My Experience and Understanding of Adventure-Based Counselling Essay

According to Neill (2004), ‘Adventure therapy is the use of adventure-based activities and/or adventure-based theory to provide people with emotional and/or behavioral problems with experiences which lead to positive change in their lives.’ Adventure therapy is also â€Å"programming aimed at changing [specified] dysfunctional behavior patterns, using adventure experiences as forms of habilitation and rehabilitation† (Priest & Grass, 2005). The underlying philosophy of adventure-based counseling (ABC) is experiential education and it stresses on one’s personal improvement through full value contract, adventure wave and challenge by choice (Schoel, Prouty & Radcliffe, 1988). After several lectures, different skills were explained and even applied on ourselves. In this essay, these theories and experience will be discussed. Adventure-based counseling is part of the means of experiential learning. Educational psychologists usually define learning as â€Å"a change in the individual caused by experience† (Slavin, 1986, p.104). Through various experiences, people can learn from them and gain personal growth. Kolb (1984) suggested an experiential learning cycle, pointing out four essential elements of experiential learning, which are experience, review, conclusion and planning. Applying to Adventure-based counseling, experience means some challenging activities for groups or individuals. Review means encouraging individuals to reflect, describe, communicate and learn from the experience. Conclusion means concluding past and present experiences and planning means applying new learning in the future. There are several learning theories explaining how experiences can lead to learning, which means behavioral changes or cognitive developments. Operant conditioning proposed by Skinner states that successes, praise, positive feedbacks or rewards can act as positive reinforcers so that the subjects would be reinforced to act the same way again. Similarly, failures, punishments or negative comments would act as negative reinforcers which deter the subjects to act again (Skinner, 1968). In adventure-based counseling, participants would face some challenges and act. Some actions would lead to positive results, which would further reinforce participants to act in the same way when they face similar situations again. Some actions lead to negative results, which make them aware and change their behaviors next time. This can be applied also to changing of personalities and problem-solving skills. Undesirable personalities will be discouraged by failures or negative feedbacks while desirable personalities will be reinforced. Bandura suggested social learning theory that people can learn through observational learning and modeling (Bandura, 1986). Through observational learning, people would imitate others’ behaviors and learn from others’ successes or failures. In adventure-based counseling, when participants face the challenges individually, they would imitate what other participants do, or take others’ successes and failures in dealing with the challenges as example. So when they face the challenges, participants would improve along the sequence. When encountering group challenges, participants would imitate the socially desirable behaviors of their group mates or remind themselves not to behave socially undesirably after observing their group mates’ failures. This can enhance participants’ social skills. In cognitive aspect, James Coleman (1977) differentiates between the information assimilation process of the regular classroom and the experiential learning process. In traditional classrooms, knowledge is taught to students through direct instruction and they simply memorize the knowledge. Through information assimilation, the learners are expected to move from cognitive and symbol-processing sphere to the sphere of action through applying the general principles learned into novel situations. Experiential learning is in a reversed order, which involves actions sufficiently repeated that the learner is able to generalize from the experience. However, it is more etched into the brain as the learning can be associated with concrete actions and events, not just abstract symbols or general principles (Mllre, & Priest, 1990). There are some important principles of adventure-based counseling, namely â€Å"Full Value Contract† and â€Å"Challenge by Choice† (Schoel, Prouty & Radcliffe, 1988). â€Å"Full Value Contract† means an agreement among group members to value one’s own ideas and needs without ignoring or discounting others. â€Å"Challenge by Choice† means ‘individuals can choose their level of participation in any activity.’ (Neill, 2007) During our lectures, our lecturer Lau Sir has explained different theories by involving us to play games. After playing games, Lau Sir would explain how the games worked, the meaning of different procedures, and what can we learn throughout them. In the first lecture, a game ‘throwing the chicken’ was played. It is an ice-breaking game, aim at knowing the names of group members. Although it is a very easy game, it has lots of micro-skills included. At the beginning, Lau Sir has asked did anyone feel afraid of the chicken, which could show his caring to the participants, in order to build up the relationship between the leader and the participants. After one round of the game, Lau Sir required the participants to repeat the process, but with a faster speed, the participants would then move their chairs towards the center. This is using indirect intervention method, helping them to get closer and involve more into it, without directly telling them to sit closer or involve more. The other micro-skill ‘Challenge by Choice’ was also frequently used during lectures. For example, the ‘throwing the chicken’ game in the first lecture, the ‘trust ladder’ in the second lecture and different games during the overnight camp. All of these may only be just simply asking the participants that whether they want to play, but it was vital as it shows the respect to the participants. These skills were the easiest thing being omitted, but without it, the counseling work may be affected or even have some adverse effects. Although half of the lectures have passed, there is one more High-event Challenge Day and several lectures. I am looking forward to learn more different skills in counseling and leading games. Reference List Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social-cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Coleman, J. A. (1977). Differences between experiential and classroom learning. In M. T. Keeton (Ed.), Experiential learning: Rationale characteristics, and assessment, pp. 49-61. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Mllre, J. C. & Priest, S. (1990). Adventure education. State College, DA: Adventure Publishing. Neill, J. (2004). Adventure therapy definitions. Retrieved from http://www.wilderdom.com/adventuretherapy/adventuretherapydefinitions.html Neill, J. (2007). Adventure-based counseling (ABC). Retrieved from http://wilderdom.com/ABC/ Priest, S., & Gass, M. (2005). Effective leadership in adventure programming (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Schoel, J., Prouty & Radeliffe,P. (1988). Islands of healing. A guide to adventure based counseling. U.S.A: Project Adventure. Skinner, B. F. (1968). The technology of teaching. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Slavin, R. E. (1986). Educational psychology: theory into practice. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Effective communication Essay

Describe situations where you have effectively demonstrated each of the forms of communication mentioned Effective communication is an important part of my job role. On a daily basis I need to communicate with various different people. Firstly, I have to collect the information from various parts of our organisation, this is normally done over email, however on some occasions this requires further explanation and this would be done over the telephone or face to face. Once the information is prepared, I distribute this via emails, internally to the managers to review. Once this has been reviewed by the management team, I then distribute this externally to the client. What did you do to help communicate effectively? I send out the ‘raw data’ to the client each week, however I then send out a pack that summarises the figures in a clear and precise format. For the period review, the data is put into a PowerPoint presentation. The client gets a copy of the slides that we discuss. We discuss each meeting whether anything should be changed going forward. There have been occasions we have gone into more detail, and others where we have summarised as the client is happy with the figures behind this. How have your communication skills helped you to improve your performance elsewhere? The effective communication in this particular example has increased my confidence in certain areas. I also think that by asking for feedback regularly, I can ensure I am reporting exactly what people want to see in the formats they want too. I have applied this to other areas of my job role.

Holden Caulfield Diagnostic

Holden Caulfield Medical Diagnosis Holden Caulfield Medical Diagnosis Dear Mister and Misses Caulfield, my name is Dr: Connor Grist and I have been mister Holden Caulfield’s psychologist over the past couple weeks. Asking him about his life story and what he has gone through. Through his explanation of his life story, I was able to uncover 3 key behavioral characteristics that I believe he suffers from. Through my research, I believe that he suffers he uses profanity laced vocabulary and abusive language often. He is also depressed, sad and disturbed through his life story that he has told me.Finally he is also withdrawn seclusive and friendless because of his inability to overlook flaws in people. This information has let me to diagnose him with Depression-Anxiety. For the time era in which Holden grew up (1970s) he has a very profanity laced vocabulary, which is most likely because of his anxiety and depression. Throughout the book he could have quite possibly said the phras e â€Å"God Dam† more than 100 times. Although this would be more accepted today, a generation or two ago this would have been very frowned upon for a teenager to talk like that.Holden is also hypocritical in a way with his swearing because near the end of the book he begins to try and erase all of the profanity on the wall and while he thinks that he is ridding the world of evil, he often is the source of some of the evil with his swearing. Throughout the book, you can often notice and sense that Holden is quite depressed and sad all of the time. This is because near the end of the book, he is trying the play the role of the â€Å"Catcher† but he soon realizes that he can never rid the world of all the evil that he doesn’t want Phobe to see.He tells Phoebe that he wants to prevent children from growing up. He blames the world’s corruption on adults and believes that when he stops the children from growing up he will preserve their innocence and save the world. Finally, he realizes that not only is there nothing that he can do, but there is nowhere he can go to hide from it. Ironically enough, it is one of the â€Å"innocent† children that he is trying to protect who helps him come to terms with this realization. It is Phoebe who challenges his plan to escape out west.As he is telling Phoebe that she cannot run away, he discovers that he too cannot run away. â€Å" You can’t ever find a place that is nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any. † The final breakdown comes near the end of the book when he is watching Phoebe on the carousel. As all the kids on the carousel try to grab the golden rings, Holden hits the final breakdown. Being the â€Å" catcher â€Å" becomes obviously unrealistic. Finally Holden is usually withdrawn and friendless because of his inability to accept people for who they are and constantly pick out their flaws.As you read and read through the book, you will get the sense the H olden has never really had a true friend. He is usually nice to most people but really he thinks that they are phonies. An example of this would be on page 77 where Holden Says, â€Å" She was a funny girl, old Jane. I wouldn’t exactly describe her as strictly beautiful. She knocked me out though. She was sort of muckle-mouthed. When she was talking, her mouth sort of went in about 50 different directions her lips and all â€Å".This quote shows that even the people Holden likes a lot, such as Jane Gallagher he still has to be judgmental and find the flaws in them. This ultimately leads to Holden being forever alone in the book. In Conclusion, Holden Caulfield has been diagnosed with a anxiety-depression disorder because of his profanity laced vocabulary, his depressed sad and disturbed state, and his inability to accept people for who they are without being judgmental and picking out their flaws. A treatment recommendation for this would be to continue therapy sessions and anti-depressant medication.

Identifying and Managing Risk Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Identifying and Managing Risk - Research Paper Example The market risk is associated with the uncertainties in the areas of foreign exchange rate fluctuations, fluctuation of interest rates, fluctuation of stock prices and commodity prices. The market risk is managed by the use of interest rate swaps, options and future. The use of derivatives in financial market is important to hedge market risks. The risk management techniques are used to reduce the credit risk of the organization which occurs as a result of default of the counterparties. The credit ratings are used to assess the credit risk of organizations. The credit risk is reduced by limiting the exposure to the parties considered to be risky for repayment (Deventer,  Imai and  Mesler, 2013). The other credit risk management tools used are by the use of collaterals, periodic marking to the market, captive derivative subsidiaries and netting. Netting is a risk management technique through which the amount of cash owed by one party to another is reduced by the amount by the latt er to the former. There are various methods of netting which includes bilateral netting, multilateral netting, payment netting, cross product netting and close-out netting. Several types of derivatives like over the counter derivatives and credit derivatives are used to mitigate the exposure to credit risks. The types of credit derivatives include Total return swaps, Credit Swaps and Credit Options. Several authors have explained different financial risk management techniques that are widely used in the industries. Analysis: Comparison of financial risk management techniques A comparison of the financial risk management techniques explained by Kallman  to that of Cohen and Palmer is given below. Kallman explained that we should a clear idea of the nature of risks that need to be mitigated. According to Kallman, the risk exposures could be categorized into strategic risks, operational risks and economic risks. The strategic risks are the uncertainties that rise in the long term. Th ese may be quality risk, brand risk, etc. The operational risks are the uncertainties that occur within a single operating period as a result of the operations of the company. The economic risks are the areas of uncertainty created as a result of volatility in political and financial conditions (Kallman, 2007). These risk exposures are mainly due to the changes in macro and micro economic conditions. The economic risks take the form of interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, etc. The risk exposures may be pure which results in a loss of values or speculative which may either result in a gain or loss. The popular risk management tools proposed by the author are risk surveys and checklist. The survey and checklist are important tools to build a risk register in the organization. Flowcharts of organizational process are useful in identifying the risks involved. After identification of risk, the risks are managed by risk management techniques that include statistical analysis, financ ial statement analysis and also personal inspection. The risk management techniques explained by Kallman could be compared to the risk management techniques explained by Cohen and Palmer. According to Cohen and Palmer, the

The Origin of Valentine's Day Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Origin of Valentine's Day - Essay Example For instance, in the Yester years, Valentine’s Day was a liturgical celebration on the early Christian saints called Valentinus. Saint Valentine was profoundly associated with martyrology as he conducted the weddings of many soldiers (Pfatteicher, 86, 2008). The authors’ sentiments depict a chronological flow of events since the inception of Valentine’s Day to the current prevalent trends. I selected the author; Pfatteicher (2008) based on his extensive research hence depicting reliability. The information source is a book, and the author is a researcher by profession. This paper seeks to discuss the origin of valentine day. The Valentine’s Day is profoundly associated with romantic love emanating from the traditional courtly love. This traditional love flourished in the circles of Geoffrey Chaucer who lived in the High middle ages. Ever since the 15th century, Saint Valentine’s Day has evolved into a lover occasion where pleasantries were exchanged. These gifts have ever been meant to signify the intent of love and include flowers, confectionery, and greeting cards. The 19th century gave rise to hand written greeting cards and heart shaped outlines, a winged cupid figure and a dove. It is eminent that Valentine’s Day dates way back into history and is entrenched in the Roman Empire. From these sentiments, I think the author was truth full trying to relay detailed information. The history of Saint Valentine’s Day is shrouded in mystery. The only known facts are as follows; Saint Valentine’s Day has over the years being a romantic celebration. This day also exhumes the vintages of Christians as well as some roman cultural traditions. However, it is still not clear how this Saint Vale ntine came to be associated with an ancient rite that has survived several centuries. The Catholic Church for instance recognizes three Saint Valentines commonly

Linguistics and the Media Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Linguistics and the Media - Term Paper Example Daniel Dennette defines it as a unit of information in a mind whose existence influences events such that more copies of it get created in others’ minds. Here, the stress lies on the idea that a meme is an inherent form of knowledge in the human brain; it is the basic unit of cultural transmission or imitation. According to this definition, everything we call â€Å"culture† is composed of atom like memes, which compete with one another. These memes spread by being passed from mind to mind in the same way genes spread by being passed down through sperm and egg. The memes that win the competition are those that are successful at penetrating the most minds; they are the ones responsible for those activities and creations that constitute present-day culture (Brodie, 1996). CMC’s have made it possible for memes to germinate in the social gene pool. The linguistic implications of meme are highly significant since information travels over websites, blogs and social netw orking sites, and hence languages vary. Therefore, with every language, the conceptual framing and blending of linguistics and pragmatics also vary. Hence, language changes on the internet (Crystal, 2001). According to Bell, there is a close relationship between linguistics and media. â€Å"It makes a specific use of language and media texts illustrate language use and language attitudes for a variety of speech communities†. Syntactics and semiotics of meme in the following examples help to understand why people have a shared interest for memes. Since we have already established that memes grow in the mind of person to person, it is important to know how medium achieves that. There is a simultaneous use of text and visual. This particular series is called Successful Black Man, also known as â€Å"Successful Negro†. The media’s denotation of a black man in a business suit and a witty one-liner, firstly involves a fabricated framework experienced by conceptual ble nding employed in the first statement, â€Å"I got 99 problems† The connotation with the stereotype of an African man is that they are hustlers and gangster in the street. However secondly, there is an intentional line break after which a line is cited having primary framework relating to a professional who took a CA exam. There is an immediate exploitative fabricated framework. The intention behind the fabrication is to create hilarity because of the pragmatics of the two lines’ frameworks. The top line mimics what a black male stereotype would say while the bottom line results in breaking the character of the first line. The creator divulges that the inspiration behind the meme was based on reverse-discrimination issues at the workplace. In this case the humor and wit, and reversing the stereotype in the meme made it popular. There should be some genuine quirkiness contained within the idea. â€Å"The meme could coincide with some kind of zeitgeist or spirit of the age. Humor is a powerful component. Often it will contain an aspect that challenges conventional wisdom. There is also a critical mass factor at play. The spread of an idea of concept will accelerate at some point probably due to the multiplier effect of people being exposed to it

Operations Management of Z Mart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operations Management of Z Mart - Essay Example Due to financial constraints, hiring extra staff to man counters is not possible. This case study will try to highlight potential areas of improvement in the management and organization of Z Mart to avoid late handling and bad customer experiences. Â  It is easier to visualize the problem if one considers the layout of the shop. The main entrance and exit have counters that bill customers for all their merchandise before they exit the shop. The billing section for electronic goods is at a distance from where the (Customer Service Managers) CSMs are stationed which partly accounts for the delay in handling customers payments. Â  On the basis of the manager’s notes, the current situation can be described as a busy discount store with a steady flow of customers and with 14 counters from where billing can be done. The electronics department is removed from the billing counters at the main entrance and has a couple of counters to bill goods bought at the electronics section. There are two customer service managers per shift. Any checks above $100 need to be cleared by them. This causes a problem as the process of checking out the customers is slow and there is an unnecessary glut of impatient customers queuing at the electronics counters. Â  The situation analysis needs to consider the current scenario and how the store manager and his team of sales representatives can add value to the Z Mart business and how the manager can make a good impression during his review. In this case study, the manager needs to first identify his areas of concern and plan strategically so that he can enhance efficiency without incurring additional overheads expenditure.