my INVOLVEMENTS, as it is...

The EXPANDERS Ministry (TALOMO EDITION)
An Outreach Subgroup of Zaphenath Paneah Performing Arts, Inc.

The Expanders Ministry was, like any other endeavor, a dream that was just waiting to materialize. Its primary aim is to help enlarge God’s territory through educating and mentoring children of God’s love and grace for them through Values Formation Classes that would be held in chosen community areas during Sunday afternoons.

Zaphenath Paneah Performing Arts, Inc (ZPPAi) as its mother organization is dedicated in reaching the unreached through performing arts. Yet, its leaders recognized that during periods of time when the group is not scheduled for a show, it would still have to continue its goal to “reach the unreached.” Hence, with the initiative of the Spiritual Committee Head, Glenda Pojas-Llido, and Student-Pastor Clint Abib Autida, the concepts of the Expanders Ministry finally pushed through. Zaphean members began to volunteer and present themselves for the much-needed teachers and assistant teachers for the Values Formation Classes.

The first Expanders Values Formation Class series was held at the Holy Trinity Community at Sparrow, Ecoland. For six consecutive Sundays, the classes were held in the vicinity of the Day Care Center of the said area. On December 14, 2008, Sunday, the Culmination Night was held successfully with the students from all classes participating, performing and awarded for their attendance and efforts.

During the planning meeting for 2009 of ZPPAi’s officers, it was decided that the Spiritual Committee, with the help of the External Committee Head, Dennis Comidoy, would hold another Expanders Outreach in the Talomo area. With much prayer, it was another exciting preparation for all! With the class materials ready, the teachers and assistant teachers, both old and new volunteers, were oriented last March 29, 2009 at the Talomo Grace Gospel Church, where they were taught how to deal with kids from various age groups, what to expect from them, what these kids are capable of. All the teachers understood the duties and challenges that they were about to partake. And they were gladly taking the responsibility!

On the same day, the group also had the Enrollment for the Values Formation Class. With the enthusiasm of the volunteers and the warm welcome of the Talomo Center Beachside community’s parents and kids, the volunteers were able to invite children and young people to attend the Classes that were to start the following Sunday, April 5, 2009.

For 5 consecutive Sundays, the Expanders were able to hold Classes in the basketball space of the said community. The children were mostly consistent in their attendance, very cooperative, knowledgeable and were quick to grasp the lessons that the teachers taught. The lessons were centered on praying, seeking God’s will, and being good and kind to everyone, even our enemies. They were also able to understand that there exists a God who is the Father and Creator who loves them very much—so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for their sins. His Son, Jesus the Savior, gave His life so that we may have eternal life. A gift that the Expanders want so much to share to these children and young people.

The Expanders Ministry is an outreach program organized not to convert children and young people into a religious group but to help them recognize that everyone needs the Savior. And that this Savior could only be Jesus Christ, from whom we receive eternal life by forming a personal relationship with Him, not joining a church. And we grow in this spiritual relationship with God through praying, reading the Bible, listening to His Words, doing service in His name, and sharing the Good News of Salvation to others who need to hear it.

These are the lasting lessons that we are hoping and praying to leave the children. Thank you to the parents who allowed their children to attend the classes, to the Community leaders who allowed us to held these activities, to the Talomo Grace Gospel Church for their support and to God, for making all things possible.

The Expanders Ministry was able to include the Center Beachside, Talomo community in the enlargement of God’s territory!


***a perdurable a day, helps you sleep, work and play

My Own Counseling Approach

As a learner of the helping profession, it is a helper-in-training’s appropriate response to explore the kind of approach(es) he or she holds in trying to help others, as a result of becoming acquainted with the vast world of theories presented by studies done years before we even came into existence. As we gain knowledge and experience, it will soon be apparent that we hold specific beliefs, techniques and roles that were plucked from the trays of counseling approaches offered to us by schools of thoughts, which delved into the wondrous world of counseling.

As a Christian, a Filipino, and a woman, the approach that I have the tendency to work with may be quite unique from a Western counterpart’s. Even a fellow learner of the counseling profession who goes to the same class that I do may even hold a different set of approach. And I believe this is interesting and healthy. Interesting because it will become apparent that the kind of lives we live, and our personalities leave an imprint on the way we help others. Yet this is healthy because such variety also caters to the persons from different walks of life that are in need of professional help.

As we journey through my own counseling approach, I will do the best that I possibly could to present the repertoire of beliefs, perceptions and strategies that I have in mind when someone approaches me with the hopes of some kind of enlightenment in the midst of life’s confusion and battles.

Realism, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy

We continued with our lesson about Philosophy today. Moving on with the views of Aristotle’s Realism and the other emerging philosophical perspectives during the Medieval and Renaissance periods.

Aristotle believed that objects of sense or perception exist independently of the mind. A student of Plato, he differed from his teacher in philosophical views. Aristotle sought truth by investigating the real world around him. His work reflected the philosophical orientation called realism and forms the basis for scientific method. Despite the lack of scientific equipment and basic knowledge of the laws of nature, Aristotle pushed science forward by acting on the belief that the study of matter would lead to a better understanding of ideas.

As a student of Psychology, I am agreeable to Aristotle’s belief that as individuals experience the world, they develop and refine concepts about objects through direct experience. Knowledge exists independent of human knowing and so it is the role of educators, counselors and psychologists to guide students and clients in the world they live.

We moved forward to the discussion of Medieval Philosophy, Thomas Aquinas’ Thomism and St. Augustine’s Christianity which now hold the basis for the Catholic Church today. Their philosophies have such strong influences during their time that it was used to answer psychological questions. Although they used reason to study psychological processes, they did not use scientific method to study them.

It is my belief that during that time, people were so thirsty for religious dogma that there seemed to be a decline of philosophical studies done with the ways of Plato and Aristotle. It seems that people were more attuned to the “supernatural” or a Greater Being that empiricism might have been erased from the face of the earth if not for a brave few who chose to stress the importance of gaining knowledge pragmatically and through the senses.

Fortunately, the Renaissance period hailed more on philosophy to once again answer to psychological questions. Rene Descartes’ “I think therefore I am” went to he extreme of using reasoning to prove one’s existence. He contributed much, though, to modern intellectual outlook, which opposes blind acceptance of proclamations put forth by authorities, religious or otherwise. Which explains why church leaders became so threatened by Descartes’’ challenge—that people should base their beliefs on observation and life experiences.

At this point, I reflected that although there is such a thing as faith, on which we base our belief in God, we also need to have an observational basis for believing things. As Filipinos are trying to move towards a progressive society, I also notice that sometimes, we go backwards. Just out of the blue, a miracle priest comes out in the open and people would rush to him to be “healed” without even trying to find out if they are just being played. There are some who perform dances, go to saints’ churches or statues because they heard that it could get them pregnant, heal them from their disease or illnesses and even spend much on something that does not even guarantee anything.

Personally, I grew up in a religious family. My parents are into church work and as a child I have heard the teachings of our sect many times. Yet, as I grew older, I realized that I needed to find out the basis for these teachings. I cannot go on, live them, and share them to others if I cannot defend the truthfulness in them. I guess it is also the same with philosophy. I serves as a guideline for our lives, our careers, our practice so we should know its basis, its foundations so that we can understand ourselves and even other people who may hold the same philosophy as we do, or differ from us.

Idealism, Realism, Thomism and Humanism and its guidelines for teachers, psychologists and counselors

With many of the basic philosophies discussed, we came into a comparison of helping professionals who hold different views.

For the idealist, education is seen as the vehicle for social mobility. Students/Clients should realize that they have responsibilities towards themselves and to other people. People are born with knowledge and educators are supposed to hone this innate capability to learn through dialogues and interactive learning sessions. Wisdom and goodness should be ingrained on the students/clients to produce individuals who are mentally healthy and morally good. With idealism as philosophy, students/counselees are asked to examine and reflect upon their perceptions of life, truth, beauty and justice. They are to strive towards attaining perfection and thus should be given opportunities to learn.

Clients/students are to be of high moral character and should consider the greater good of the society in which each class and unit would be working harmoniously with each other. Idealist teachers, psychologists and counselors would move towards traditional values and belief systems that are thought to make the world a better place to live in. They are apt to educate their students/clients of idealistic viewpoints and teach truth as a universal belief that a person should work for to be truly happy and actualized.

For the more godly perspective, education is based on the logical study of beliefs of the church. Students should be taught about God with the combination of reason and faith—this then enables students to acquire and use bodies of knowledge.

Teachers, psychologists and counselors who are thomists see their students/clients as co-servers of God. People are created by God and are therefore, to be respected and treated as humanely as possible. Counseling and teaching are done with a theological perspective. Students/clients are taught that reality is an ordered world created by God and that people should strive for eternity with Him. Faith is combined with reason to acquire and use bodies of knowledge.

The humanistic perspective contends for this: education and learning is a vehicle for growth and actualization. The person has the potential to become the best that he can be—he has the natural tendency to learn, therefore education should provide a nourishing environment for a person to fully develop.

Students and clients are viewed to be inherently good, free yet responsible, and full of potentials. They are encouraged to strive for personal meaning in their experience and interpretation of life on earth. Exploration, questioning and critical thinking is encouraged when teaching and counseling. These enable students and clients to discover or construct and use knowledge. The affective dimension of learning is used as well.

As a student and also a part of the helping profession today, I feel that it is important that I learn all of these perspectives. I am aware that I am more of the idealist type but I acknowledge the significance of knowing all the other perspectives so that I will be more effective in helping even those who hold a different philosophy from me. As much as people can be having different goals and motivations in life, the beliefs and philosophies that one holds will always affect the way we decide and carry out our everyday tasks—something that a helping professional-in-training like me should know.

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES SELF-ASSESSMENT

We scored the questionnaire today. It is a self-assessment test to let us find out the educational philosophies that we currently hold. The specific questions were all about our opinions on school curriculum, focus, learning, etc. And guess what? I scored highest in the Cognitivism/Constructivism and Humanism philosophies!

I tried to reflect on the truth that the test holds for me. As a part-time college instructor, I introspected on how I saw students, their process of learning and my role in the process. I am not a spoon-feeder. I give my students the outline for each of our lesson before we even discuss it and expect them to do readings on their own. Of course, I let them know that those are my expectations from them. That is why I even have a pretest before the lecture just to check if they did their part. This is because I believe that students actively construct their own understanding of reality through acting upon and reflecting on their experiences. When a new concept, event or experience comes upon them, it is now my role (as their instructor) to facilitate this new learning so that they can incorporate it with their existing schema.

Yet, I am also a humanist because I have this firm belief that each student has potentials and can be fully actualized. Personally, I believe that we are in school and we continually learn (that’s why I am pursuing a Master’s degree) because learning helps us to become the best that we can be. I have students who are bound to fail because of laziness and yet I still take time to talk to them and give them consultation periods because I want to give them hope that they can still work on performing better. I always tell my students that the result of their semestral marks always depends on them—they have control over the events in their lives. I believe that people are inherently endowed intellectually and with good hearts strive for a better state in life. We have the freedom but we must be responsible in how we use this freedom.

So what is my role as their instructor? I believe that I can facilitate growth for my students through encouragement and support for them. If they face obstacles (which they will), I believe I can help them by letting them see these obstacles as challenges that will help them grow. They must be continually reminded that they possess unlimited potential for growth and development; that they will learn and become the best they can be.

I hope I would be able to use my educational philosophies as a basis in my teaching and in helping students through counseling. I believe that being a Cognitivist and Humanist is a good combination for seeing human beings as active learners and hold the potential for maximum growth and development.

Discussion on Ethical Guidelines

Doctors observe ethical codes to which they adhere to. So do nurses, soldiers, teachers, professional helpers, industrial practitioners, etc. With the existence of this guidelines, how is it beneficial? Well, primarily ethics give us a “bible” to live by and help us to avoid malpractice.

As a future helping professional, I think it is very advantageous to us and to our clients that such guidelines exist. It protects both sides and ensures that a healthy helping relationship can exist between client and helper.

As for the class, we were able to discuss two ethics models that put industries into developmental stages of observing ethical codes. We learned about the Archie Carroll Model and the Reidenbach and Robin Model.

Both the Carroll and the Reidenbach & Robin models of industrial ethics give normative representations. It gives series of normative value statement which can be applied to classify a firm or industry’s behavior, particularly on issues that hedge around ethics or morality. Both models also show that companies usually start with only profit and success in mind, no matter what. The point is to establish the firm so as to produce profit and keep the operations going. Also, both models acknowledge that eventually, firms move on to a legalistic viewpoint (legal but not necessarily ethical), then to a more ethical or philanthropic attitude.

But they also differ in that the Reidenbach & Robin Model gives rise to the stage of “Emerging Ethical” (4^th developmental stage), in which the company is going through the transition of not only following the law, but interpreting it in the most ethical manner.

I would consider the organization to which I currently belong to be in the Level 3 – Ethical stage for the Carroll model and in the Stage 4 – Emerging Ethical for the Reidenbach & Robin model. Because I belong to an institution and the clientele are students, their best interest is foremost in the management’s agenda. I remember the owner reiterating that as much as possible, he does not want any increase in tuition fees because the school is supposed to cater to the youth who belong to the poverty line. Also, the owner is not exactly particular in the profits that the school produces because aside from owning a number of establishments in the city, their family has already dedicated the school to the causes of the Catholic Church, along with the ideals and beliefs of a former Pope.

I am not a manager as of the moment but if I do become one, I would want to belong to the highest levels of both models. I do not want to be strictly legalistic in approaching issues within the organization but I would also want to decide for the best of majority of the persons involved.

Learning these ethical models and their developmental stages, I went on to reflect on the following personal questions.

How would I react if I was asked to act in a way that was ethically compromising to my moral position?

I would be reacting with obvious displeasure and unwillingness to comply with such requests. Even if it may be “dangerous” to my career, I would express my sentiments to the superior who asked me to do such task. I would immediately tell him or her that such an act is unethical and could cause a mar on my personal integrity, my company character and possibly, the organization’s reputation.

Would I react differently if my manager or superior said to me that refusal to comply would be a “career limiting decision”?

No. Because if such blackmail would be used by a superior then I don’t think that the organization has put much emphasis on the right values and building integrity amongst its top personnel. And if this is the case, then I would want to get out of that organization as soon as possible. I would not want to be given career progress opportunities but with the exchange of my beliefs and my ethical & moral standards.

How would I go about trying to reform poor practice in my organization?

Firstly, it has to start with myself. I cannot preach without practicing what I believe in. Also, actions speak louder than words. If people see that doing the right thing gives peace of mind, even if this peace does not equate to monetary gain, it is still more important to be able to be proud of honestly hard-earned salary than to enjoy ill-gotten wealth. Such integrity would also reflect on my productivity and working relationship with fellow workers. With this, I can be of good influence to them. Hopefully, I would be able to show them a better way of completing tasks without being morally compromised.

Discussion on Psychological Foundations – Gestalt Perspective

Today’s lesson was all about the Gestalt perspective and the foundations that it laid for practicing counselors. The basic belief of the Gestalt is that knowledge is based on experience and counselors make the person aware of his/her experience since the person has the ability to self-regulate.

The Gestalt theory of change states that the more we attempt to be who or what we are not, the more we remain the same. So we are not trying to change ourselves when we say that we try to be different rather we change when we become aware of what we are.

One of its basic concepts is Holism, which means taking the person as a whole. This means that counselors cannot place value on a particular aspect of a person but attend to the client’s every aspect: thoughts, feelings, behavior, body, dreams, etc.

The Field theory is grounded on the principle that the organism must be seen in its context as part of its constantly-changing field. For the figure-formation process, the figure is the image or the need in focus, the rest becomes the background. Organismic self-regulation is the process in which equilibrium is disturbed due to a need or interest, thus the client would need to self-regulate in order to return to a homeostatic state.

One of the things that I like about the Gestalt perspective is its focus on The Now. The present circumstance is what leads the counselor and it is made concrete to the client by asking “What” and “How” questions. This way, the client feels his/her present emotions, and if the past is affecting the present, he/she will be made aware of the experience, afterwards the feelings are processed.

There is also the thing about the Unfinished Business. These unresolved conflicts are usually manifested in experienced feelings: anxiety, rage, grief, etc. The unacknowledged feelings create unnecessary debris that clutters present-centered awareness, thus it is the goal of the Gestalt therapy to create and attain awareness, which means knowing the environment and accepting oneself.

If I am a counselor with a Gestalt approach, the following would be my functions: assist the client in developing his/her own awareness and experiences, know what is the client’s form and background, encourage client awareness of present moment, do not force change through confrontation but in the context of “I-You” dialogue, focusing on the Here and Now, pay attention to the client’s body language, nonverbal cues, incongruence in the body language and words and the overt speaking habits.