Extra-Academic Programs

Taking Control of Our Own Lives!
An Introduction to Principles of Cognitive Therapy and Relaxation Techniques

The PBL was given an ideal introduction with the visit on Sunday of Professor Ingvard Wilhelmsen. Dr. Wilhelmsen is a psychiatrist working in Bergen. He has written several books, the latest one is called “Take Control of Your Own Life”. In this he writes about the use of cognitive therapy techniques to control personal attitudes, emotions and behavior. In his work he uses cognitive behavioral therapy successful with clients.

The feedback from the students in this PBL group (Rabia, Odd Jørgen, Adrian, Lorela, Casimiro, Modestas and Maria) was that the presentation had been entertaining and humorous! (One person expressed surprise that for a Sunday afternoon they had managed to stay awake throughout the presentation……)

Most felt that the presentation had instilled a feeling that we are all in control of our own stresses and that sometimes our own negative thinking about stresses can actually increase the stress. Some felt his main message had been “Don’t take yourself too seriously….try to be happy and positive”.

In the PBL that followed we used his book title as our goal – to take some control over our lives. The members of the group made daily “contracts” about what they would “achieve” before the each meeting. We attempted to “clear our clutter” and set realistic targets for ourselves. We spent some time considering why we procrastinate…..

We used a number of different exercises including some case study situations (some our own…others hypothetical) These exercises illustrated the way that we all perceive the same situation in a different way according to our own thoughts / life experiences. Through talking / listening to each other and breaking down some situations we discovered more about ourselves and explored some alternative ways of looking at situations. We tried saying positive things about ourselves and found that to be more difficult than saying negative things about ourselves.

Most of the group in their evaluation felt that they had learned to evaluate difficult / stressful situations in a different way and that they were aware that often they were able to reduce the stress of a situation by trying to “check-out” whether the way that they thought about the situation was actually true or whether there was a more healthy (positive) way to think about the same situation.

Each day that we were together we practiced the technique of progressive muscular relaxation…this was something everyone became skilled at!

On the final day we took the relaxation in the warm pool. (See pictures) In their evaluation most felt they had learned a technique which they could teach others and personally use at times of stress or when experiencing sleep problems etc.

Course leader: Simon James-Eide, a former RCNUWC teacher

The idea for this PBL originated as an idea to improve communication skills at RNCUWC. Last year it was pointed out that we actively teach academic skills at the college, but we give much less attention to the communication skills required in our multi-cultural community; indeed, we “throw” people from many different backgrounds together and expect them to interact positively and learn about each other – and to somehow know how to do this. In this PBL a group of 10 students, along with Angie and Simon, gathered in order to learn to listen more effectively.

Our venue: Sperrestova

Aim
To learn how to become better listeners and learn the basic principles of co-counseling.

Description
The workshop lasted 4 days, from Sunday till Wednesday from 8:15 am to 4:30 pm, with the expectation that 2-3 hours of “homework” would be done in the evenings. The homework was very practical, involving talking and listening to others. During the group sessions we talked and listened in pairs, small groups, and as a whole group. Our listening exercises lasted from 1 minute to 20 minutes and longer. The PBL was very active and practical, with emphasis on using the skills rather than listening to Simon talk about theory.

Sunday
We learnt about the art of listening – building strength and unity through understanding by telling our stories. Listening games and sharing sessions helped us understand the value of listening and being listened to with interest and warmth, but without interruption or comment.

Monday
We told each other about our lives before Flekke, starting with the earliest memories. This was a truly unique experience to get to know each other. We realized how much we didn’t know about each other. Following this, we talked about life at the college and current challenges. This led to a discussion about “choosing perspective”, realising that our thoughts about a situation can influence the outcome. Next, we examined the ways we trust our own thinking, and how we can improve in giving positive feedback.

Tuesday
We learned how to build alliances and help organizations to function effectively. We had an interesting room meeting, which was followed up by an example of Simon listening to someone talking about “what you like about yourself”. We learned a technique for resting deeply, which involved listening. Listening as an aid to decision-making was also considered.

Wednesday
Simon introduced us to “United To End Racism” and discussed the idea of external and internalized oppression. We practiced using support groups, raised and discussed questions and points that had emerged during the project, and did some evaluation in the group.

Thursday
After Simon had left, we met to write up a report for the EAP page, to complete feedback forms for Simon, and to brainstorm ideas for the future. How do we want to use what we have learnt?

Evaluation
We became aware about the art of listening and we have acquired skills which we can apply to our daily lives at the college. We also got to know the other people in our group better. We realized that if we listen better, we learn more about each other and we probably care more as a by-product of the listening. If we are willing to listen in an effort to understand each other better, we can more easily avoid conflicts and solve problems. We had a good time listening each other, and we understand more about each other through hearing life stories. What we learned will help us to communicate and it has taught us respect and greater self-control.

Hopes for the future
The potential usefulness of what we have discussed and practiced this week is enormous. We hope and intend to “exercise our listening muscles” in many different situations at the college: in the rooms, at mealtimes, in lessons, EAC group meetings, and elsewhere. We would like advisors to use listening activities in advisor group meetings, and mentors should be told about the room meeting structure we tried out this week.

Anna P (Hungary), Danamona (Madagascar), and Mateo (Colombia) went to Finland with teacher Xiaohang (China, Canada) to work with the Finnish UWC National Committee to promote UWCs in Finland. Before departure from Norway, not only did we prepare a presentation on UWCs in general and the RCNUWC in particular, but we also rehearsed a medley of international music to jazz up our presentation.

The Finnish National Committee has a dedicated team of ex-students who volunteer their time to spread awareness about UWCs, invite Finnish students to apply, and select students to attend UWCs. Tiina (NC ’03-05) is now the chair of the Finnish National Committee and has done a tremendous job of making arrangements for our visit. We stayed with ex-students, who also acted as our guides for our visits everywhere.

And everywhere we went. Our first visits were to the two foundations which provide the funding of sending students from Finland to UWCs – the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Swedish Cultural Foundation. We learned about the history and the activities of the foundations, and the representatives there were very interested in meeting with us and hearing about what the UWC experience has meant for us. One word that frequently came up was how the experience has been ‘life-changing’.

We went to two local schools to promote UWCs and invite students to apply. In both schools, we stood at the front of an auditorium, started our presentation with greetings in Finnish, went through our presentation, had interactions with our audience, and answered any questions from the audience. We were warned, however, that not many questions would come forward as Finnish high school students would be a bit too ‘shy’ or reserved to ask. So when, in one school, at least four questions came from the audience, we were thrilled!

Our visit also included a guided tour of the Finnish Parliament, where the Minister of Migration took some time off her very busy day to meet with us and treated us to coffee. Our visit to the parliament coincided with the visits of the Turkish president and the Swedish princess, so our guided tour of the Parliament building had to be rather brief.

We also spent an entire afternoon at the Red Cross Youth central office in Finland, where we learned about the many activities the office organizes in Finland. The staff there were very hospitable and engaging and we were so glad to have the opportunity to learn in depth about Red Cross activities in Finland.

A visit to Finland would not have been complete without a visit to the sauna and a meal of reindeer meat, both of which we enjoyed very much!

It had been a very interesting, educational and valuable experience for all of us and we are also glad to have been able to contribute to UWC awareness in Finland in our PBL!