Reflection

Hi there,

We are going to look at:

Reflection and Self-evaluation Keep Us Honest

Well, that makes sense, but how do we do that? We definitely need to find time, because for most of us, it is not part of our job description and our days can be so busy that we don't stop to eat, much less reflect. A good weekly supervision can be a time to do this. Otherwise, you have to make the time.

I am a self-evaluation junkie. I love to reflect and look at my motives and what needs improvement. For me, I need to learn how to look at what I am doing right. It is easy for me to feel like I have so much to learn, that I never celebrate or feel good about what I have accomplished.

For some people, it is hard to look at themselves. We have learned to avoid looking bad, and we don't want to know what we aren't doing well.

In the field of youth work, however, we must reflect and self-evaluate. We must be honest. We must walk our talk. We must be willing to own our stuff. We must be able to apologize or make amends when we have been wrong or disrespectful.

One way to maintain this practice is to listen for constructive advice from the youth. They will often tell us what we need to hear about ourselves. It is hard to own sometimes, but often they are right. Then ask your peers for help in working through an issue or seek help yourself in how to change.

I know of a youth worker who was getting increasingly frustrated with the teens who were talking about drug and alcohol use. She was lecturing them constantly on the evils of chemical abuse. One teen finally told her that she was judgemental and acting like their parents. She came to me and said that she couldn't work with the youth anymore. But she was willing to reflect and realized that her own teen issues were getting in the way. She got honest and admitted that she was an alcoholic herself, but had stopped attending 12 step meetings. She started back to AA and finished her internship. Amazingly she took a full-time job at an adolescent treatment center. She is still there years later.

Let's stay in tune with ourselves. Let's stay honest.

LA