Our practicum format this term is different than it was in the Fall. While we still continue to meet for two hours a week with the same group of peers and leaders as we did last term, we have an additional component this time around. Added to our practicum agenda is another weekly, two hour meeting in "quads" - we meet with three peers from our practicum group. During this time, we participate in counseling each other. Madness!
Today was my quad's first meeting. How it works is this: we commit to counseling one of the students in that group for the rest of the semester, however, you cannot counsel the person that will counsel you. During our two hours, two pairs of client/counselors have one session each (for 30-40 minutes) and the other two students observe the session and then give feedback to the student who was the counselor. The next week, the other two pairs of client/counselors have one session each and receive feedback. Therefore, it works out that I will counsel the same student six times this term.
Not only was today the first time our quad met, but I actually ended up doing my first session as a counselor as well. It was so terrifying! My Practicum Facilitator put it well: the first few times are like being in a golf lesson and trying to remember all of the things your instructor told you to do when you get up to the tee - straighten your elbow, bend your knees, turn with your shoulders, use your wrists... When you approach the tee, though, it's almost impossible to remember all of that information while trying to actually perform well! I definitely was aware of this while our session was in progress today - I had a million things going through my mind about what I should or should not do, my body language, how awkward it was, what my observers were thinking, and how I was probably a failure of a counselor.
It's just amazing how different it is to talk so conceptually about a therapeutic encounter than to actually experience a therapeutic encounter. This is one of the things I love so much about Mars Hill is how hands-on it is. How better to learn than to just do? Then to get feedback on what you did? What a concept! And not only do we get immediate feedback from our peers during the two hours, but we also are required to record the sessions in which we counsel someone and then playback a part of the session for our one-on-one meetings with our Practicum Facilitators! While, yes, it's absolutely terrifying and humiliating, I can only imagine how wonderfully invaluable this learning process will be.
Another different component of this term's practicum is that we have to counsel someone in front of our big practicum group - about 10 people - twice. And for whatever reason, I volunteered to be one of the first two to do it next week. So I will have a "session" with one of my peers while my entire practicum group observes, and will then give me feedback. It sounds so crazy - and it is!
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