What i have gained and thought about the blogger site

Well when we where first told to set up a blog, i didnt quite use it too its full potenital. I feel the blogger should perhaps have had more emphasis on what it is for and how you ( Dr Maximus) go about marking it.

I have enjoyed the experience of using Blogger to communicate with my fellow classmates and input my thoughts on the world of guidance. So although i had a slow start i soon picked it up : )

Also i should add my thoughts on the course and how i have found it over the past 9 months. I have throughly enjoyed the course, but i won't lie, it has been difficult. The course has been exactly what i thought it would be and at times it has been a case of ' information overload' but i can understand that being the nautre and topic of the course.

I felt the first trimester could have had some theories introduced to us, as i was a rabbit caught in headlights on my first couple of placements as i didnt have a clue what they where talking about. I think the advisors thought i hadn't been paying any attention in class. It just would have been useful thats all.

Second trimester i feel it has all come together and i have a better understanding of theories etc. Although i have found myself alittle confused at times as to what theory is what, and which one is best to use etc. But again when i go out into the world of guidance i am sure i will find my 'comfort zone'. I am a tad nervous about heading in to the world of guidance, it seems quite easy...well not easy but understandable and straight forward in classes or placement but in the real world you are dealing with real people and real situations. But i am sure i will manage.

With all that i have learnt i will take with me and hopefully be successful in the world of guidacne.

My Ideal Career Provision...Hhmmm

We have been asked to think about our ideal career provison.....not as easy as it sounds.

Okay here it goes: My ideal career setting would be located central to Edinburgh, cater to all ages and backgrounds.
I feel the set up should be straight forward and advisors deal with guidacne and career related issues. I would have other points of contact under the one roof that deal with other issues like, drug and alcohol problems, housing, disabilities etc.

I would like the main reception to have a 'diagnosing' point where you are then directed to the correct persons who deal with that area or specific problem. I know some people dont agree with the term 'diagnosing' but i feel if the client can be seen by the appropriate person at the start then it makes them feel much more comfortable with the whole process.

Some clients are passed from pillar to post because the advisor cant or doesn't have the skills or knowledge to deal with client. I turn the client can be left to feel more vunreable and perhaps not come back. I want to client to feel they have come to an environment where their needs priority.

I feel there should be a model within the insitute but just a guidline and that your own personal techniques should be present. You conduct the interview as you see fit and use whatever means of guidacne you feel is necessary for that client.

Communities within the Craig Miller area

While on placement at Work Track in Craig Miller it was interesting to see how communities work. Craig Miller has always been a community in itself, hidden behind the beautiful Arthur Seat lays a community full of issues and barriers.

I have only ever driven through Craig Miller and never actually walked the streets and felt the atmosphere and aknowledge the goings on that happen on a daily basis. In a way i did feel quite rude as i always felt it was a place of poverty and hardship.

The Craig Miller area has gone through some drastic changes over the years to try and get rid of the stigma that is attached to the area. They have knocked down housing estates and re build new ones to bring back some life and confidence to the people of Niddry. In doing so the community now houses both private and council property's.

But when i had to undertake a door to door survey and ask residents how they felt about their area, alot of it was negative based and that even though there has been a huge re furb in the area there is still a huge gap between individuals.

The old residents of Niddry are still very much present even though alot of them where re- located else where due to the re development. New members of the community or ones that have made a go of it there are troubled by the rif raf who have basically given Craig Miller the stigma.

It is such a shame that so much hard work and money has been spent to try and give people a chance and support them, for it then to be thrown back in our faces. Community within this area i feel is lacking big time and even with the support of worktrack, adult learning link, the thistle and space arts, its not appreciated enough.

In this case there is a community within Niddry but the wrong type of community,i.e drug gangs, vandels and crime. I feel this is always going to be around and it will be difficult for those not involved to try and build community out with this. So sad!

Happenstance encounter while on placement!!

While on my first week on placement at Work Track i came across a 'Happenstance' encounter. It was Caroline that actually pointed this out to me.

'Chance events can play a big role in an individuals career decisions, Lucky breaks, unlikely meetings and unpredictable happenings seem to be a common feature in life stories'

This was on case for me on Tuesday past. I was introduced to a gentleman who works for an arts and dance organisations and i explained to him my background in Arts and he pointe me in the direction of a job vancancy coming up soon, involving arts and working within the community.

This is something i have chased up and am now in the process of contacting the person about this possible job. : )

PLACEMENT!! take two...

Well on a lighter note today, the placement at WorkTrack is going well so no grumbles from me again!! Lol

As for the essay i have finshed it but still yet to read over it....something i am dreading cause its total and utter GARBAGE!! : ( i just found myself getting caught up in one theory then reading another that was along the same lines, and then getting myself completly confused and wondering what theories are best and why? Lol

Im sure the theories will fall into place when i least expect it.

Apologies for my lack joy on the placement front, i have perked up abit now and will enjoy job searching and finishing this course in 5 WEEKS!!! arrrgh

PLACEMENT!!

I am finding myself deflated at the moment and this placement coming up really isnt helping matters. I feel this last placement is abit of a burdon as i have enough to be getting on with as it is.

I know this is perhaps uncalled for but i feel there is a greater need to bein lecutres more and i would have preferred lectures all this week. I have totally sturggled with my last essay and i feel it has come down to the lack of information and knowledge we should have been given in our first and second trimester.

I am lucky enough not to be going to another CAREERS SCOTLAND PLACEMENT!! thank godness as to be honest, we arent going to get a job there and we have already been on placement there for 3 weeks, so why the need to go back there again. I have also been looking for jobs and have had no such luck at all, so the worry of this essay, group work and placement....and the fact we finish up in like 5 weeks is all starting to mount on top of me.

My point is really could have done without last placement and that we could have been spending the time on things more important. Now this is only my option so i understand others will totally disagree with me!

todays thoughts

Theories!

I have got to admitt i am starting to get abit confused about theories. I am probably the only one but at the moment i am reading about all these contemporary ones and now i am not sure what ones i agree with or would feel confortable to use!!!

I will just be me having an off day today.

Next essay!!

I must say i thought the essay on contemporary theory was going to be an easy essay to do......well i was wrong!! i am so struggling...arrrgh!

I kinda liked the idea and sound of Narrative theory when talking about it in class, but now i have started the reading for it i am suddenly finding myself more confused about it. Lol i am not quite sure there are many positive benefits to it??

I like the idea poeple tell stories, its exciting and its your story but then again how can a proper
'diagnosis' be made from this. People change stories and sometimes they dont tell the correct accounts of the story....so how can an advisor help the client in a career decision???

I feel this is more of a councelling theory...which it is but how can it relate to career choice??

Today!!!

Communities.....what are they and why???

What is a community???......

a group of people living in a particular local area; "the team is drawn from all parts of the community"
common ownership; "they shared a community of possessions"
a group of nations having common interests; "they hoped to join the NATO community"

There are loads of different communities within society today, some of which we can see or know about, some not so obvious but are embedded within our way of living or our culture. Communities can be formed due to peoples belifes or religions, some can be formed as a way fo socialing with others and some can be formed without even knowning it.

I think in a sense we are all aware of communities around us whether part of it or not. I am not sure if i am part of any specific communities...?? i dont get on with my neighbours, there is a big age differece and i just dont belong in the street i am currently living in. They are all close, retired people, loving their garden life, noising, gossiping and having cosy chats with one another. When i drive past them gossiping in the street i have to resort to a fake smile and rigid hand wave till out of site.

There is definitely a community link within my street....one i am clearly not part of.

I feel if there was a protest of some sort or debate in something i felt strongly about i would then find my community...( not sure if im making any sense) i.e RBS bank protest in London last week,
Several thousands of people gathered to stage their protest against the bank, and Russle Brand ( famous actor) went along and joined in...he said he was intreged and wanted to see what went on within 'this community'...see how they come together and protest as one!!

This community was not an obvious community in the sense they meet every month and discuss tactics and actions but this community formed on the day due to their passions and their right for justice.

Communities i think do matter, i am part of a cyber community (facebook) but i dont take that to be a serious, involvment of community life, i dont do anything that contributes to anything important, its really just a catch up or keep in touch site......which to be honest i think is abit pointless. What will be next.....???

Career Scotland Lecture today!!

Well i found todays lecture quite interesting, its something we should have had alot earlier on in the year or last trimester. But in the fashion of the careers department here i have learnt to except things to be done backwards!!

Anyway well worth the wait. What Andrew went over was pretty much what we or i had witnessed on placement a Careers Scotland but it was explained in a lot more detail. Even though i do argue against strick structures and career precedures, i feel i have changed my mind slighty.

Before, i felt i would sink and struggle if i ever went to work for them but really the way they go about guidance isnt all bad. I think with Andrew explaing more about the ways of guidance, he has helped me understand it.

The career journey is aseful tool to use with a client, i just couldnt get to grips with it before. ' Guidance has to be more concerned with the planning process, rather than the plan' (John Malkin)
.
.
. More focus on the ....decision making....How you get to that decision

This makes sense to me, not sure if it will to anyone else!!!

3rd April

what do i believe guidance to be??

I believe guidance to be an informal process were yourself and the client talk through or brainstorm through various ideas or problems that they may have. We then help them to understand and solve them.

In some cases, guidance can be a more complexed process depending on the clients background etc, But i definetly feel 'informal' 'relaxed' and working through ideas together is what makes up a guidance session.

For me i would love to through structure out the window and just go on my own instincts and develop my own way of working within a guidance setting. I feel there is so much empathise on structure that when i go into an interview i am constantly thinking ' am i sticking to the structure'?? ' am i going off course'?? ' whats the next stage in my structure'??

It confuses me and distracts me from the interview itself. So whats the need for such a thing??

Well that i do know... but just get abit annoyed with the whole thing. Its all about confidence and building up a good knowledge to be able to fly solo. I think my problem is i want to run before i can walk!!

Sympathy v's Empathy

Empathy is a feeling different from sympathy. When one is sympathetic, one implies pity but maintains distance from another person’s feelings. Empathy is more a sense that one can truly understand or imagine the depth of another person’s feelings. It implies feeling with a person, rather than feeling sorry for a person.

Empathy is a translation of the German term Einfühlung, meaning to feel as one with. It implies sharing the load, or “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes,” in order to appropriately understand that person’s perspective.

When speaking about this in class today i took myself back to a situation i was in on my last placement. I was taken out to a clients home with the careers adviosr, the client had developed a brain injury through an illness which she contracted later in her life. The client was back in employment and seemed to be coping remarkably well with what had happend.....well thats what i was lead to belive anyway.
The client turned to me and said ' I want to die, i dont want to live anymore, i have nothing to live for'

The client directly said this to myself and the careers advisor also turned in my direction for some 'sympathy' or 'empathy' advice or really just something to say to take away the akwaredness of the situation.

I was shaking inside cause the clinet seemed genuiely stable and happy...but clearly wasn't 100% . What i then said to the clinet was ' I am sorry you are feeling like this, i cant begin to fully understand what you have been through, and why you feel this way, im not going to sit here and tell you i do, cause it would be wrong, so really i cant comment on this.

The client didnt say anything back to me nor did the careers advisor, but i feel if i had said anything it wouldnt have been real or genuine answers as i dont know enough about her illness or the depression stage which she was clearly going through at this point. I didnt want to come across as fake and molly cuddling the situation.

Once outside the house the careers advisor told me i had said the right thing in that situation. I didnt know the client that well, i had however read her notes before hand....but didnt want to mention this to her due to the confidentiality part.

Not sure if i really did do the right thing here, but we all learn from these encounteres in life and hopefully take on board and do differently next time.

I did however feel a great deal of sympathy for her and the family and i did want to empathise with her too but really the conditions of her illness were too great and i would only be
Patronising her and probably making the situation worse than better.

Interviewing structures!!

I feel myself i struggle with interviewing structures and how to go about using them in my interviews.


I see myself as a more creative person so therefore would like to use this to my advantage. In my last S4 interviews i created my own interview structure which bascially consisted of mindmapping.


Myself and the pupil worked our way through a series of mind mapping questions to explore their ideas on future careers. This was something that was visual to them, they could be as creatvie as they wanted to be and at the same time they were learning new ways of researching careers and ideas.



I think the way in which guidance is taught should be different and unquie depending on the client and the careers advisor conducting the interview. We are all individuals and all have special touches and techniques we can bring to the table to make every interview a memorable experience.

Is there any point in careers guidance???

24th March CENTIGRADE INTERVIEWS!!

The centigrade interviews i think went okay, the set up within the library wasn't so scary as the small office type rooms we were in last time. I felt the interviews this time were more informal and really just a casual chat with the pupil. With having the centigrade booklet in front of me did calm my nerves and contributed a great deal to my structure and interview.

One thing that was picked up on was that fact that us the interviewers spoke too much!!......speaking for myself that is... the assessors told me i didnt let the pupil speak and that i perhaps took over the interview. In this case i do agree but to be honest i found it really difficult to find a balance with me and the pupil speaking equally.

I felt i had to explain the certigrade booklet, the reasons behind it and how to go about using it. This of course took up some of my interviewing time. Then after that really just going through some of the choices given to the pupil.

I personally would like to have shadowed an actual centigrade interview conducted by Alan or Pete. This i would have found useful when doing my own, i dont feel there was enough emphasis on the centrigrades and how to actually go about doing them.......i felt it was ' heres the book, read over it and take what you think from it' end off!!!!

Maybe i am totally wrong on this but this is just my point of view and how i personally thought about the interviews.

Challenging......is this the wrong term to be using??

The term Challenging was looked at in a different light today. Some feel it is intimidating the client into thinking we are correct and we know better than them.

Challenging does come across as if you are taking the client on and wanting them to preform for you right then and there. Instead of the term challenging i would replace it with 'Exploring', this seems alot friendlier and not such a scary prospect.

Exploring is something you and the client can do together.

todays lecture.. on Construct's

Todays lecture was kind of interesting although i still am alittle unsure about the whole element and constructs thing. I dont really see the point in it to be perfectly honest.

Okay i thought the Repertory Grid was a reasonable way to go about guidance. But me being a 24 year old person found it quite a complicated way to go about guidance. I see it more of a constructive tool to use but i think you really need to understand it first before introducing it to a client. You also have to believe in it, other wise you are just fooling yourself and the client.

A question asked today was ' Whats the opposite of Blue'?

My answer to that was White???? Hhhmmmm maybe because i was thinking of the Scottish flag...blue, white and red. Who knows.

I found the whole construct bit interesting when we were referring to Bottles of wine ; ) but in all honesty the grids were not that clear to me and i would maybe struggle to present that to a client.

Carl Rogers - person centred guidance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HarEcd4bt-s

READINGS

Lecture today....found it quite difficult to take in : (

Christianity....from the web

Christianity is the world's biggest religion, with about 2.1 billion followers worldwide. It is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ who lived in the Holy Land 2,000 years ago.
For ease of navigation, we include as Christian any group that sincerely regards itself as Christian, and whose beliefs are based on the teaching of Jesus.

HUMANISM.....this is from the web as i didnt understand the meaning!

Humanism
Humanism is the view that we can make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values and that we can live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs. Humanists seek to make the best of the one life we have by creating meaning and purpose for ourselves. We choose to take responsibility for our actions and work with others for the common good.
What humanists believe
Humanism is an approach to life based on humanity and reason – humanists recognise that moral values are properly founded on human nature and experience alone and that the ams of morality should be human welfare, happiness and fulfillment. Our decisions are based on the available evidence and our assessment of the outcomes of our actions, not on any dogma or sacred text.
Humanism is a naturalistic view, encompassing atheism and agnosticism as responses to theistic claims, but is an active and ethical philosophy far greater than these reactions to religion.
Humanists believe in individual rights and freedoms, but believe that individual responsibility, social cooperation and mutual respect are just as important.
Humanists believe that people can and will continue to find solutions to the world's problems, so that quality of life can be improved for everyone.
Humanists are positive, gaining inspiration from our lives, art and culture, and a rich natural world.
Humanists believe that we have only one life, it is our responsibility to make it a good life, and to live it to the full.

CONFIDENTIALITY!!

Okay today we touched upon confidentiality and whether it is a good or bad thing and is it really nessessary?

I personally feel there is too much of an emphasis on this issue when meeting with clients. When observing Careers Scotland the advisors always stated at the very start of an interview or meeting ' that everything is confidentual and nothing goes outside this room'

The clients didnt seem in the least bit interested to be perfectly honest and didnt question it once. I feel you could quite happliy conduct an interview without mentioning these terms and conditions. For instance when you go to the doctors or hospital they dont say to you when you sit down' oh everything we dicuss is confidentual' we take it for granted and assume everything said will be between you and the advisor. So why the need in a careers environment???

Is there real and genuine people???

When are we being a real person?

Is there real and genuine people in society?

These are deep questions to ask ourselves and i would like to think i am a real and genuine person....but maybe these can cross over and genuine and real can sometimes= false and fake??

How does a client know when you are being genuine and real? Do they take this for granted when seeing you or can they tell at some point in the interview you are just fobbing them off??

But does fobbing off mean you are being complely fake and false......Hhhhm im am starting to ramble and to be honest dont quite know where i am going with this so may come back to this question.

todays lecture.....mind bloggling!!

I do feel i agree with Grants views on science and how it doesnt make sense and doesnt contribute to anything. From what i can see science has brought about certain ways of thinking and doing but has some how along the way caused problems to which they are only now trying to resolve. .......will come back to this one as i need to research more into it.

Also another small topic touched upon which got me thinking.....how people in society try to disappear and become invisable?? How can this be?
For example anorexia..... this to me is not a way to become invisable by becoming wafer thin and skeleton like is only attracting MORE attention to yourself. I can not fully understand how a human being can put their body through that so i cant comment entirly. People will notice a change in their apperance whether they have an eating disorder or even put on weight. We as humans can see with our eyes and think with our brains so can then see if something is different or not correct.

But to me people cant disappear, even when dead your spirit lives on in other people and you will always be remembered on anniversarys, birthdays or christmases as a mark of respect.

Even people who maybe did not have any family and lived a sheltered life.....still have
Acquaintances who they have met at some point in their lives even if just in passing.

Career box

27/03/09.......

Routine V's Reflective - Take two!!

Okay just had a conversation with a fellow student and from what i understood, Routine is bad and reflective is good.

I can see his point as he then went on to describe us as 'robots' if we follow a routine like pattern in every day life. Yes that does ring true but, with the future evolving and changing to suit new technologies maybe robots will eventually take our place in society and will be programmed to work in such a 'strucured routine' manner.
Only a thought! does routine = practical, effecient and robotical??

Routine V's Reflective

Hhmmm i am in two minds with this one. Routine isn't nessessarly a bad thing in any practice. By having some sort of strucutred routine within life, society and in general can help us to 'stay safe' and help us keep control over situations.
On the other hand being free to reflect is a natural thing and voicing options is within our rights as a humanbeing. At the moment i am probably backing the safe option, and opting for routine as i feel my knowledge and experience is lacking in this area.

From what i can establish Routine = Boring, Safe and Structured.

Reflective = Happy, independant, freely spoken and Fun.

I will be back to argue or change my option in due course : )