RoboCounsellor

Response Options:

Woo-hoo! Let's get on with it!

Next screen starts the session. This link only works when you are logged in

Well....

Write on Report:

Robo PD Module

Mkgfhd Plokta (Your name)

YYYY/MM/DD or XX/XX/XXXX (The date)

Topic: Kfhf dhewuf d v dif... or

Session plan:
1. Hyrte fdh hfd mfndh.
2. Klq pplu fndh rge tcyw.
3. Mkjj miq qed lpd ththtf, vnf nnde ssu.

Well-rested? OK/Not OK
Well-fed? OK/Not OK
No drugs/alcohol? OK/Not OK
No distractions? OK/Not OK
Enough time? OK/Not OK
Willing? OK/Not OK
Else? OK/Not OK

__:__am/pm (The time)

Notes:

(Instructions that will appear here throughout the session)

This is the quick option that assumes you are familiar with the session set-up procedure and bypasses all those details. In case you skimped on this and are just winging it (not recommended at all but it happens), make sure you have this RoboCounsellor window reduced to the right two-thirds or three-quarters of your computer screen and a text editor like Notepad open in another window in the left one-third or one-quarter of your computer screen. Alternatively, keep notes with pen and paper.

You will also need supplies to make characters and props and a stage. Like a table or desk where the computer is standing usually works, but make sure there is a large enough clear space, at least two feet by three feet. Useful items to make characters and props are kitchen rolls; tin cans; cereal boxes or tissue boxes; drinks bottles; sheets of blank paper (A4 or letter size); coloured pencils or pens or crayons; pins or sticky tape or rubber bands to hold the sheets of paper to the props boxes etc.

Copy and paste the text in the "Write on Report" section into your text file in Notepad (or wherever), and make appropriate changes to the text such as your name, the date and time, the topic (if known already), and your session plan. Really check all those listed points like "Well-rested?" against your current condition. If any of those six "?" points are really Not OK, i.e., you are actually tired or hungry or not willing to follow the session instructions etc., then the session is likely to fail for that reason alone.

Save the text file! Maybe put it in a folder called "My Robo Sessions" and call the text file by the date, like "20091029_pd" so the files will sort into date order. If it is the second session of the day maybe "20091029b_pd". Save it occasionally throughout the session. The reason for the name at the end (_pd etc) is that some people like to see at a glance which sessions used a particular module.

If your attention is fixated on something that happened, like an argument or running over someone's dog or whatever, but the sessionable "?" points are OK, that's fine. You can try addressing the thing with the session procedure. It won't bring the dog back to life, for example, but it should make it easier to deal with. If the table psychodrama procedure is unsuited to addressing such a topic, then use the Rogerian module or a more suitable one.

This "Else?" point is really about something that must be done right now in real life, like making a phone call or doing a chore and if you don't get it done your attention will be on it and not on the session.