Respones

I think what we talked about on Thursday was interesting because it was all very true. I think a lot of the time the responses you give tend to affect the outcome and how the person will respond back. It was very interesting to watch and dissect Antwoine Fisher movie and pick out every little word he said and see the response he got back from the patient. Also how not even talking just listening can have affect on the person your talking to or listening to. I think the Dr. Hollist should show more example like this in class so that we can actually see it happening

Yo homes to Bel-Air!

Well, it looks like it is that time of year again. Summer time. Which equals awesome time. But before we all embark on fun-sun days, LET'S REFLECT! As I look back on my school years, and my school years to come, I think a lot about how I was raised. I was raised by champions! No, but I think that my parents have had a lot to do with my educational success. Ahem, ATTACHMENT THEORY. How they raised myself, as well as my three other brothers and sister is a direct reflection of who we are today. And I am forever grateful. I think our family system is a great one, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. This weekend is my birthday, and I couldn't ask for anything more than just being home with all of my family. And that is what I get! SOLID. And although friends and college sure is fun, my priority will first and foremost be my family. It's been fun everybody! GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FINALS! Do worrrkkk.

Yo homes smell ya later!!

Haha ridiculous.

Listening

I think that at times we are all guilty of being poor listeners. I know there are times when something is said...i see their mouth move...hear words come out...but have absolutely no idea what they just said. You can go through the motions of listening without actually hearing anything. Everyone, listen up! A great way to show someone you care, is to listen closely and genuinely care about what they have to say. This is so important for a family's function, it's important in every relationship.

I know what you're going through

I know what you're going through is such a typical response when really the person doesn't have a clue. Honestly not one situation is the same as another and every person will react to a situation differently. I do believe some people have situations in common that can help them relate to one another, but they don't know exactly what the other person is dealing with. For example my Dad has a friend named Glenny. I have never met this friend before but I guess they have been friends since they were children. And it seems as if Glenny has lived every life experience imaginable. Every time something happens to me or my brother my Dad always says something like oh Glenny did that. My Dad thinks that since he had a friend that went through the same experience that he relates to us better. When I was 16 I was having stomach problems and I had to get my gall bladder removed. My doctor told me that I was the youngest person that he had ever known to need their gall bladder out. My guess what. My Dad said that Glenny got his gall bladder out at the age of 14...so every thing will be fine don't worry. Well, Glenny just beats me every time.

Traditional Responses

I enjoyed Thursdays lecture on traditional responses. I never really thought about it but it's really true. One thing that really bothered me growing up, was when my parents would say, "Oh, when I was a kid, the same thing happened to me but I found my way through it." At the time I was just worried about myself and didn't care much about how my mom or dad dealt with it. I was usually just looking for someone that would listen and not judge me. Yea its nice and all and I am sure that most people mean no harm but what people usually say doesn't necessarily help the situation. I have known only a special few people in my life do some pretty good effective interpersonal support. Listening, understanding, and support are all most people are looking for. Usually that is mixed in with being judgmental and advice giving. Knowing these things could possible help me if I were wanting to work with families in the futre. It would allow me to have the tools to help others.

Working with Famiilies

I thought the lecture on Thursday was really interesting, when we talked about all of the different responses that people often have when dealing with others' family problems. In my opinion, I would say that reassurance, personal experience, and advice-giving would be the most common. I know that in class we talked about how advice-giving can be rude, but i think that if the person honestly has the others' best interest in mind, it's a good route to take. I think that giving advice combined with a personal experience, and reassurance would be the best way to go. Because you are giving the person advice, while backing it up with a story, followed by the reassurance that no matter what they do everything will end up working out for the best. That's what I would do anyways! I think the mean way to go would be the judgemental response. I think that people don't really have any place to be judgemental when they probably have problems in their families as well. No one single family is perfect, and I think if people got off their high horses and realized that, there wouldn't even be a judgemental response to problems.

Guest Speaker

The guest speaker the other day was interesting. It was nothing like I thought it was going to be. He was so energetic and had so much information. I honestly had no idea that there were so many people without homes in Lincoln. I had no idea such young girls were prostitutes. It was all very intense. I also thought his stories were very sad but interesting. I don't have a lot of knowledge when it comes to drug abuse so the pictures of the people on meth were crazy to me. I have a lot of respect for anyone that can work with people, especially children, that have had such hard lives.

Traditional Responses

On Thursday, we talked a bit about the traditional responses people give when someone discloses an issue they are having, as well as how they are not always the best ways to respond. I found this interesting because just learning about ways that different families can function, how to resolve conflict, or how to notice when things are going bad does not mean that we can instantly be able to help other people. An important point made was that now we have some basis of information to help families, but we still need to learn a lot about how to interact with the people we are working with, and how to provide the environment that will be most helpful for those seeking it.

I also enjoyed the clips from the movie Antwone Fisher. It was very engaging to think about the representations of therapists we have in the media, and why what they do is good and why it is bad. I am sure that there are a lot of people who still fall back on these traditional responses even after discussing how they are not always helpful - it seems like it would take a lot of thought and practice to have a first response that is not one of the traditional ones.