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Experiential Learning in Publishing: From Amsterdam to Oxford

Conscious action through conscious thinking

Bewust handelen door bewust denken, Reflectietools in het leerproces. We moeten reflecteren op ons handelen om er van te kunnen leren. We moeten weten waarom we handelen, ons bewust worden van onze vooronderstellingen, van de gebruikte methode en van de gevolgen van ons handelen. Zonder reflectie is er geen bewust handelen, geen leermoment en geen innovatie mogelijk. Reflectie is een vorm van denken: reflectie is denken over denken, het is na-denken, het is bewust denken. Reflectie is het herinterpreteren van onze ervaring en kennis. We gebruiken reflectie in vormen van ervaringsleren waar ervaringen in de praktijk gekoppeld worden aan de theorie, zoals projectwerk en stages. Het reflectieproces heeft de vorm van een cirkel: we beschrijven ons handelen, evalueren dit, bedenken alternatieven en brengen deze weer in de praktijk. In dit reflectieproces nemen we afstand van ons handelen in tijd en ruimte: we bekijken ons eigen handelen alsof het door iemand anders gedaan wordt. Zo kunnen wij objectief naar ons eigen handelen kijken. Om echte alternatieven voor ons handelen te bedenken en niet terug te vallen in wat we gewend zijn te doen, moeten we onze creativiteit de ruimte geven. Paradoxaal genoeg kan dit het beste door ons denkproces te sturen door middel van reflectieoefeningen. Puntreflectie, reflectie via brainstorm, reflectie met metaforen, lijnreflectie en niveaureflectie zijn vormen van reflectie die door de kenniskring gebruikt worden als reflectietool. De scenariomethode is ook een oefening die ons denken over de toekomst openbreekt, juist door het proces strak te sturen. In een Socratisch gesprek onderzoeken we gezamenlijk onze vooronderstellingen. We kunnen ook reflecteren tijdens ons handelen, door ons tegelijkertijd bewust te zijn van ons handelen en hierover na te denken: dit vergt wel een behoorlijke concentratie. Ook willen we graag dat onze reflectie doorlopend is, zodat de reflectiecirkel in een reflectiespiraal veranderd. Reflecteren is niet alleen een mentale bezigheid, maar is tevens een resonantie tussen het denken, de emotie en de wilskracht, tussen hoofd, hart en buik. We gebruiken reflectietools in het onderwijs om de student te leren reflecteren over zijn leerproces, de gebruikte methode en de maatschappelijke consequenties van zijn handelen. We willen het reflectieproces bij onze studenten provoceren en aanmoedigen: dit doen we door gestuurde reflectie op vragen die uit de praktijk voortvloeien. Door bewuster na te denken, leren de studenten bewuster te handelen. Onze taak is professionals op te leiden die door reflectie bewust bekwaam zijn in hun handelen.

Use of experiential knowledge by mental health professionals and its contribution to recovery: literature review

Objective: This article explores the use of experiential knowledge by traditional mental health professionals and the possible contribution to the recovery of service users. Design and Methods: The review identified scientific publications from a range of sources and disciplines. Initial searches were undertaken in databases PsycINFO, PubMed, and Cochrane using specific near operator search strategies and inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: Fifteen articles were selected. These were published in a broad range of mental health and psychology journals reporting research in western countries. In the selected articles, a varying conceptualization of experiential knowledge was found, differing from therapeutic self-disclosure embedded in psychotherapeutic contexts to a relational and destigmatizing use in recovery-oriented practices. Nurses and social workers especially are speaking out about their own experiences with mental health distress. Experiential knowledge stemming from lived experience affects the professional’s identity and the system. Only a few studies explored the outcomes for service users’ recovery. Conclusion: A small body of literature reports about the use of experiential knowledge by mental health professionals. The mental health system is still in transformation to meaningfully incorporate the lived experience perspective from traditional professionals. There is little data available on the value for the recovery of service users. This data indicates positive outcomes, such as new understandings of recovery, feeling recognized and heard, and increased hope, trust, and motivation. More research about the meaning of experiential knowledge for the recovery of service users is desirable.

The use of experiential knowledge in the role of a psychiatrist

There is increasing interest in the use of experiential knowledge and the development of experiential expertise in mental health. Yet, little is known about how best to use this expertise in the role of a psychiatrist. This study aims to gain insight into the concerns of psychiatrists using their lived experiences with mental health distress as a source of knowledge for patients, colleagues and themselves. Eighteen psychiatrists with lived experience as patients in mental health care were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative narrative thematic analysis. The majority of the respondents use their lived experience implicitly in the contact with patients, which makes the contact more equal and strengthens the treatment relationship. When explicitly using experiential knowledge in the contact with patients, thought should be given at forehand to its purpose, timing and dosage. Recommendations are that the psychiatrist should be able to reflect on his/her lived experience from a sufficient distance and should take patient factors into account. When working in a team, it is advisable to discuss the use of experiential knowledge in advance with the team. An open organizational culture facilitates the use of experiential knowledge and safety and stability in the team are vital. Current professional codes do not always offer the space to be open. Organizational interests play a role, in the degree of self-disclosure as it can lead to conflict situations and job loss. Respondents unanimously indicated that the use of experiential knowledge in the role of a psychiatrist is a personal decision. Self-reflection and peer supervision with colleagues can be helpful to reflect on different considerations with regard to the use of experiential knowledge. Having personal lived experiences with a mental disorder affects the way psychiatrists think about and performs the profession. The perception of psychopathology becomes more nuanced and there seems to be an increased understanding of the suffering. Even though harnessing experiential knowledge makes the doctor-patient relationship more horizontal it remains unequal because of the difference in roles. However, if adequately used, experiential knowledge can enhance the treatment relationship.

Experiential knowledge of mental health professionals

Introduction: Nowadays the Western mental health system is in transformation to recovery-oriented and trauma informed care in which experiential knowledge becomes incorporated. An important development in this context is that traditional mental health professionals came to the fore with their lived experiences. From 2017 to 2021, a research project was conducted in the Netherlands in three mental health organizations, focussing on how service users perceive the professional use of experiential knowledge. Aims: This paper aims to explore service users’ perspectives regarding their healthcare professionals’ use of experiential knowledge and the users’ perceptions of how this contributes to their personal recovery. Methods: As part of the qualitative research, 22 service users were interviewed. A thematic analysis was employed to derive themes and patterns from the interview transcripts. Results: The use of experiential knowledge manifests in the quality of a compassionate user-professional relationship in which personal disclosures of the professional’s distress and resilience are embedded. This often stimulates users’ recovery process. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the use of experiential knowledge by mental health professionals like social workers, nurses and humanistic counselors, demonstrates an overall positive value as an additional (re)source.

Developing Educational Escape Rooms for Experiential Entrepreneurship Education

Educational escape rooms (EERs) are increasingly used in education as learning innovations for non-digital and game-based learning (GBL) since EERs positively influence student motivation. They are common in educational fields where skills developments are vital such as STEM subjects and healthcare. However, EERs are marginally implemented in entrepreneurship education (EE) because there is a lack of evaluated design elements to guide the creation of EER in this context, which hampers their wider adoption. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated design elements for EERs in EE. We are particularly concerned with experiential EE since EERs are well suited for experiential learning. We used a research-through-design approach and created an EER based on 11 design elements derived from the literature on social cognitive theory, entrepreneurship competence, and gamification. We created and evaluated the EER in two cycles with two diverse groups of students at a university of applied sciences in the Netherlands. We contribute to the literature and practice of experiential EE by presenting evaluated design elements for EERs. We show which design elements work well and which do not. We also present a comprehensively designed EER that educational professionals can implement in their experiential EE programs.