Contributions Made to Students Placement during Practicum - Assignment Example

Rest of Part C (Self-Reflection) Choose one other area from the Practicum B Agency Evaluation Form to provide evidence of your skill development and experience. Based on my supervisor’s evaluation form, one area of the Practicum B that was clearly demonstrated in my practice was the ability to develop effective working relationships with people with disability, the carers , and other professionals so that the best quality services could be delivered and maintained. This was notable strength in my experience and was clearly evident in my practice through: Taking up the responsibility to serve our clients during the first day at the program. This was despite the fact that most of the clients could serve themselves. Taking up the responsibility of working with the clients in the modelling group. I was able to motivate and encourage clients who faced any difficulty during the process. I assisted one of the SRF team members in establishing a proposal to support and cater for a younger demographic range of clients aged between 18-35 years. I was able to successfully work with a female client and build rapport with her to the point where she confided in me the challenges she was facing and we were able to talk about it at length. Identify 2 positive contributions you have made to your placement during Practicum B. What are your strengths? Two possible contributions I feel I have contributed to my placement during Practicum B include: Teaching a client a skill. During the first day at the placement, I taught *Mary how to play a game of UNO. The experience – though confusing at first – became an exciting one for her and she learned how to play it. Certainly, taking time to teach her made her feel valued as part of the larger team. The experience also taught me to be patient when handling clients. I was also able to teach another client the skill of building a model plane. This experience required that I used positive reinforcement such as verbal praise in order to ensure he remained motivated and build self-confidence. According to Wrench, McCroskey, & Richmond (2008), complements serve to enhance a verbal message ad appropriate nonverbal messages are important in complementing the verbal messages. In this regard, I would voluntarily assist the client when he was face with an obstacle that he could not handle. I also assisted one of the SRF team members in establishing a proposal to support and cater for a younger demographic range of clients between 18-35 years. The SRF was a great team and the flexibility in the group made it easy to participate in a variety of activities. Certainly, this to me was a great contribution towards effecting a positive change at the SRF. Briefly discuss your goals for Practicum B. Do you believe that you achieved any of the goals? If not, why not? The three goals I set for myself for Practicum B include: Gaining a broader knowledge and understanding of people with intellectual disabilities, understanding how the working environment is at the institutions and facilities that deal with taking care of people with disabilities, and improving and perfecting my communication skills and ability to work as a team member. I believed that I achieved 2 out of 3 of these goal through discussions with the team. I feel that the accomplishment of these goals will greatly influence my future practice in a positive way, as I feel more confident and prepared to work with people with intellectual disabilities. Particularly, I feel I made significant progress in gaining a broader knowledge and understanding of people with intellectual disability. Through the indoor activities that I took part in, I was able to make close observations on how to handle interactions with people with intellectual disability. For instance, I learned that while most clients might have the capacity to engage in a group activity, some will be hesitant simply due to low self-esteem or lack of confidence. Consequently, they should be handled with a lot of positivity and patience. Additionally, I believe I was able to perfect my team working skills. One of the observations I made during the placement is that that almost 90 percent of the work that goes on in the facilities requires team work, consultations, and constant feedback. The opportunity to work at a relatively busy centre allowed me to actively get involved in numerous planning activities and with time my communication skills improved significantly. Moreover, I learned quite a lot regarding team dynamics. Identify areas for future professional development you have discovered about yourself during Practicum B that will form the basis of goals and professional development Reflect on future learning needs and set at least 3 goals: Goal 1: Gain a broader knowledge and understanding of people with intellectual disabilities Key Performance Indicators Partake in independent research and take notes on findings. Discuss with professionals within the disability field regarding their experience working with people with intellectual disabilities. Discuss with clients about their disability and ask them about the challenges that they have overcome in the past and/or currently facing. Review and build on previous researches done about people with intellectual disabilities. This can range from what motivates them, their effective integration into society, etc. Goal 2: Demonstrate an increased level in my communication and interpersonal skills Key Performance Indicators Initiate conversation to ensure that clients feel comfortable to communicate. Ask questions to the program supervisor/agency supervisor/ clients/ volunteers to improve communication skills. Ask for feedback from the program supervisor/agency supervisor when providing instructions to clients. Improve some personal aspects in my communication. For instance, better composure when talking with clients, better prior preparation before engaging with clients. Goal 3: Gain an understanding of Home Assist Community Care (HACC) and Supported Residential Facilities (SRF) Key Performance Indicators Partake in independent research and take notes on findings. Discuss with professionals within the disability field regarding the services that are provided from HACC and SRFs. Compile a resource list of different contacts/resources to keep for future reference. Identify a piece of guidance or feedback you received during Practicum B from a manager or supervisor and provide evidence of how you incorporated that feedback into changes in your practice. One piece of advice that was given to me by my agency supervisor during Practicum B was that I should be more assertive with my time management and work better at meeting goals. The supervisor also opined that I needed to work on my communication skills. I incorporated this in my practice as I dealt with various clients during the practicum experience. Agreeably, this is an area I have always wanted to improve and I took the supervisor’s advice with the seriousness it deserved. The practicum experience provided the platform for me to exercise this skill as well as work to meet the laid out goals while interacting with clients. The fact that some of the clients had a short attention span meant that I had to repeat things and redirect their attention every once in a while. This continuous exercise had a tremendous impact on my assertiveness and I improved remarkably. Reflect on any opportunities that you had to be involved in or observe inter-professional collaboration between allied health professionals. I had an opportunity to observe the relation among the health professionals on my first day at the practicum. The team members related cordially and I could see the professional coordination of activities during this time. One of the areas that I was really impressed with was the engagement of every member of the profession into the activities that were going on. I was delegated the role of serving tea to the clients and although this was my first day, I felt involved and incorporated into the tea and this had a positive impact on my perception of inter-professional collaboration Identify any additional skills or training you have undertaken during practicum B and add these to your list of skills at the start of your portfolio (i.e. computer, excel, mandatory notification, etc.). No additional skills or training were undertaken during the practicum. In no more than 500 words discuss your experience during your practicum. What did you learn? From this experience, I learned that: Working as a team is really important To expect the unexpected In terms working with the clients, you should never judge a book by its cover because you’re making a snap judgement on a person’s capabilities and abilities to do something To always maintain professionalism even when faced with challenges in the work. What surprised you? What really surprised me on placement was how independent some of the clients were, despite living SRFs. How much certain clients would disclose about themselves. I thought that because I was a new person entering the lives of the clients for only a short period that it would be difficult to build a rapport with them. Although, due to some of the client’s trusting nature they would sometimes overshare information, which puts them a higher risk of vulnerable What challenged you? What really challenged me with how communicating with the client. Due to my limited experience with… Communicating with people with disabilities Another areas in which I believed I struggled with around the issues of privacy. Particularly did not know when it was right to share information Do you believe that you were given the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to practice? Social role valorisation is a theory which was refined by a theorist named Wolf Wolfersberger. The theory was introduced to address the issue of devaluation towards the people living with disabilities (Dempsey and Nankervis, 2006). Wolfersberger noted that people living with disabilities are seen in a negative light by the communities as they are unable to participate in valued social roles. Therefore, undertaking socially valued roles such as employer, parents, siblings or students would diminish these negative views on people with disabilities (Dempsey and Nankervis, 2006). How will your practicum experience impact your future practice? Clearly, the practicum experience was an eye opener for me. The concepts learned during the classroom were more of theoretical approaches to dealing with persons with disabilities but the exposure at the practicum offered me an opportunity to develop practical skills. One of the greatest impact of the practicum experience was on building my professional ethics. I had the opportunity to interact with several colleagues and one of my major concerns was that there lacks a free flow of information from the clients to the staff. The common practice is that staff engage clients. However, during a conversation with one colleague, she confided in me about a case of sexual harassment among the clients. Adler, Rosenfeld, & Proctor (2007) intimate that one of the key reasons why people make disclosure is in order to be liked. This could have been a possible reason for the clients’ revelation of his misconduct. However, it was surprising that despite the sensitivity of this issue, it remained covered even by the staff who knew. This narration impacted my perception of handling communication and I believe in my future practice, will try to facilitate transparency by engaging clients at a personal level and urging my colleagues to do so. In a broader perspective, the practicum experience was an opportunity for me to understand the unique working environment that I am going to join in the near future. I was impressed by the flexibility in the working environment and although I was sometimes taken by surprise at the spontaneity with which the decisions were made, I adapted and I am now able to exercise the same flexibility. In this regard, this has taught and influenced my earlier beliefs about having a well laid out plan and sticking to it till the end. This experience has taught me that changes are inevitable in the work place and adaptability is a major strength. Definitely, this has impacted my future practice in a positive way. I also learned about handling conflicts. Although there was only one case of conflict, the amicable manner in which it was resolved was very insightful and professional. According to Alberts, Martin, & Nakayama (2011) conflicts are bound to occur I situations where two or more groups are interdependent. Certainly, this made me realize the importance of having good interpersonal skills, effective communication, and that in any challenge in this field, it is critical to deal with it in a professional manner. Conclusively, these experiences made a lasting impact on me, and I believe will extend the same skills even in future my future practice. References Adler, R. B., Rosenfeld, L. B., & Proctor, R. F. (2007). Interplay: The process of interpersonal communication. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Alberts, J.K., Martin, J.N, & Nakayama, T.K. (2011). Human communication in society. Upper Saddle Rier, NJ: Pearson Education. Wrench, J. S., McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (2008). Human communication in everyday life: Explanations and applications. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Read More