Easten, Culture, and a Link to Psychology

This week, Easten taught us all about enhancing cultural proficiency. During his lesson, he had us play a game called “All of my Neighbors.” This game allowed me to learn a little bit more about my fellow peer mentors, but I feel I didn’t learn enough. It was all general information like how many of them own pets or who lives on a farm. I am hoping by the end of the semester I can learn a little more information. I’m not asking for them to tell me their life stories, but I do want to tear down the walls that prevent us from fully getting to know each other. Where do my fellow peer mentors really want to go? Who are their role models? What is the best advice you have ever received and why? Another thing that Easten had us do was a dot connecting activities. I had done this activity in the past, but I had forgotten the exact solution until Easten had went through it again. His activity showed that sometimes you need to go outside of the boundaries or a box to find an answer or do important things in life. Applying this to culture, I think we can say that we have to leave what we are used to in order to accomplish our goals in life. I am from a small town with no real diversity, and in order to pursue my life goals, I had to come to a big city like Ames where I met a variety of people from different walks of life. And I can say that, so far, I believe I am better for doing so.

For the next week, we had to read the chapter on interpersonal communication skills in our book. I particularly liked this chapter because the various aspects of interpersonal communication also are related to the aspects of being a psychological counselor. For example, the peer mentor relationship and the counselor-client relationship involve mutual consent. A peer mentor can’t help a student if neither party wants help. Furthermore, a counselor cannot help the client if the counselor feels uneasy about helping the client or if the client does not want to be in therapy. Another way these two positions are the same is that they are designed to produce change. The change in our peer mentor relationship is that the student is happy at college and feels safe here. The change with the counselor-client relationship is that the issue that the client came to counseling for has been resolved, or they are working to resolve it. The model for successful interpersonal communications is similar to the traits that make for a successful therapeutic relationship. Both involve attending by listening and making the person you are helping feel like they are being heard. They also both involve responding to the person you are helping by summarizing what they are saying or by interpreting what they are saying to make the issue clearer. Finally, interpersonal communications and the therapeutic relationship both involve knowing limits. It is possible that you may not be able to help your student as a peer mentor, and you may have to make a referral to a higher authority. As a counselor, the issue that a client is going through may be too difficult for you to handle, and you might have to have a more experienced therapist take over for you. Ultimately, I believe that my experience as a peer mentor will help me as a counselor in the future. I also believe that my desire to be a counselor is what helps me to be a great peer mentor.