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Empathy Skills

Decent Essays

During this recap, I found my empathy skills strong at times, but I also found that I used some of the other skills as well. I used empathy during the beginning of the session when repeating back to Adalee that she was sad that she forgot her bunny and that she did not feel she could sleep without it. I also feel that I was able to use empathy effectively when we were going through her animals and eliminating ones that she did not want to sleep with. On the other hand, Adalee was having a hard time understanding that she needed to go to sleep and that she had to do it without her Bunny that she had left at the babysitter. This task seemed too difficult for her. As the time got later, I found myself getting frustrated, which is why I took …show more content…

For example, at the beginning, Adalee expressed that she could not sleep without her bunny and did not have him. Instead of using empathy, I began talking about how tired she was that morning and that I knew she wanted her Bunny, but she needed to go to sleep. In this moment, I was very frustrated that she was being so stubborn about a stuffed animal and I was worried about the time getting later and later. I was not truly allowing myself to be in her shoes and feel empathy for her. I struggled with this for a while. Adalee just continued to cry and I continued to become more frustrated. There came a point in which I took a deep breath and really tried to be open and empathetic. Once I remembered what I was trying to work on, I was able to start to use empathy effectively. Finally, I was able to come to realize that I needed to notice how special this Bunny was to Adalee, before she was ready to move on. I do belie that I could have gone deeper in exploring how special the Bunny was. I think that due to time, I went right into collaborative goal setting, but I feel that though I did empathize with her that the bunny was special, I did not empathize what the Bunny stood for, such as comfort or security. This may have been the key to reaching Adalee without such a …show more content…

I have tried using empathy with Adalee before in situations like these and it tends to lead into a repetitive conversation of Adalee saying she is sad and me restating with empathy. Therefore, I tired to use personal message at times to try and express my worries and my concerns. I wanted her to understand that I was sorry she didn’t have her bunny and I did wish I could fix it and make it better. I also wanted her to understand that to me it was really important that she go to sleep. I also chose to try to use inductive discipline at the end. I wanted to point out that even though this was a challenge for her and not what she wanted, she still tried it and I was thankful for her cooperation. Lastly, throughout the majority of the recap I used collaborative goal setting. I felt that this skill was necessary in this situation to accomplish what I wanted and what Adalee needed. Though I still feel as though I could have gone deeper with the empathy, I believe that I captured Adalee’s main concern; that her special animal was not with her and she needed another animal that was as special to take its place. She really needed me to understand how important her Bunny was to her. I feel that once I empathized this point with her she became more willing to explore ways to solve the problem. In all, I feel that this recap was a success. Though there are plenty of areas for

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