Throughout high school I have participated in many different activities and programs, but one of the opportunities I was given I will carry with me forever. As a junior at River Valley I participated in the Marion General Teen Volunteer Program. After interviewing and being placed in the physical therapy unit I took the opportunity to branch out into other areas of the hospital. I soon made my way to the labor and delivery floor where everyday a miracle happened. My duties while volunteering included assisting the nurses during hearing checks, changing diapers, and rocking crying infants in special care.
For this assignment, I received the opportunity to interview a clinical social worker. Jeny Thomas, LMSW and she works at Lifeline Center for Child Development, which is located in Queens. Ms. Thomas received her MSW from NYU Silver School of Social Work The purpose, history, and mission of the agency The Lifeline Center for Child Development P23Q is a school age program. It is a non-profit day treatment center for children who are mentally or emotionally disturbed.
First of all, I had the opportunity to interview Kim Bartells who’s a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) in Michealsen Health Center and learn more about her role as a social work. Before I started interviewing Kim, I asked her if it was alright with her if I recorded the conversation and she said it was fine with it. I started the interview with asking what type of population Michealsen Health Center serves and she told me it was mostly elderly people. Kim works in a “Microlevel intervention involves working with individuals--- separately, in families, or in small groups---to facilitate change in individual behavior or in relationship” (DuBois and Miley 69). This types of individuals she is working with are elderly residents “who utilize long-term care experience a combination of physical or cognitive limitation that require some level of assistance in activities of daily living” (DuBois and Miley 314-315) and their families as well.
Portfolio Part B: Reflection on the overall learning within the module Prior to starting this course the MA Social Work course and the PPSWP module I felt very confident in the aspects of communicating effectively and working with a diverse range of people, and after the reading the professional capabilities framework I believe that I hold the same personal values which is expected of a social worker. The PCF6 talks about the importance of critical reflection and reflective practice explaining that it helps improve accountability, professional development and helps to you understand your own tacit knowledge and gain new knowledge, which improves outcomes and experiences for social workers. (Capabilities within the PCF, 2016) For this reflection
Most of the time I have no choice but to spend from my own pocket to reach places and people who desperately need my help. I have realized that some drug addicts will not come to me for help; therefore, as a social worker, I will dedicate my time to visit them, talk to them and offer them rehabilitation and help. Similarly, when going to areas stricken with poverty, I will have to bring along things like foodstuff and clothes to offer the poor. Voluntary service helps to change people’s perspectives on life and makes them feel obligated to achieve something good as ‘payback’ to the volunteers who help them without asking for pay. Therefore, by doing voluntary work, I will be making a big difference in the society.
My understanding of Human Services is to help people who need additional help and guidence to move forward with their life. Sometimes people need help with external problems such as the loss of a job, the need for food or housing or for help getting out of a dangerous situation or mental and physical health crisis. The Human Services practitioner is a professional who acts as an agent to assist and or empower individulas, groups, families and communities to help them function more effectivly in all areas of life and improve living condition. Human Service professional will always advocate for their clients and will never give up on them and make sure to strive for the clients well being as long as the client want to change.
This service learning subject collaborative care in school health and safety consist different component for students to learn. We have lectures, presentations, online learning and group consultation. We are divided into groups for a unique service and the group members are from at least two different departments. In this reflective journal, I will first describe and express my feelings toward the whole learning process in this subject then the following will be my evaluation and reflection towards this whole learning process. Among this subject, I will choose several remarkable gains to elaborate in depth.
What is sociology? Before taking this class, I honestly had a very limited understanding of what sociology meant. However, because of the great diversity of people living in America, I have now realized how viewing the world with a sociological perspective can help me grasp the reality of many beliefs and practices in society today. Starting off with understanding the origin and purpose of sociology and transitioning into major topics such as race and ethnicity and education, I have gained new perspectives on how to observe the world around me.
Childhood should be be filled with memories of happy times, love and warmth. Sadly not every child is blessed with a stable home life and parents who care about the overall well-being of them. Child welfare social work is a field of social work that makes sure the child’s needs are met. Being a social worker you work with children and families in need. It’s a hands-on job combined with a necessity of being able to handle a heavy workload.
Through the readings of the last week, I have learned a great deal about ‘Service Learning’. It is a combination of teaching and learning approach for teaching public health issues and improving health literacy. It is an integration of academic learning and community services to strengthen civic engagement. It is helpful in promoting cooperation, teamwork, civic responsibility, solving complex problems etc. (Service learning, 2016).
This theory indicates that there are several needs people are struggling to fulfill. These needs are often illustrated as hierarchical levels within a pyramid and the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual start to achieve higher level of needs (Huitt, 2007). From the bottom to the top these five levels of needs are: Physiological Needs (such as food, clothing, shelter), Safety Needs (such as the need to be protected, security and freedom from fear), Love and Belonging Needs (feeling a sense of acceptance, and establishing relationships with others), Esteem Needs (to feel respected, a sense of contribution or value), Self-Actualization Needs (seeking personal growth, the realization of one’s full potential). Spencer (2006) has suggested that volunteers may find their ‘love and belong needs’, ‘esteem needs’ and ‘self-actualization needs’ are likely to be met from volunteering in an organization. Because volunteering provides opportunity for individuals to create bonds with fellow volunteers and organizations, as well as it expands their social networks which leads to more interaction, engagement, and trust with the people that you volunteer with.
Thus, through this project, I also find the importance of the moral. And we should pay more attention to the realistic problem but not only speaking generally. What’s more, as the university students, we should take part in more public welfare activities but not only focus on the theoretical study. With the experience of welfare activities, we may have more things to write down in our interview resume and what you meet will change your thoughts deeply. Take me as an example, spending the sleeping time in every Wednesday afternoon to taking care of the children who have some problem in their mental or physical health, I have found that we are lucky to study in STU or we are lucky we have the whole body because there are many people are unlucky around us.
Much discussion is devoted to the literature regarding group work as it remains an integral part of the social work field. Group work is important as “the need to belong is one of the most basic and powerful human needs as well as the most social” (Ashford, & Lecroy, 2008, pg. 140). Group work is found to be an effective intervention and has become a major treatment modality in the mental health services (Knight, 2017; Clements, 2008). This intervention has been found just as effective as an individual intervention (Knight, 2017). Groups have played an instrumental part in transforming how the social work field thinks about the helping process for clients.
Over the last few weeks, leadership class has succeeded in getting me to think deeply about my life, who I really am and who I hope to be. This is good because it helps me put proper measures in place that will help me accomplish those goals. A servant leader, as we have discussed in class is one who is servant-first. His main aim is to serve his people and do what is best for the people around him, whether he is in a leadership position or not.
Community service does not only have a profound impact on our community, but the impact it has on the individual people is even greater. The concept of community service has always been something that I grew up with, and now that I am older I better understand how important community service is for society. I have participated in community service activities. Starting in elementary school, I helped feed the homeless and rescue animals. Even with my wide range of volunteer experience, it was difficult to find an activity that would be meaningful and fulfill my thirty-hour obligation for my senior project.
