Master's Journey Part 3: Practicum experience during Covid-19 Pandemic
Assalamualaikum and happy Eid!
Today, I'll be sharing with everyone my very first practicum experience as a trainee counsellor. As been mentioned in my previous post, half of my practicum journey was spent in Darul Quran, Kuala Kubu Bharu. I reported for duty on 4th January 2021 and I spent almost 3 months there. I did my practicum there with my classmate, Kak Nonie and there was another fella with us from another university. Anyway, we were told that the students will only come back on the 20th, so until then we will have to do other things. After less than a week being there, the govt decided to have PKP. So during that 2 weeks, Kak Nonie and I went back to KL and only 2 weeks later we came back to DQ. I still remember, I had my first ever ever client on 26th January, and oh boy was I the happiest person on Earth upon receiving a message from that particular client😆 I am forever grateful to her!
Anyways, all in all my journey there was a valuable one. Not just it was my first experience with real clients, but that place itself was a special one. A place that is full with barokah💗💗💗 The students there are so nice..so polite. It was an honour that I was given the opportunity to do my practicum there, training myself to practice conducting my sessions in an Islamic way. As a Muslim counsellor to-be, it's important to train ourselves to practice reciting du'a everytime before we start and end our counselling sessions :)
Our colleagues there were so nice too! Since we are in the Psychology and Counselling Unit, we are in the Department of Student Affairs. The head department is a very nice person and everyone in the department are like family. We often have makan-makan there, siap masak together and went for grocery shopping together haha! Okay, ni dah lari tajuk dah hahaha...
Tbh, it was not an easy journey for us. At first it was because of the 2 weeks of PKP, and then we have some problems in getting clients. In this covid era, not many people are ready to meet a stranger ftf😅 Not just that, mental health awareness is still lacking in our society. Most people also have negative perceptions towards us- counsellors. Whenever I meet my clients for the first time, I would ask them these questions: "Have you ever went for counselling before?, What was your first impression about meeting a counsellor? or What do you know about counselling?". Their answers did not surprise me though, as I am very much aware of the negative stereotypes people have about counsellors or anything related to mental health really. Anyhow, I managed to settle my individual sessions there with the students, but I still have quite a few more hours to collect for group and career counselling. Therefore, I came back to KL and I'll be collecting the remaining hours here, in another place.
While me and my fellow intern friends were there, we got the opportunity to approach the students and staff there through our mental health awareness booth during the "Selangkah ke Menara Gading" programme organised by the Alumni Unit. It was a tiring but FUN 2 days of opening the booth. We met a bunch of new walk-in clients, meeting different people on those 2 days and the most fun part to me was being able to talk about mental health with the students (other than my clients). I was in charged to prepare the reading materials and infographics regarding mental health, and I chose to share about Anxiety, Panic Attack and Depression as those were the common ones to be experienced among students. We also prepared a bunch of fun games at our booth to attract people, and we also prepared the "Dream High" section whereby everyone can write literally anything and hang it to be read by everyone. The section were filled with motivational words, confessions, wise words and advice in no time! Everyone was so excited writing and hanging their words there, including the Director!😆
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