Self Evaluation of Mock Session
The general scenario of my mock session was one taken from my place of employment working with adolescents. It can best be described as a sixteen year old female client who has been acting out in the group home in an uncharacteristic manner. As the clinician I had information from the school that the client was being bullied, but I allowed the client to disclose on their own. The session progressed to a point where the client then was able to agree to some things that the school was able to offer and it was established that I would follow up with the client at a later date.
Throughout the session some of the strengths that I observed were my ability to maintain eye contact with my client. Also, my ability to relate to the client in a professional manner but still not coming off to staunch or rigid based on the population I was working with. Being able to ask open ended questions that got my client to self disclose is another strength that I observed. This strength in particular I find very key when working with adolescents and it is a skill that I need to maintain in order to work with any population. Reflective and active listening is a skill that I utilized well but could improve upon.
I felt that my nervous behavior is a limitation that I have because it did not demonstrate professional comfort. While, I was able to maintain a verbal level of professionalism my demeanor showed how uncomfortable I was on many levels. Also, I need to establish where to place my arms and my hands, because if I hold my head in my palm I appear bored. The other thing that I need to work on is following a client to make sure that they do make some level of eye contact during the session. Silence, is not something I am overly comfortable with in any situation, therefore, during my sessions I fail to allow the client to explore silence in their own way. If that is a skill I am able to improve then I will not have to rely on questions as closely...