Reflection On Volunteering At Union Mission

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Volunteering at Union Mission was an inspiration as well as a learning experience. This experience helped me to make my final decision for my career path. Watching the caseworkers during their assessment with a client, enabled me to see their professionalism and how each case worker dealt with each client in the same manner. The caseworkers maintained a controlled atmosphere due to their demeanor and personality. Respect was attained for this profession, in addition, I realized that all situations are going to be different and there are going to be some good days and some bad days. However, Mr. Webb stated, “if you always follow the rules, never deviate from them, and treat everyone the same, then people will say oh! They are mean or hard, but they are fair”. He also encouraged me to always remain calm no matter the situation. If the client becomes irate, remain calm and eventually, the client will calm down too, and will begin to trust you with their personal information. Doing my volunteer practicum at Union Mission it allowed me to see the need for social workers. Many social workers are burned out due to the work load. For instance, the Intake Coordinator at Union Mission left DFACS due to the case load. There are just not enough trained professionals to handle the amount of cases mounting every …show more content…

I encountered some beautiful people, all types of personalities. These individuals were either down on their luck or just made poor decisions. Once the client realized that they were going to have a place to stay, their demeanor changed; they became friendlier and outspoken. For instance, before I left there was this one gentleman that was so thankful that he was approved for the program that he wanted to purchase lunch. He told me I know that you are going to say no but I am going to get it for you anyway. Unfortunately, I did not stay long enough to get that lunch, but it was the thought that