The Reflection Of Collaborative Health And Human Services

During and immediately after my undergraduate course, I had the opportunity to work as a volunteer at the American Counseling Association and as a houseparent for an institution that houses mentally ill individuals. The association welcomes students and encourages them to offer voluntary services while they have an opportunity. My experience at the association, as a houseparent, and currently as a paraprofessional for mentally ill adults and children with behavioral problems provided me with a solid footing as well as the necessary resources to prepare for my career in counseling. The experiences gave me an opportunity to attend several conferences and workshops where I had the chance to meet and interact with other professional counselors. These opportunities opened me up and exposed me to numerous challenging situations that helped me to grow both personally and professionally. Interacting with more qualified and experienced people in the association, institution for the mentally ill, and agency that I currently work for has helped me to develop confidence in my work as I sought their assistance and guidance whenever I needed help. The experiences gained while working at the association was helpful to me as I could apply that knowledge and the skills learnt to help my church members. At my church, I was a youth leader and

Here I have joined in with creative therapy workshops with mental health survivors, whilst being educated on how to respond to people who have mental health problems and the treatments that are available for them. My time as a volunteer has enhanced my oral communication skills, particularly in sensitive situations, which will prepare me for my career with patients. Alongside this, I have volunteered as a peer mentor in a GCSE maths class, developing my skills of presenting and my passion for helping others.

I began my social work studies over twenty-five years ago at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I never questioned my decision to pursue a career in social work; I loved my classes and worked hard to learn as much as possible. But the information I gained in undergraduate school simply opened the doors of my education. Most of my learning has come through constant questioning, personal research, and especially through work and life experience. Through these experiences I have encountered the challenges faced by individuals, families, and society and have been able to further access and develop the innate personality traits and abilities that originally led me to study social work as well as learn and practice the many skills necessary to be a successful mental health counselor.

These teams include professionals from different realms of the health field and the use of their combined knowledge to best assist patients and/or clients in need. This type of teamwork and form of practice has a profound impact on my career goals because I am interested in working within the hospital setting. As a practitioner, I will use the skills acquired from my studies/experience and apply them to the health field/aspect of social work practice. As a Graduate Research Assistant, I have had the opportunity to work within the hospital/healthcare setting and the experience I gained from this opportunity has solidified my goal to work not only in this profession, but with children and families in need. To continue practicing social work within the health field, I am currently interning at the McGuire VA Medical Center in the Mental Health Primary Care unit, working with Veterans and their families through crisis and allocating services to better serve the patients and their families. With this placement, I plan to make myself available for any learning opportunities that will be vital to my role within the health field and continue to explore the vast possibilities offered by this complex, yet rewarding profession known as Social

I am currently working in the Human Services field at the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS). After reading Chapter 1 in the book, the part that stood out to me the most was about Social Control. Before reading to the end of the section, I immediately connected that with Juvenile Services. Having worked with juveniles and their families over the past 7 years, what I find interesting and disturbing at the same time is that a lot of parents have expressed that they and their families were in needs of human services prior to the youth coming in contact with juvenile services. Several expressed that they had been seeking services in an attempt to get help but had nowhere to turn to until the child had already gone too far. Once connected to

The specific area of interest within human services is mental health facilitation. I was raised in a household where all adults were involved in health care in one form or another. My maternal grandmother was an LPN and my mother is a Mental Health Counselor. Of course, my mother’s interest soon became my own, which inspired me to volunteer at mental health organizations even at the age of ten, where I spent my afternoons with helping with children suffering from mental retardation. An additional factor for my career decisions was, at the age of 21, I was diagnosed with Bi Polar disorder with suicidal ideations. It took several years for me to learn to manage my disorders and become a participating member

As a Human Service major, students are taught and expected to have gained the ability to relate to individuals on multiple levels. Goal one states that, “Human Services students will be able to articulate sociological and psychological theory and be able to apply these theories in understanding individuals and society”.

I have learned a great many things from being in the Practicum of Human Services. It has changed my entire outlook on and my attitude toward my life. Before my senior year at Irving High School, I was shy, had low self-esteem, and avoided seemingly impossible challenges. This class has altered all of my worst qualities. On the first day helping the L.I.F.E. skills kids, I was afraid because I was clumsy and socially awkward. These qualities have not gone away, but I do not let them disable me. The fact of the matter is, I was not really open to this new challenge at first. I did not want to be the one at fault if something went wrong. I did not want the responsibility because I was too afraid of making a mistake. All the while, this became

1. They have mentioned building motivation in a few of my human services classes, but I never really learned how exactly you build it. Now I know about the different strategies and tools that counselors use when trying to build their clients motivation.

When I reflect on the reason I decided to take a career in Human Services more than 20 years ago. I have to remember it was because of the mission and values of most agencies. Most Human Services strive to improve the quality of life for the population they are serving. However, there are agencies with missions to improve the quality of life but therefore reality is to improve their banking accounts. Although, salary and benefits are vital. They are not most important and will not have the most influences in my decision to work for an organization.

Mental and emotional health can have interpersonal, and social impacts; I want to provide evidenced-based mental, emotional and behavioral health interventions within the context of families, communities and larger systems, to children and adolescents. My goal as a licensed counselor will be to develop a collaborative relationship where each client feels empowered to act as an expert in developing effective coping skills, manage anxiety, depression, navigate difficult life transitions, and enhance communication skills and relationships. Reflective practice and self-evaluation will be an integral part of my practice. This also means being able to set my experiences, values, privilege, beliefs and biases aside during counseling sessions and allowing the clients goals and needs to take precedence. In order to be well-rounded in my profession, my day-to-day functions will include, assessments, psychological testing, counseling, personality testing, teaching, treatment plans, referrals, coordinate services, case-management, client-family- community education, documentation,

This has provided me with an added insight into what interventions may be beneficial when working with clients. My aptitude for ¨thinking outside the box¨ has facilitated effective problem solving in situations that had no single or clear-cut solution. I hope to enhance this attribute during my time in field placement by refining my critical thinking skills and increasing my knowledge of community resources, so that I can gain a strengthened awareness of how to best advocate for and support clients. My ability to integrate personal goals, values, culture and socioeconomic background into treatment planning and in the treatment process has allowed me to develop realistic and attainable goals that are relevant to each individual. This strength stems from the steadfast belief that cultural relevance is essential to provide effective services. My social work experience has refined my organization and planning skills and I have fine-tuned my ability to manage a chaotic schedule. When I have encountered challenges in the field, I have overcome them by seeking supervision and consulting with more experienced colleagues. I also dedicate extra time to learning about cultures, concepts, and practices that I may have a difficult time understanding or am not familiar with. A final strength I believe will be an asset when working as a professional social worker is my dedication to the social work mission and

When I first started my college journey I initially majored in Biology. Not knowing what I wanted to do, I was influenced by my advisor to enter the biology field. After my third year, I decided not to pursue biology anymore, and that’s when I discovered my passion for the Psychology field. After receiving my undergrad in psychology, I knew that I wanted to get my masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, but I had no idea of how broad this area is. This week assignment granted me the opportunity to interview someone who has been in this profession for 25 plus years who has worked in all sectors when it comes to mental health counseling. It allowed me to learn the pros and cons of this field and it even gave me more insight and clarity on exactly what I wanted to do. I found this week assignment to be very informative and I believe it is necessary for anyone that’s interesting in entering in this field. I am grateful for the knowledge and advice that I received during this week assignment.

What I hope to gain from my internship is to truly be able to gain hands-on experience in the field of social work. Although I have prior experience in working with a particular group within a social work setting, I do not have experience working with diverse programs and diverse groups. I would like to learn how to conduct psychosocial assessments, and implement crisis intervention plans. I am interested in learning how to work with clients in completing intakes, conducting therapy, as well as collaborating with colleagues. I aim to learn how to apply the education and experience I brought with me to my new intern role.

Social justice helps us in creating human interactions in society and social institutions. These institutions can provide us with what is good for the person and for our associations with others. This happens so long as our institutions are