The therapeutic healing process of mirror effect in group counseling education

Therapeutic healing does not happen randomly. There are recognizable stages in the process of integrating experiences and gaining insights from group therapy. How do mirror effects take place in experiential group counselling education? In what ways does the mirror effect influence the psychological process and generate healing effects? This study explored the stages in the therapeutic process of the mirror effect as experienced by students who observed group therapy in a group counselling class. Thirty registered social workers, each of whom had taken the counselling course, voluntarily participated in a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis was used to identify and analyze themes within the qualitative data. Results showed that students who observed group therapy experienced the therapeutic impacts of the mirror effect, helping them understand how the effect works. Students reported undergoing five-stages in the process:exploration, retrospection, imagination, reconversion, and significance. The research confirmed that mirror effects take place during counselling education, and students may experience self-healing through the witnessing of the counselling process, givingthem direct experience with a technique they can use for others. The implications are that observers of group therapy experience mutuality in the healing experience.Keywords:Counselling education, mirror effect, experiential learning.
32Social Pedagogues’ Definitions of Three Types of BullyingKristiKõiv1*,MinniAia-Utsal11*University of Tartu, EstoniaPrevious research has focusing on teachers’, school administrators’ and parents’ perceptions of school bullying; and limited attention hasbeen paid to school specialists (included social pedagogues) tackling with learner-on-learner bullying. The central research question addressed by the study was: What are social pedagogues’ understandings of learner-on-learner bullying, learner-on-educator bullying, and workplace bullying in school contexts? This study investigated social pedagogues’ perspectives regarding bullying behavior as a multilevel concept. The purpose of the study was to explore social pedagogues’ conceptualizations of student bullying, educator targeted bullying by students, and workplace bullying in school context. Participants were 146 practicing social pedagogues as a representative sample from Estonian schools. Data on meaning of bullying behavior was collected by means of questionnaires in which open-ended questions were asked. Inductive quantitative content analysis was used to analyse descriptions of three types of bullying (learner-on-learner bullying, learner-on-educator bullying, and workplace bullying) as a basis for statistical analysis. The analysis revealed that: (1) all three types of bullying were described as repeated and intended aggressive behaviors, whereby the imbalance of power was more empathized in schoolbullying; (2) threat to personal standing with different verbal and indirect forms was more characteristic for schoolbullying, and threat to public personal standing with serious indirect forms for other types of bullying. Problems in attempting to obtain a definition of bullying were also identified, with social pedagogues operating broader schoolbullying definitions as found in the literature and narrower workplace bullying definitions with little significance of prevention, suggesting that educator targeted bullying is an individual rather than a group-basedproblem. As such, the bullying definitions contribute to the secure practice in school.Keywords: School bullying, workplace bullying, social pedagogues.