Empowering Interns: A Positive Psychology Approach to Self-Advocacy - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Empowering Interns:A Positive Psychology Approach to Self-Advocacy

Jeffrey Volkmann Ph.D.

The Catholic University of America

Why I am presenting on this topic

Personal philosophy

I think it is

important

Experiences with interns

Interns who have struggled finding jobs

Work is more enjoyable for me when interns are happy

Often a lot of focus is placed on “growth areas”

Remediation Plans

The importance of a well rounded intern

Interns need to be able to effectively communicate their strengths

What is Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology:

Is

the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to

thrive (

Selgman

&

Csikszentmihalyi

, 2000).

The

field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play

.

Popularity

2000 and

2010

Over 1000 research articles

Pop Culture

Time Magazine Cover

BBC Six part Series

Washington Post

US Military

Comprehensive fitness program

Clinical Popularity

Private Practice

Clients increasingly interested in a strengths based perspective

LGBTQ

Flourishing Group

Most Successful Group at the Counseling Center for the past 4 years

Flourishing

Flourishing, in positive psychology, refers to optimal human functioning. It comprises four

parts:

Goodness

Generativity

Growth

Resilience

(

Fredrickson &

Losada

,

2005

).

According to

Fredrickson and

Losada

(2005),

Goodness

is made up of: happiness, contentment, and effective

performance

G

enerativity

is about making life better for future generations, and is defined by “broadened thought-action repertoires and behavioral

flexibility”

G

rowth

involves the use of personal and social

assets

R

esilience

reflects survival and growth after enduring a hardship

A

flourishing life stems from mastering all four of these parts.

Why Flourish

Benefits from living a flourishing life emerge from research on the effects of experiencing a high ratio of positive to negative affect.

The

studied benefits of positive affect are increased responsiveness, “broadened behavioral repertoires

”,

Increased

instinct, and increased perception and imagination (

Fredrickson &

Losada

, 2005).

Improvements

to immune system functioning, cardiovascular recovery, lessened effects of negative affect, and frontal brain asymmetry (Fredrickson &

Losada

, 2005).

Other

benefits to those of

moderate

mental health or moderate levels of flourishing were: stronger psychological and social performance, high resiliency, greater cardiovascular health, and an overall healthier lifestyle (Keyes,

2007)

Core Virtues

Thought of as an alternative to the DSM (Peterson and

Selgman

, 2004)

The

organization of the 6 virtues and 24 strengths is as

follows:

Wisdom

and Knowledge

:

creativity

, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective,

innovation

Courage

:

bravery

, persistence, integrity,

vitality

Humanity

:

love

, kindness, social

intelligence

Justice

:

citizenship

, fairness,

leadership

Temperance

:

forgiveness

and mercy, humility, prudence, self

control

Transcendence

:

appreciation

of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

Self-Advocacy

According to American Psychological Association (APA) advocacy is defined as the act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support.

Disability Research

Self-advocacy

is an individual’s ability to effectively communicate, convey, negotiate or assert his or her own interests, desires, needs, and rights.  It involves making informed decisions and taking responsibility for those decisions. (

VanReusen

et al., 1994)

Self-knowledge is the first step towards advocating for your rights.  You need to know your strengths, needs, and interests before you can begin to advocate.

Self-advocacy skills should be learned as early as possible.

There are many opportunities to practice self-advocacy regardless of your age or communication abilities

.

The importance of Self-Advocacy

Internship

Working with clients

Working with supervisors

Working with liaison relationships

Outreach

Post-Internship

Job interviews

Negotiating salary

At the workplace

Life Satisfaction

What does Positive Psychology have to do with Self-Advocacy

A major component of self-advocacy is knowing ones strengths.

How well do you know your own strengths?

Short Exercise

Why have you advocated for yourself?

Did it help to know your strengths?

Personal Reflection

What do you like to hear when interns advocate to you?

Areas of weakness or areas of strength

Summer Group Therapy Example

Student Life Liaison Relationship

Internship Exercise I

Best Day Exercise

Tell me your best recent moment as a training director and your role in it

Cannot down play the event

Story must have a beginning and an end

Personal reflection

Professional Development Seminar

Best internship moment of the week

Best clinical moment of the week

What personal strengths facilitated these moments

Helping interns both see their strengths and get used to talking about them

Internship Exercise II

Savoring

Being aware of pleasures and purposefully paying attention to the experience of pleasure (Bryant &

Veroff

, 2007)

Four kinds of savoring

Basking (receiving congratulations or praise)

Thanksgiving (

i.e

expressing gratitude for positive experiences)

Marveling (i.e. getting caught up in the experience of wonder or awe)

Luxuriating (indulging the sense)

Techniques to improve Savoring

Share experience with others

Memory-building (Focus on senses or make mental note)

Self-congratulation

Sharpen your perceptions (Block out distractions/killjoy thinking

Kill-joy thinking (how something could have been better, not as good as someone else could do it)

Absorption (totally absorbed in event)

Internship Exercise III

Savoring Continued

Professional development seminar

Focusing on positive moments from the week

What just

went

well in a session?

What just went well during my outreach?

What did it feel like when it went well

?

In the moment activities

Focus on the positive in between sessions

Reduce Kill-joy thinking

Tell people about it!

Focus on what you are doing well

Communicate with your fellow interns and staff members.

Cultural Considerations

It may be difficult for certain cultures to feel comfortable speaking about themselves in a positive manner

Suh, E. M., & Oishi, S. (2002

)

findings:

People living in individualistic, rather than collectivist, societies are

happier

Psychological

attributes characterizing the self (e.g., self-esteem, self-consistency) are more relevant to the happiness of Western individualists than to the happiness of

collectivists

The

self-judgment of happiness is anchored on different types of cues and experiences across

cultures

Cultural ConsiderationsContinued

Chang

(2000)

Asian Americans and White Americans

Similar levels of optimism

Asian Americans tend to be more pessimistic than White Americans

No significant differences in depression rates

Pessimism is positively linked with problem solving for Asian Americans

Pessimism is negatively linked with problem solving for White Americans

What does this mean

Culture is going to impact the use of Positive Psychology with an intern cohort

It is important to be up front with interns about what you are doing and why you are doing it

Every intern will go at their own pace

Consider the unique cultural considerations that may be impacting an interns’ ability to speak about her/his self in positive terms

Exercise

Cultural Self-Study

Relation to positive psychology

Family of Origin

Who are your people

What is your family saga

Completing Demanding Journey

Fighting for country

Sacrificing

Worshiping in their own way

Enduring historical change or traumatic events

Family Strengths Exercise

Family Tree

Common strengths

Unique strengths

Conclusion

Why use positive psychology techniques

Learning to self-advocate is an important component of an intern’s development

Understanding and knowing one’s strengths can be an important tool when self-advocating

In my experience interns often struggle when asked to speak about their strengths

Adding positive psychology techniques to your internship program will generally be very rewarding and FUN!

Questions

References

Bryant, F. B., &

Veroff

, J. (2007).

Savoring: A new model of positive experience

. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Chang

EC (

2000)

Cultural influences on optimism and pessimism: Differences in western and eastern

construals

of the self. In: Chang EC (ed.) Optimism and Pessimism: Implications for Theory, Research and Practice. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 257-280

.

Fredrickson, B. L., &

Losada

, M. F. (2005). Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing.

American Psychologist

, 60(7),

678-686

Keyes, C. L. (2007). Promoting and protecting mental health as flourishing: A complementary strategy for improving national mental health.

American Psychologist

Seligman

, M.E.P., &

Csikszentmihalyi

, M. (2000). Positive Psychology: An introduction.

American Psychologist

, 55(1), 5-14

.

Suh

, E. M., &

Oishi

, S. (2002). Subjective Well-Being Across Cultures.

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 10

(1

)

Van

Reusen

, A.K.,

Bos

, C.S.,

Schumaker

, J.B., & Deshler, D.D. (1994).

The self-advocacy strategy

. Lawrence, KS: Edge Enterprises.