wrong you are. We watched them practice for two hours, and I honestly hadn’t realized that even 30 minuets had gone by because I was so engaged and amazed with what I saw. I don’t know about you, but I played baseball, basketball, and football my whole life growing up, practice after practice. With my memories and knowledge of baske...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Post Challenge #9

For this post I decided to discuss just what a therapeutic relationship is and what it entails. A therapeutic relationship is defined as the interaction between an occupational therapist practitioner and their client. Therapeutic relationships differ from everyday relationships, in that they are key in facilitating the healing and rehabilitation process. They also differ from the typical relationship in that it's not about both people but strictly about the client and meeting their needs. Developing and sustaining therapeutic relationships involves the ability to develop trust, demonstrate empathy, understand verbal and nonverbal communication, and the use of active listening. Trust is one of the most important aspects in any type of relationship to me. Once trust is obtained the client feels more comfortable with sharing personal information which in turn greatly benefits the intervention process. Developing empathy is another huge part of this process, the client must believe tha...
1 comment
Read more

Neuronote #5

For my last neuronote I decided to write about the book The Reason I Jump. I had to read this book for a SPED class in undergrad and decided to re-read portions that I had originally marked as reading it the first time. When I read this book it made me completely change my thought process about how those who have autism experience life. I never once stopped to think how they actually view life and everything around them. The book is an autobiography written by a 13-year-old boy from Japan about what it is like to live with autism. The way autistic people view the world is very different than the way we may perceive them to view the world. This disconnect between how we view and treat people with autism and how they actually view the world makes living with autism is even more difficult than it already is. The book really made me question who is actually different. I feel like his perspective on life is so much more pure than my own and so much more beautiful. My bigge...
Post a Comment
Read more