Through my mentorship at the Cumming Women's Center I have gained many skills. Such as better communication, a better understanding of real life situations such as factors of being economically unstable and more. Every day was a new day with new challenges. It was very interesting to hear about them and how they were solved. Not only that but I gained a better appreciation for non-profit organizations who go out of their way for people such as the women at the Cumming Women's Center do. They allowed me to be active there by giving me tasks such as
0 Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tShavGuo0_E
After watching the video I am happy to say that I am more prepared to present. It gave me great advice such as looking over my website and refreshing my mind so I am ready to go when it comes time instead of struggling to remember what I wrote. The video was great at explaining how to get your audience's attention such as including a short story to get them interested. Posture is everything and so is how you manipulate your voice to sound. They won't want to listen to someone with a monotone voice. The video was great at giving me advice and it gave great pointers I will be sure to use. Throughout the course of my mentorship I have been gather multiple articles and images that relate back to my essential question, "How will having the ability of staying objective to difficult situations around you as a social worker assure a successful career all while continuing to stay empathetic?" They either give advice on how to accomplish this or discuss how important it is to avoid allowing your feelings to get involved in your job. The articles are either written by actual social workers or experts in the field who have done their own research.
I have been editing them and placing them into a short informative Prezi that all goes back to helping me answer my own essential question or giving me advice that will help me in the future. “Human Rights: Its Meaning and Practice in Social Work Field Settings.”
The journal discussed human rights and issues that social workers see on a daily basis through a study that involved 35 students studying to be a social worker and 48 supervisors. Their responses were recorded and they described scenarios such as dealing with clients who struggle with poverty, domestic abuse, discrimination, etc,. They discussed these scenarios and the possible victims in these situations. They discussed that the social working code "requires social workers within the United States to respect dignity and worth of the people." Regardless of who you are or what your social class is, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity. Your situation does not define you. The journal was able to make real life connections with the student's responses. It was useful because a lot of the scenarios are scenarios that exist. The journal gave great advice and gave in depth explanations that were useful. The journal was credible for the reason that not only did it have 5 authors that collaborated to gather responses and create a journal published in 2017 , but it was able to make real life connections. It was not just listing random situations. It listed situations that social workers face on a daily basis. Overall, it gave me great advice. I thought it to be a really great idea to conduct the study using students and supervisors who are studying or are already in the career that I have chosen to pursue because it was something I can one day relate back to. After giving this some thought I have come to the conclusion of what is driving my research, and that is observation. While I have been interning at the Cumming Women's Center (what used to be Whispering Hope) I have noticed that the workers there stay objective to many situations with the women there in order to give their best help. They explained to me that in order to give their best help they must not allow their feelings to get involved or else it will cloud their judgement.
My essential question has not changed from what it is that, "How will having the ability of staying objective to difficult situations around you as a social worker assure a successful career all while continuing to stay empathetic?" I believe that an annotated bibliography and a Prezi will serve great to present my topic. For my real inquiry I will start with my essential question. It's not something I can just look up randomly for, no. I will have to look deeply into articles and generate an answer based off of what I have read and learned and then try and find real life examples and analyze how staying objective to situations helped ensure a successful career. My mentor has been really helpful this entire year and has given me helpful hints. I interviewed my mentor a few days ago and got a new image of her and I was able to reflect on her answers.
1. What used to be your biggest weakness? A: My biggest weakness when I first started working for Whispering Hope was my time management. I found it difficult to manage my new tasks and all while juggling my family. Reflection: As an aspiring Social Worker I have found that many struggle to have time for their family due to the amount of work they have. My mentor went on to giving examples on how she manages such as at dinner they talk about how their day went. 2. What's the most important skill to have as a leader? A: I think any leader can agree that in order to be successful leader you must have patience. Sometimes challenges arise and as a leader you have to be able to keep your patience and wait it out or sometimes you're in an environment with stressed out people and if you allow for their stress to influence you, it just won't be a great outcome. Reflection: Thinking back to times where my mentor has been in stressful situations I have noticed that she keeps calm and I think that she is right. Patience is key to success. 3. Who has influenced you the most? And why? A: I can't say someone has influenced me to do what I do. I felt this to be almost a calling. Reflection: It really got me thinking. My mentor stated that it was almost a calling. It took me by surprise because I feel the same towards Social Working. I feel it to be my calling. 4. How and Where do you find inspiration to continue to do what you do? A: Through God. He gives me the strength to do what I do by giving and helping others. Seeing these women's faces when they realize they are not alone is amazing. Just like me, God gives us a reason to continue. Reflection: Personally I think it's amazing that she feels this way. I like to think God gives me the strength to do well in my life. 5. Why do you do what you do? A: Because I know God wants me to do this. He wants me to spread his love and his grace and to inspire these women, some of who have never even given him a chance, to seek his love. Reflection: The fact that God inspires her to do what she does is really great. I believe he does have a plan for us and that it is maybe why she feels it to be her calling. 6. What is your ultimate goal at the end of the day? A: At the end of the day my only goal is to feel satisfied with myself. If I know that I did my best to help these women out then I know I did my job well. Reflection: I agreed with her, When I become a Social Worker I feel like my goal will be to know that I did the best I could to help people out. 7. How do you approach any difficult situation? A: I treat every situation as if it were a sensitive matter. I approach them with an open mind and I don't rush to solve it. It's better to fully think it through and then try and resolve it. Reflection: I think any situation should be treated in a sensitive matter. You should keep an open mind and not rush because then sometimes you don't give the best work. 8. How do you manage your time? A: I like to tackle things one by one but I give them a time limit. Enough to where I'm not rushing through it but I can still give a great result. I am the worst with time management and if I don't give myself a time limit I would probably take a century. Reflection: I am also bad at managing my time. I tend to either procrastinate or I rush into it. Given myself a time limit could help me get things done faster. 9. What goals have you set for this year? A: My only goal is to strengthen my relationship with God through prayer and by putting my trust in his hands and work towards helping others. Reflection: The fact that my mentor has so much faith in God really has inspired me to do the same because being a social worker requires you to always be on your toes. I need to try and do the same. 10: What do you enjoy the most from working at Whispering Hope? A: I enjoy the fact that we are a non-profit organization that is dedicating to helping women in need. We are their shoulder to lean on when they are alone. It's a great feeling to know that we are actually making a change in their life. Reflection: I understood what she meant. During my time there I have seen women come in and thank Whispering Hope for showing them the way towards a better life and it really is a great feeling because I know I will be feeling the same as a Social Worker. My internship's site allows me to look at it and reflect on what I have accomplished and what else I could do. It serves as a guide that I can always reference to. While interning at Whispering Hope I have been asked multiple times to help. One of my goals when I first entered was to be of some help whether it be big or small. I just wanted to be useful. I didn't want to be known as the intern that kept quite and watched from a distance. No, I wanted to be useful. I've actually accomplished this. I am glad to say that every day I am there I am always someone the people around me can come ask for help.
At Whispering Hope the majority of the women that walk in are non-English speakers. This is where being bilingual pays off. Due to the fact that I am fluent in Spanish and English I am always helping to translate documents, fliers, messages, etc. Being bilingual has actually made my mentor's life a bit easier. At least I hope so. She no longer has to rely on Google Translate and run the risk of sounding "too proper." I enjoy helping her out and I can see she really appreciates it because I am able to translate it in a way that the Spanish speaking community can easily understand. |
Details
Nerli G.Intern at Whispering Hope. |