DAY 3 (MILIEU/PLAY THERAPY)

Once again, new day passed out together with our clients doing the

activities designated for this day both the milieu therapy in the morning and

play therapy in the afternoon. It was a satisfying day as we spent time together

with our clients providing guidance, assistance, and joining them towards the

activities performed. I experienced to be a facilitator or the leader of the whole

day activities and all I can say is I’m quite overwhelmed with that kind of

responsibility. It gave me an opportunity to try how to become a leader in

facilitating various activities that are actually performed in various mental

health institution. It is a new experience by me. And it gave me a glimpse on

how to be a good leader for our nurses and also for our clients. So in the

morning as usual activity the milieu therapy but we tried to shuffle the

activities and changed some of it as we learned that it gains the clients interest

in doing activities where it is not routinely done and every activity is a new one.

For doing this we can understand what type of activity or where does our client

gains interest more and we can use that information to provide the most

appropriate strategies for them. Like changing the Zumba into some aerobic

exercises to see if the client will be more entertained and more cooperative for

this type of activity. In the afternoon session we did a therapy called Play

therapy where the clients will be engaged on various activities including Play

and also crafts/arts. To the end of the activity the client was encouraged to tell

their opinions and comments regarding the activity that they did where the

nurses assess the answers of the client. This is to establish trust between the
client and nurses. The more they talk about their opinions to you that means

they are developing trust on you. And that’s one thing I learned today. So for

the next activities we will try our best to encourage our clients to engaged more

in communicating with us nurses, involve themselves or participate in every

activities that will help them to gain trust, confidence, and sense of

belongingness.

The program was a success despite those time issues and with the

guidance of our clinical instructor to improve our leadership and empathy for

our clients.