Why Does It Matter?
Reflective Practice has many benefits to you in your role as a Peer Volunteer and a developing facilitator, and can help you to focus on planning for future experiences.
Main Benefits
When you’re learning you are likely to be very involved in the moment and doing your best in the here and now. It can be easy to become too narrowly focused in this situation. Reflective practice allows you to look at the bigger picture. Undertaking regular reflection, for example after each time you facilitate, can really help you to think about your continued learning and development.
It can really help with internal ‘self-talk’. We all have a little voice inside our heads which reminds us of all the things we could have done differently in certain situations. Reflecting on an experience can help to put this voice to use as we learn from what we have done and move forward.
It gives you areas to improve on or develop your knowledge and skills. Undertaking reflections can help you to think about areas that you can work on as well as what you are doing well.
Reflection can help you to be more creative and try new things. It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut and it can be helpful to think about what you are doing and why you are doing it. This can help to spark new ideas and new ways of thinking.
Human nature means that we all make assumptions about people and situations. Taking a step back and reflecting can help you to challenge some of these assumptions and see things from a new perspective.
Reflection is a key part of emotional intelligence – the ability to understand and remain in control of our emotions. This is a useful skill to have both for our own wellbeing and when working with others.
It helps to maintain a healthy life balance by offering a defined process for thinking things through and learning from them.
How To Reflect
Now you understand the benefits of being reflective how do you actually go about doing it? There is no one magic formula to follow and you will find that what works for your peers might not work for you. Some people find reflecting out loud works for them whilst for others it’s a really private thing.
You can be really organised and write your reflections down or you can do it as and when you can. It’s best if you can reflect regularly as this will help you get into the habit and you will be able to build on what you learn. You can reflect creatively through drawing, writing or poetry, as well as in conversation with others.
Films For Thought
These films are provided to give you some underpinning understanding around this idea of Reflective Practice and to help you develop your own thinking.