My Goals For Older Adults

One of my goals for the class was to obtain experience within an older adult population. I am so thankful that I was able to work with one-on-one and in a groups with the residents at Namaste. For me, I learned to obtain a sense of courage and vulnerability with working as an activity volunteer/intern. From this experience I’ve defiantly have expanded my comfort zone and professionalism by expanding my verbal skills. Every time I engaged with a resident, I had to be in constant check of my tone of voice, by word choice, and mood that I was presenting. This would determine their level of participation for that day. I think I’ve changed because I was able to find my way of relating and showing compassion for older adults with cognitive disabilities.

Some of the limitation maybe due to the extent of my roles and responsibilities as an activity volunteer. Although, I find joy and appreciation from working with the residents and my other team members, I feel that I need an additional push or experience that will further my academic goals. This experience will intrinsically benefit my resume and letters of recommendation (tangible interests) for future job opportunities (Beehr et al., 2010) (Baird, 2010). I also feel that I will still be apart of the team after I graduate. Even though my expectations to obtain a job within this facility was diminished, as a “helper,” I still find volunteering at Namaste to strengthen my compassion and self-esteem (Larson, 1993). With this experience of a heighten sense of self from entering into a service learning internship, I feel that college students would greatly benefit from an internship as a requirement before graduation. UCCS also has limited courses that prepare students for career’s in MA programs (non-research). Service learning internships allows students to explore different career’s and services within their