hi, CCAT

Wow, I still can't believe that it can be so much fun on my first day of intern. Before that  a lot of worries came into my mind. How does the environment looks like, how about the people there, I thought is going to be a lot of rules and regulations and 'fixed office working hour'. (That's why I was surprised when been told I do not have to come to the office on the next day) It was really out of my expectation.

The first thing we did is introduce ourselves by using visual card. I like this. By using visual card, we can share more personal things about ourselves rather than just 'giving information' (e.g your name, hometown, marital status..). After choosing the three cards that represent myself, I was thinking do I really have to share that much about myself? This is just the first day. But then another thought came into my mind, 'Since I'm going to spend my four months here, why not I fully commit myself into this self-growth training program?' Thus, I use the same cards and share how it make sense to me.   I  like arts not just because it's my hobby but it can help me to think or share in creative way. During the ice breaking session, we not just sharing but learning at the same time. We are given the chance to summarise other's sharing. This makes me feel like every sharing is a learning opportunity. Another personal learning for me is pay full attention to every single sharing by others, active listening not just happen to my clients. =.=

After getting clearer picture about the Action Learning Set, we proceed to our training. I have learn about 'Empathy, Unconditional Positive Regard and Congruence' before but never really go deep into it and demonstrate it in class. So today training session really help me learn a lot and become more aware about how my nervous influence my connection with my client. I was so effected by what Alex's narration about Saul's background, when Saul come to me I tend to focus on what is writing on Alex's note rather than what 'Saul' is telling me. But I thank God that this happen during my training session and not real counselling session. I'm so grateful that Alex correct me on the spot. I have to admit that I was so anxious to giving the correct respond in stead of stay connect with my client's emotion. Some times in session, we do not have to bring the client to some where else by asking facilitative questions, we just have to stay empathetic. Another reminder for myself: your proficiency does not being evaluated by the speed of your speech.

Plenty of information and knowledge I need to digest. Cool.