My first experience with traumatic brain injury was in high school when a close friend's dad was in a horrible motorcycle accident. He was in a coma for months while we all tried to remain positive that he would survive. He miraculously came out of the coma, although he had a long road ahead of him. After an extensive rehabilitation period, he was able to return home. This was an important experience for me as I saw first hand not only how a TBI affects the person, but how it affects the family and the importance of support from community and health care professionals.
Yesterday, Virginia and I led a group session about cultivating a positive attitude we named, "Think Happy Thoughts." I then used the exercise provided in our groups book to lead my reflection on the experience of our facilitation. Although nervous to lead the group, I feel that we did a great job engaging the group members. We led off with a warm-up activity where the group members could state how positive/negative they felt at the moment. I think this was a good way to start the group because it was Monday morning and many of us were feeling negative about the upcoming week. The warm-up prepared the group for the session and allowed them to get their feelings out about the upcoming week. I think the activity we chose was good in facilitating the group goals. Because the group members were my classmates, I found it difficult to know how involved to be in the activity. I think it will be interesting to lead my first client group and compare the differences of facilitation b...
Hi Whitney, Thank you for sharing that story. I had a similar experience in high school with a friend's mother; I worked as a candy striper at the hospital in my hometown and will never forget watching his mom (a teacher at my school) go through the recovery process with her family by her side. It is just that type of experience that helps to shape who we become as OT practitioners.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love the design of your blog!