I remember my first psychosocial case presentation, even though it was 1st semester 2012, trust me I remember it all too well. I hadn’t slept prepping for it; no really I literally hadn’t sleep. I remember walking in there thinking, that’s it. I’M DONE. My supervisor is going to know that I haven’t given myself enough time to prepare for my presentation and she’s going to fail me. It would be evident in my face, my speech and my presentation. I hadn’t practiced not once, I was exhausted! And all I wanted to do was get it over and done with. And sure enough, all those doubts and fears that I had walking in to present were written all over me and my supervisor could see it. I was too nervous, not confident about my findings and was just battling to present my client to her as a whole. I was even battling to stay awake. Those 20 minutes presenting felt like an hour and I’ll admit, I wanted to cry there a little. But my supervisor couldn’t have been more positive. She greatly criticized my presentation and pointed out things that were missing, told me what I needed to work and highlighted my efforts .To someone else it would have been negative, but to me it was positive because I’ve always been the person who takes criticism positively. So even though it wasn’t my best work (and I knew it), she acknowledged my efforts and tried to find something good in it. So believe it or not I made it through and passed just by the skin of my teeth.
Yesterday was psychosocial mid-terms presentation for one of my clients at North Bay lodge. I had dedicated my whole weekend doing my case formulation and presentation simultaneously. It consumed so much of my time; I even forgot to eat on Saturday. Even though I wasn’t completely done on Monday, this time I was confident that I would finish it on time. I’d have time to practice it and have a goodnight rest. Which I did J
When comparing my 1st psychosocial presentation to the one I was did Tuesday I would say I was much more prepared and less anxious. Even though I had a mini anxiety attack and thought I was gonna die when I found out that 3 supervisors will be sitting in on our presentation and nailing us with questions and putting us on the spot in front of the other students. I managed to find comfort from my memory of previous successful presentations and the little experienced I’ve now gained on presenting thus far. I would have been unfair to myself if I predicted this presentation to be a complete failure because I thought it would be presented by the same person who presented that never to be talked about psychosocial presentation a year ago. I’m not the same as I was then:
So here I am, blogging about it; which means I’ve survived it lol.
What I learnt I learnt on Tuesday:
1. For some weird reason, presenting in front of everyone else actually provided a support structure for me. Just to witness everyone else going through the same emotions such as anxiety reminded me that hey, I’m actually not in this alone. And to my surprise, supervisors were for us, not against us. Thing is, they always are lol, I just tend to forget that at times. All three gave me positive feedback and I now have a better direction with my client
2. I really liked the difference in presentation styles as it showed differences in personalities and in some presentation you could actually see the reflection of the client more than the student presenting it. E.g.; some of the presentations had pictures taken by the clients when they were doing a values clarification activity or a gardening activity. That for me showed that the student made the presentation more personal by including good and positive aspects of the client instead of what needs to be fixed about the client.
3. I would also my the supervisors say that others may need more practice in the delivery or how they present their client’s story because it’s including myself.
4. I would agree that even though I see growth within myself and feel a sense of pride, I have a view of who I could possibly become meaning I’m not my best yet. And what I like about that is that, even though it was a great opportunity to see how others present and how well others do it. It helped me gain confident in wanting to improve myself. And remember not to try and be like them, or try to do it like them because if I were to do that, then I’d be setting myself up for failure. But rather try and learn to bring forth my personality as well when I present.
5. I also learnt that it’s very important to find the history (the source) and the life events that the client has been through. It’s best to understand the context in which the client was previously in, the context the client currently finds him/herself in and how then treatment can impact on the client and help them get back the same or different environment or context in a more meaningful way. Also knowing your client very well also helps because what I noticed was that the people that were most confident to present were the ones who knew their client very well. And within knowing your client, you the presenter then have a better chance of presenting him/her to everyone else. It then helps the listeners get a picture of the client and why you’d chose to implement the treatment strategies, no questions asked.
Midterm case presentation done and dusted! Now for the finals!!!
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