Refelction on Facilitating a Life Skills Group session: Play Participation

On February 28, 2018, I led a group session on the life skill which I chose. The life skill that I chose to focus on was play participation. I more specifically focused on the iADL of child care with the iADL of play participation. Within this group, I wanted to more or less dissect the various components of play activities and enlighten the group members on what to consider when trying to engage others in play. I honestly enjoyed facilitating this group more than I expected. I was actually incredibly nervous and worried beforehand. There were several worries that the group was not going to flow or my points were not going to be conveyed clearly for understanding. During the group, we did a few activities and had several opportunities to share thoughts and express concerns when it comes to the activity of playing. We played games as well as modified common games seen. From this experience of leading a group independently, I developed a better understanding of how overwhelming it can be to attempt to lead a group. At points, it felt more difficult than others simply because the topic was play. So my biggest dilemma was when to step in and end an activity. Essentially, mastering having control to make the group respectable but not too much control where the group was no longer fun was a hard process. I am still not confident I was successful with this in every instance during the session. Leading a group alone versus leading a group with others was a completely different experience. Honestly, I felt more concern when it was just me leading it than when I had others leading it with me. I know I felt this way because having others lead a group with you provided a better sense of security during the session. I knew if the group went astray or off topic, I would have help with the redirection. Being the only facilitator, I did not have as much confidence with this. Being the only facilitator, I was forced to step out of my comfort zone more which I found to be a wonderful learning experience. One of my personal PDE goals was to become more of a leader in a group. I definitely felt as if yesterday's session assisted in developing my leadership skills. Another aspect I took from leading this group was appreciation for the other one's who have led a group before me. I have thought about it since then and wished I had led sooner so I could have a better understanding of all the hard work these group leaders put into planning a protocol and carrying it out. Overall, the experience was a very educational one and I felt as if I developed more leadership skills because of it.