Psychological Development Program: Upgrading Personal And Professional Skills, At Teachers

2.1.Objectives

According to the specific literature, the goals in personal development process converge on

"developing existential coping strategies, personal resources activation, complementary or compensatory,

so that individuals, groups or collectives (...) find their own solutions, using their potential available "

(Mitrofan, 2008, p. 26).

The fundamental aims when creating work activities for the laboratory of communication were to

offering a secure environment for having real opportunities in view of knowing, recognizing and

developing personal potential, in order to optimize general functioning, at a personal and professional

level. Communication Laboratory met all the requirements for its validation as a favorable framework for

implementing, observing and highlighting the effects of this form of complementary education, as can be

understood in this context, the process of personal development.

Students enrolled in the program were teachers with various educational specialties: math

professors, Romanian, history, foreign language and geography teachers. Also, they came from different

pre-university educational institutions in several Romanian cities, this being an important detail for the

socio-cultural specific. There were a total of 30 teachers, men and women, which were within the age

category of 40-55 years.

The general objectives of the development process were preserved regardless of the age of the

participants, namely identifying and unlocking their personal and professional potential. However, in

terms of working with adults, activity-specific work practice catches the nuances of working with this

specific category due to their level of training and the specific professional area. Among the most

challenging situations can be mentioned the "fighting pride" of a professional experienced adult, that can

sometimes be seen in their attitude, considering themselves as being highly developed at a personal and

professional level, showing less or no availability for activities of self-knowledge. On the other hand,

another phenomenon often met in working with adults is the defense reaction against new situations, seen

as a possible source of tension and frustration that can lead to passive-aggressive attitudes, choosing not

to involve in specific self-development activities.

Therefore, the laboratory of communication aimed at creating a secure work environment, adapted

to students specific, taking into consideration the theories of ages psychology, in order to increase the

emotional security of the participants, which were assumed to be fundamental for building authentic

collaborative relationship and the desire to involve in the work activities proposed.

In this context, building a solid framework for increased uniformity and cohesion of the group,

was necessary, following the premises that these elements can increase interest for integration and

participation.

The entire work process was founded on a valuable statement saying that ”the key for all the

interventions that are subscribed to psychological counselling is to develop new existential coping

strategies, activation of personal blocked resources, for the people involved in this process find their

personal balance” (Mitrofan, & Nuță, 2009, p.3).

2.2.Research Methods

Communication Lab is among the learning activities that are part of the undergraduate curriculum

in the field of psychology, at the Department of Psychology at the University of Pitesti. Although direct

experience working with previous generations of students demonstrated the positive effects of

communication activities, in the sense of self-knowledge and fostering optimal attitudes and skills,

working with adults, that had with wide professional experience and stable personality traits, was an

advantage but also a disadvantage for their abilities to adapt to fundamental new experiences as proposed

in the developmental process.

Work techniques and methods specific for the process of personal development are "common to

psychotherapy and psychological counseling (...) regardless of theoretical orientation of the therapist (...)

structured in phases and therapeutic steps that are being grounded by the personality theories and by a

certain philosophy of life, expressed in a specific therapeutic orientation"(Mitrofan, 2008, p. 16).

The proposed activities for the laboratory of communication were designed to accommodate the

several specific coordinates of the group: the age category (adult), specific gender (men and women in

relatively equal proportion), socio-cultural (areas of origin covering the whole country). Therefore, it can

be said that developing the Communication laboratory was a real challenge, starting with construction of

the work activities, and continuing to face all the unexpected reactions of the people involved, that can’t

be fully anticipated since this activity is a present-grounded and dynamic experience. The

Communication laboratory proved to be a real source for personal and professional development for all

those involved in the educational process.

An important observation was that the coordinator of the activities, although a specialist in

psychology domain, did not show in any way professional superior to participants, the essence of the

activities being precisely the "peer to peer" management of the class, alternating roles, the coordinator

being a leader, a facilitator, a mediator, a learner, exposed himself to group dynamics. From this

perspective, it is very important that the coordinator of a personal development and communication

laboratory, has a wide experience in psychology field, which implies a significant number of personal

development modules experienced for his own development. It’s important to highlight the need for

personal development process of the coordinator, for he can be able to play a genuine guide for other’s

self-knowledge process, to avoid work errors, knowing that there is a thin border between empathy and

the lack of personal boundaries and defenses.

The process of personal development include a variety of „verbal and nonverbal expressive and

creative techniques, having the methodological coordinates more rigorously developed" (Mitrofan, 2008,

p. 17), unlike the psychological counseling that means addressing the individual personality at a

superficial level, situational, strictly focused on a pressing life situations. In other words, the process of

personal development is seen as closer to the depth of psychotherapy than to psychological counseling

services. At the end of the sessions, techniques inspired from Frankl’s logotherapy work methods were

used. “Logotherapy is centered rather on the future, aiming for the meaning that the pacient will give to

his own future” (Frankl, 2010, p.110). As the author says, supporting the pacient to be aware of the

meaning of his own life, will help him find his motivation and personal balance.

The communication laboratory centered on personal development of the participants were

sustained over two hours, with weekly frequency, over a number of 12 work sessions.

In creating the general framework of the sessions, were taken into account the steps that the

participants are taking in such an experiential process, which are common and universally applicable to

any process of personal development regardless of the therapeutic orientation of the facilitator (the

coordinator). According to the literature, these phases are, in the order that they stand along the process:

the exploration phase of the "personal map", the participant phase of confrontation the coherence between

the internal map and external behaviors, the outsourcing step/direct expression of his experiences, the

resignification phase or self-transformation by integrating the work experience.

Thus, all the sessions have been structured to allow participants to cross each fundamental step of

this personal development process, the work themes being organized according the needs of the

participants.

Thus, the first three labs centered on self-knowledge and knowing themselves as a group, one of

the stated goals being to create together a non-formal setting in a formal context, an objective that

triggered a series of reactions that leaded to the astonishment participants, the retention to involve of

some of them, the openness and exuberant feedback of others in front of inexperienced situations.

The working method involved exercises for self-knowledge, at the same time favoring the

intercommunication of the participants, following the premise that "in a group therapy, especially in the

early stages, rebutting the feelings of uniqueness (..) is a powerful source of relief" (Yalom, 2009, p. 34).

In other words, in the first three work sessions centered on personal development, participants had the

opportunity to discover that, often, what they believed to be a "unique" problem, often is found at the

level of the other participants who reported living the same blockages, frustration or anxiety sources,

which on the one hand reduced the anxiety level of the person concerned, on the other hand, increasing

the cohesion and emotional support in the working group level. Also, the objective of the first three

sessions was to establish a secure relationship between the coordinator and the participants, based on

mutual trust and respect, empathy and emotional security. The literature indicates "therapeutic

relationship" as a key factor in achieving success in the therapy process, regardless the specific of the

therapist orientation or existential situation of the client/patient. Dynamic communication within the

laboratory work was very close to the psychotherapeutic context, the reactions and personal acquisitions

being equivalent to those which would be outlined in such specific context.

Of course, it is important to note that although the proposed activity was not having a declared

psychotherapy specific, the phases constituting such a psychological process and the professional training

of facilitator, helped undoubtedly getting some positive effects with psychotherapeutically meaning.

At this stage of self-awareness, one of the proposed exercise was in which each participant had to

answer himself the question "Who am I?".

Apparently an easy question, in fact creating various feedback among participants. All these

reactions, attitudes, feelings were write down by the coordinator and then discussed with each of them,

inside the working group. Very likely, this question might be easy to answer for a person coming from a

psychology field, but fort the participant at the self-development sessions, this challenge was indeed a

significant one, directing the participants to discuss very personal aspects of their lives, otherwise not

highlighted in the everyday life, not being a usual topic to talk about.

One of the objectives of this personal development laboratory, was to reconnect the participants

with their personal world, the Self, in a life context that implies everyday cautions and individual

involvement in external activities, providing few opportunities to connect to itself, to an authentic self-

knowledge. Moreover, at this stage the participants were encouraged to express their empathy towards the

others members of the group, for upgrading the group cohesion and positive interrelations. One of these

activities was the role playing or working in pairs, helping them to learn how „to be present”, living here

and now, being empathetic, creative, learning to listen not just hear what others have to say, learning to be

patient, assertive and involved in his own life experience.

The following three labs were built on a series of activities with pronounced provocative specific,

aiming to put the participants in the position to face their own internal contents (needs, frustrations,

behaviors, expectations, attitudes) and expressing them, to analyze the overlap between internal believes

and external manifestations. At this stage we used to work with metaphors, a specific technique PEU -

unifying experiential psychology, psychotherapeutic guidance proposed and patented by PhD. professor

Iolanda Mitrofan. Thus, the participants experienced playing with dough and free drawing. The

coordinator noted the important details seen at each student during achieve tasks, which have been the

subject of further discussions. For a holistic understanding of the experience, the feedback coming from

every participant was put together with the notes taken by the coordinator, putting together all the verbal

and nonverbal information, for better descripting the unconscious message displayed during applied

activities.

The next three sessions were focused on fostering communication, empathy and expression of the

will, the ability to be objective about emotions, thoughts and personal behaviors. At this stage, the

techniques used were based on movement exercises, these activities freeing the body and mind, favoring

dynamism, optimism and involvement in activities. The participants worked both individually and in

pairs. One of the exercises proposed implied that some of the participants seated in chairs and others had

to make free movements on a song that could be heard in the background. The exercise was aimed at

raising awareness of their own emotions and thoughts under the direct gaze of others. The team of

"observers" had the task of "guessing" the thoughts and feelings of others staying in front of them. At the

end of the exercise, we held discussion on shared experiences lived previously, the obtained feedback will

be discussed in the conclusions section.

The next communication labs have had centered on revaluating the entire work experience, in

which each participant had the necessary time to formulate a genuine opinion in relation to what brought

back all the experiences, for their own process of personal development. Each participant completed a

self-analysis report after following these labs communication, to settle their experiences and to secure

personal purchases, acquired in this learning environment.

The reason there were allocated three sessions to finish the series of communication and

developmental laboratories, was to prepare the stage of "closing the circle" in a suitable manner, leaving

that emotional secure context of the group and preparing for implementing the new acquisitions in

external personal life context.