Empathy And Volunteering

During my time volunteering at Wilmington Health and Rehab and The Woods at Holly Tree, I learned a lot from the experience by talking with the residents and observing. To be honest I was quite nervous when I started to volunteer. Although I’ve been to elder center before because of my grandmother, great grandmother, and volunteering with my church but, I was never around a big group of elder people I didn’t know. After my first day of volunteering I felt a lot more comfortable and it felt rewarding knowing I was able to help make their day. In this essay I will be discussing my experience, any myths or stereotypes that were presented, several theories, and any diversity I observed.

Empathy towards people with disabilities is a quality that I consider has been deep-seated in me since an early age. For example, when I was ten years old, while watching the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) telethon, I was moved to do a fundraiser in my community. All the money raised was sent to the MDA. This made me aware that we can all contribute in some way or another to the good of others. Later on, after completing my high school, I decided to pursue a degree in Physical Education and recreation for children with disabilities. Working as an Adeptive Physical Educator gave me the opportunity to change the lives of many students. The years invested in this occupation brought me great personal and professional satisfactions that still follow me to this

Working with children is one of the biggest adventures in life. However, as every other job, it has their complications and challenging times. A child with special needs or disabilities is a person who needs more from you; they require from your attention, support, help, and trust. I have the opportunity of working around children with special needs or disabilities; it is a different experience with each one. As every child, they are unique, they develop and learn in different ways. My purpose and reason of writing this essay are to understand, learn, and confirm that the accommodations that I am providing to my children with special needs or disabilities are the greatest ones and the ones that can

In ninth grade, my mother suggested that I volunteer with peers at my high school who are special needs. She thought it would be good for me to meet other people my age who have their unique struggles in school, much like myself. I protested originally, but little did I know I would love volunteering with my peers, regardless of their disability. During this time, I signed up to volunteer with a local organization called Buddy Ball. At Buddy Ball, I had the opportunity to teach children with disabilities ages five through twenty-one baseball. When I volunteered with my peers, I mainly saw high schoolers with severe autism, intellectual disabilities, and emotional disturbances, whereas with Buddy Ball most of the participants had severe autism, intellectual disability, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, epilepsy, or a multiple of disabilities. Both of these experiences allowed me to gain knowledge of a variety of special

Describe your experiences in working with children or youth with disabilities, and indicate their significance to you.

I have had numerous opportunities to volunteer and work with children of all abilities. Many of these children had independent or concurrent learning disabilities, emotional problems, and/or behavioural problems. I met these individuals through organizations I volunteered or worked for, programs I organized, and through summer camps where I was a counsellor that all catered children with disabilities. I also have personal relationships with children of family friends.

As someone who works with individuals with autism and other disabilities, it is disheartening seeing the mistreatment that they must endure in all aspects of their lives. The stereotypes and stigmas that surround these individuals are often incorrect and misguided. There are plenty of individuals with disabilities that are capable of living productive lives and it is important for them to be included in

The aim of this study was to investigate what empathy means to Swedish social workers and

There are three main types of Episodic Volunteering: temporary, interim and occasional. Temporary volunteers are those who serve for only a short time such as if University of Manitoba want to host an event for a day, the University will look for a student who is willing to volunteer for an hour or two. Those students are called temporary volunteers. Interim volunteers are volunteers that work regularly for one organization but no more than six months. For an instance, interim baby caregiver, those who work as an interim caregiver will only take care of the baby for several months until they handover the baby to the parents. It is usually no longer than six months.

Never would I have thought that being a counselor at a summer camp filled with tubing, movie watching, water balloon fights and lots of singing and dancing would make me see the world in such a new and brighter light. This past summer I participated as a counselor in a week-long summer camp called Camp Able. The camp is for children and adults ranging from ages 6-60 with disabilities, particularly Down Syndrome and Autism. Prior to this camp, I didn’t realize how much joy these unique souls could bring to my life. Camp Able was not only an experience that impacted me in a positive way but did so to the 50 campers that attended as well. The camp’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the word impossible from the

I undertook 2 years of volunteering at the local nursing home, which allowed me to experience a new side of healthcare. Feeding and talking to elderly patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s highlighted the importance of empathy in the profession allowing the patients to trust you , along with learning the art of caring whilst working alongside and speaking to the carers. I am grateful to have the opportunity to experience the hidden and less glamorous parts where I witnessed the residents I worked with deteriorate over the time of a year, yet seeing her smile when she looked at me outweighed any pain that would have been caused. Knowing just talking and feeding the patients can make such a big difference in a patient’s life allows me to be

1. Looking back over the times you have volunteered at BIC , what did you find most surprising? Describe it in some detail. Why were you surprised?

The first goal which is Developing Empathy is helping children to be able to feel and sympathize with others around them. This is an important skill because it helps us to adjust our actions to the behaviors of others. For example, if Judy starts to cry because her ice cream falls on the ground, her best friend Anna will try to give Judy her ice cream to cheer her up. This is an example of empathizing. Teachers use techniques such as role playing and discussing feelings to help further children understanding. This can be seen in group time where photos are shown of people expressing different emotions and the children are to assume what could have made that person feel that specific way. The second goal is Learning to Be Generous Altruistic

Most benefits that we humans receive and or give come from things we do everyday. If the saying goes that each action has a consequence, it would also mean that every action has a benefit. Some of those actions consist of helping others or showing empathy towards others. This idea of actions having benefits has been commonly seen throughout the world as a common saying. The saying goes that you get a benefit the equivalent to your actions. To clarify, this means that the benefits of an action would be equal to the greatness of that action. What exactly are the benefits of empathy? We could say that the benefits of empathy are pretty basic or normal, but the most normal and basic things in our world seem to hold the most ingenuity and creativity

In addition, to using empathy and genuineness you could use is clarifying your role to the client (Kirst-Ashman and Hull, 2015). Providing your client with your role clearly will help in overcoming the barriers they put up. A client learning that although they were mandated to work with you seeing that you are there to help make improvements can help with the reluctance. Also, that perhaps will tie in both empathy and genuineness is allowing the client to figure out what s/he would like you the social worker to do for them (Kirst-Ashman and Hull, 2015). Asking questions allowing the client to show or explain what you can do for them will show that they are empowered. This empowerment may help will the barriers the clients has with receiving