Even though I have been studying psychology for past 7 years, the word reflection is quite new to me. I have heard that word very often from my MPhil years and it was mainly in the context of making the client reflect on few things in the session. The importance of therapist’s reflections, how the therapist feels about the process of therapy is something that I have been told very recently. Though reflection is acknowledged as a significant factor, I did not get that space to reflect very often. Once I remember, when one of my professors asked me a question that I did not know the exact answer to, I started to answer by saying, “I think…” and the professor cut me short and said, “I am not asking what “you” think, I want you to answer the question with theoretical evidence”. I remember thinking that what was the point of learning if there is no space for “my thoughts”. Ironically, this same professor often spoke of reflections in lectures. But I personally have always liked the space to reflect because that is the space where there is no right/wrong, no theories or techniques. There is this human talking about their thoughts, emotions, and experiences. So I usually included a reflective section in most of my presentations.
When I finished MPhil and started working, I was happy to be part of Therapeute mainly because of its reflective practices and when I came to know about RPG, I was very excited to know that finally I have this place where I can reflect and there will be others who would also help me with the process. So far I have attended 2 out of 3 reflective sessions. Initially I had some difficulties in opening up, but when I see others reflect so openly, it motivates me. Since we are all from same profession, when we see someone sharing their reflections I can relate to it and understand more about myself in the process.
I have also realized that it takes lot of courage to reflect. There are moments, when I stop myself from saying some things in the group. May be I think that it is silly or irrelevant and I am trying to get rid of that filter. May be I will with more such sessions.
There are few things that bother me about RPG: I feel like 1 hour is not enough and I feel like it gets over so fast. When the facilitator is reflecting on something, I feel like nobody is there is hold her like how she holds us. Again I am hoping that I will be able to be more interactive in upcoming sessions. Looking forward to more
Lincy is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist & is part of the fortnightly reflective practice groups