For this assessment you will conduct a short (7 minute maximum) coaching session with another student from this unit to demonstrate your understanding and embodiment of:

1. The foundational skills for building a positive working alliance (demonstrating unconditional positive regard, accurate empathy, warmth, and congruence through verbal and non-verbal attending and responding);
2. Active Constructive Responding.

Each student in the pair will take turns being the coach and coachee.

Preparation for this assessment

There are readings and video resources on these skills available on Moodle. We will be further developing these skills using role plays and group discussions in the first of the unit workshops.

Instructions for the coachee

Prior to the coaching session, the coachee chooses a positive experience in their lives (e.g., an achievement at work or in study or in their personal goals such as fitness, receiving an award, completing a project, being recognised in their community or for their volunteering, planning an important trip, achieving a life milestone).

Instructions for the coach

The coach will ask the coachee to share their positive event. The coach will use the skills for building a positive working alliance and Active Constructive Responding to encourage the coachee to fully share their positive experience.

The coaching session must include:

1. Non-verbals: body language (eyes, posture, facial expressions) and voice (tone and pace) to effectively to build the positive working alliance

2. Verbals: A minimum of 3 paraphrases, or 2 paraphrases and a summary to effectively build the positive working alliance

3. Active Constructive Responding: A minimum of 3 active constructive questions

Submission

You will submit an unedited video recording of the coaching session where you are the coach. The recording of the session in which you acted in the role of the coach must show both the coach and the coachee throughout the video.

The coaching session is a maximum of 7 minutes.

The submission of your coaching session as a coach will be evaluated on:

1. Use of non-verbals: body language (physical position, eye contact, facial expression) and voice tone and pace to develop a positive working alliance
2. Use of verbal skills of paraphrasing and summarizing to build positive working alliance
3. Use of skillful Active Constructive questions to explore the positive aspects of the experience
4. Adherence to time limit

In this assessment, you will act in the role of a coach to create a Hope Map with your coachee, who will be another student from this unit.

Preparation for this assessment

There are resources for goal-setting and creating a Hope Map on Moodle. We will use role playing exercises and self-reflection activities and group discussions in the unit workshops to practice Hope Mapping with clients.

The coaching session

The coaching session involves the student acting as a coach guiding the coachee to develop a Hope Map which includes a SMART environmental sustainability goal.

Instructions for the coach

The Hope Map draws on goal-setting skills and combines these with an understanding of Snyder’s theory of hope. The coach should be familiar with this theoretical underpinning to lead their client to the development of a useable Hope Map which could support the client to reach an identified, realistic goal in a reasonable timeframe (a SMART goal).

The coach runs the session/s as a real-world coaching session (i.e., as if you were in a coach and client relationship, not doing an assessment).

The coach will outline the exercise and its purpose and provide the necessary resources for creating the Hope Map (e.g., use the whiteboard function in Zoom).

As coach you will:

1. Guide the coachee to develop a goal that is focused on environmental sustainability.
2. Guide the coachee to develop this goal using the SMART framework.
3. Develop the Hope Map based on the SMART goal (pathways, obstacles, strengths, support).
4. Design the final Hope Map in such a way that it supports the use of the map as a hope enhancing tool for the coachee using imagery, colour and layout.

Throughout the session/s you will draw on foundational coaching skills to build the positive working alliance.

Submission

You will submit the completed Hope Map that you developed in your role as coach

The completed Hope Map needs to include:

1. One (1) SMART environmental sustainability goal
2. Three (3) pathways to that goal
3. One (1) obstacle for each of the 3 pathways (so, 3 obstacles in total)
4. A way to overcome each of these obstacles (so, 3 ways to overcome obstacles in total)
5. Two (2) identified strengths which will support the client to reach their goal
6. Two (2) support person/animal/natural space/practice identified
7. One (1) way of measuring progress towards the goal

There is no word limit, but the recommended length of the Hope Map is one page which could be an A3 size page or an A4 page in landscape. This is so it works as a hope reminding tool – if it can be posted somewhere visible and is easily accessible then this will boost people’s likelihood of using it and the likelihood of it increasing hope.

The submission will be evaluated on:

1. Application of goal-setting theories and research (SMART framework and the role of eudaimonic goals in boosting wellbeing) to develop a sustainability goal with the client
2. Application of theories and research on goal-setting and hope to map pathways, obstacles, strengths and supports, and measures of progress for the client's goal
3. Application of theories on hope enhancement to create an accessible, engaging resource for client to support ongoing experiences of hope

In Assessment 3 you will develop a client resource that you could use as part of a debriefing session with a client after they have completed the VIA (Values in Action) survey. We are focussing on some of the more challenging strengths – the ones that have hidden beauty lurking underneath their names!

Preparation for this assessment

There are resources about strengths on Moodle. We will use brainstorming and group discussions in the third and fourth workshops to explore how to find new names for strengths, definitions of strengths and how we may debrief with clients about negative perceptions of strengths.

Task Instructions

You will choose one strength from a list of the lesser-known strengths that clients may perceive negatively or not understand:. The list is provided in your Unit Assessment Guide.

You will create a client handout on this strength that you would give to them to take home as part of your debriefing that would help them see this strength clearly and positively.

The client handout will include:

1.    An evocative, insightful alternative name for this strength. This new name will capture the strength’s essence and help clients begin the process of seeing this strength in new, more positive ways.

2.    A definition of the strength. Using peer-reviewed research write a definition of this strength (i.e., what it is). In your definition, be sure to respond to common myths and misconceptions about this strength. 

3.    Identify three positive impacts of the strength on wellbeing. For this, you will use peer-reviewed research to identify evidence-based relationships between this strength and wellbeing outcomes.

4.    Include a Holistic Strengths Map. Your HSM will outline how this strength is expressed in intrapersonal, interpersonal, emotional, and cognitive domains. 

5.    Include two role models and/or cultural resources. These might include books, movies, public figures, communities, animals which show how this strength exists in the world.

6.    Include an evidence-based exercise for developing this strength. The exercise will be one which has demonstrated efficacy in the research literature. It also needs to be suitable for clients with a wide-range of learning needs and in different life circumstances. 

7.    A list of all sources in a Reference List in APA formatting. Include a full reference list. In the text itself, you can use footnotes rather than in-text citations generally used in APA – this will make the resource more readable for a lay audience.

As this will be a client handout, make it accessible and supportive of diverse clients’ learning.

Accessible: 

Use clear and simple language, imagery, and layout. 

Use images and resources which include intersectional experiences (i.e., do not use language and resources exclusive to white, straight, cis-gendered, able-bodied, middle-class people).  

Supports diverse people’s learning: 

Use fonts, colours, and images that are congruent with the strength (i.e. they provide a coherent support for understanding the strength promoting learning through visual and metaphorical pathways) 

Make the resource engaging, i.e., something that the client’s will be inspired/excited by (e.g., fun, humorous, artistic, soothing)

Present research findings in lay language.

The submission will be evaluated on:

1. Depth and breadth of understanding of the strength.
2. Skilful use of quality research evidence and cultural resources to describe and illustrate the strength.
3. Application of principles of learning modes, accessibility and cultural sensitivity in the design of the strengths resource.