UEH News

Self-Care Practices: Understand yourself to understand others

Self-Care Practices: Understand yourself to understand others

07 Jun, 2024

For the purpose of helping students better understand who they are and develop effective learning and communication strategies, UEH organized two Self-Care Practices sessions.  These workshops explored how the Big Five personality traits - OCEAN - apply to interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, personal growth, and learning styles through imaginative and engaging experiential activities.

The two sessions on Self-Care Practices featured a talk by Ms. Nair Ngo Nhu Anh, a school psychologist and Childhood Home project manager. Drawing from her personal experiences during the research process, she offered perceptive insights.

In the first practice session: Leveraging Personality Traits in learning, students were given white paper and instructed to draw pictures describing their goals for the present and the future.  This interactive exercises to help participants identify their dominant traits and develop strategies to maximize their potential at learning. Beside Self-reflection exercises, goal-setting activities, and action planning to help participants apply their personality traits to enhance their personal lives.

Students use paper to represent who they are

Students share their views and difficulties they encounter during their studies

It's essential to note that these associations are general tendencies, and individuals often possess a combination of these traits to varying degrees. Additionally, other factors such as motivation, learning styles, and past experiences also influence the learning process. Recognizing and understanding these traits can help educators and learners tailor instructional strategies and create supportive learning environments that cater to a diverse range of personality traits.

The second practice session: Applying Personality Traits in Personal Development, interpersonal relationships and team dynamics aims to help participants leverage strengths, overcome challenges associated with each trait, and set meaningful goals.  In this second practice session, students worked in groups to solve a range of problems related to how different traits affect communication styles, conflict resolution, and decision-making within a team/relationships. The session includes role-playing exercises, case studies, and discussions to help participants improve their relationships by understanding and valuing diverse personality traits.

Through "Find the right person" activity, students learn how to communicate clearly about the objectives, shortcomings, and strengths of each member of the group as well as how to resolve conflicts. Next, a variety of scenarios are presented throughout the exercise, providing students with the opportunity to assume the role of "A talented leader" and respond to the speaker's questions. By investigating and debating these cases, activities and discussions to help participants understand and appreciate diverse personality traits within a group setting.

After completing second session, students solve the "Nine people - ten ideas" puzzle in the last activities, provide as a unifying and motivational element among individuals with diverse personalities and perspectives.  In order to set objectives and create sensible action plans, students must learn to build on their strengths, overcome their weaknesses, discover who they are, and gain a better understanding of how various personality traits affect interpersonal relationships, communication style, and conflict resolution.

Thank to every student for their enthusiastic participation in the two Self-Care Practices sessions. DSA hopes that the skills and knowledge they acquire will help them create positive values for both society and themself. Goodbye and see you again in upcoming well being events!

News and photos: UEH Department of Student Affairs