Its been a long while since the Capstone Project was assigned and i have to say that it has surprised me. Some aspects have turned out somewhat like how i expected them to but in other ways nothing at all like what i had anticipated. When the project was first presented to me and i began to think of what i wanted to do, and the first thing that came to mind was that i wanted to do something associated with film and digital media. Although that didn't work out for me because i had lots of trouble finding a mentor that could work with my schedule, it forced me to search deeper and find another option. The idea i came up with next was Counselling, i am not sure exactly why but there was just something about it that really interested me even though it was so different from my first choice. I just thought a career where my job was to help people with their personal problems, being a person they could trust and feel comfortable is such a rewarding job. So with this knew idea in my head i began searching for a mentor online trying to find an organization that would take in a student to shadow a counselor, when i finally found a great organization called A Better Way through my mothers Co- Worker. I learned that this organization was a non- profit that assisted foster kids or kids taken custody by the state and their parents and provided visits and counseling. I started working with my Mentor in December and although my 25 hours are completed i still have plans on working with this phenomenal place. After i had all my mentor things straightened out, the next step for me was the paper. What i decided to do my paper on was The Benefits of Meditation, i felt that the connection between the two would be physiology, so i focused the paper around that.
Both the physical project and paper brought some things out of me, this inculded Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity. For me critical thinking assisted me during the process of the paper, i had to really sit down and come up with something that i know had a connection and also was a topic that had enough for my to write about. I also used critical thinking for creating the thesis and main points although i had tons of great information i had to really organize it all and categorize everything so that it was what the paper needed. I strongly believe that the paper is what took most of my full on concentration and brain power if you will. As for communication i did a lot of back and forth communication with my mentor with things having mostly to do with when i was coming in and what times the events i attended were. Communication was a huge part of the success with my hours because i was so fortunate that my mentor would respond to me and that i could trust she wouldn't flake or be out of reach if i needed her for any reason regarding the project. Collaboration, i felt that depending on the definition of collaboration i did a lot with fellow students, because although we all had different topics we still sat down with each other and talked about or papers gave each other constructive criticism, proofreading, stating opinions etc for me that's collaboration. Also i worked a lot with my mentor organizing and helping with events, with clients so that was also collaboration with her as well. As for creativity I felt that the topic i chose for my paper was pretty creative, not many would associate counseling with meditation, also i thought it was an interesting view on physiology and how the mind works, also mediation was something that i wanted to try so i thought it was really cool that i got to write a whole paper on it.
Although i loved working at A Better Way i did encounter some challenges and issues that made it a little more difficult for me to work there. My first challenge was transportation, Since i don't drive it became very difficult because i had to rely on my parents or family to drop me off which wasn't always easy because of course they have their own schedules. But i managed to work around that by working hard to schedule properly, and keep up with it. The other challenge that i faced with working at A Better Way, was over coming my shyness and leaving my comfort zone. This was a whole new experience for me, new people and new environment all together, but through time and just due to the fact that the people there were so friendly i adjusted pretty well and that was no longer an issue. With this experience i have a gained an numerous amount of characteristics that will stay with me when i enter the professional world. Some of these things would include how I've improved socially in a work environment and how i think in such an environment. Now i feel way more confident when talking with adults whether they are fellow co workers or clients, Also i gained the idea of trying to figure things out on my own and try to be more independent and not rely on my mentor for the smaller things and taking charge of the task i was given. I think that those traits that i have acquired would do me great service when i hit the job market. Personally my envelopment with this organization and exposure to this career has really inspired me. What i learned that surprised me the most was how much counselors do for their clients and for their own community, we worked toy drives and events for the kids to make their clients happy and a little more joyful. A Better Way makes its self somewhere, where people can feel safe, its such a positive place you and can feel it when you walk through the doors, and that's what truly touched me. I have gained a respect for this profession and just an overall respect for all organization like it, with this i have discovered that being a counselor is a career that i could really consider for my future and that excites me. I think that the Capstone Project was a great success for me because it did what it was meant for, to find what i wanted, to challenge myself and decide where i could see myself in the future, and i felt it did just that.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
4 more hours in... running total 25 1/2 hours
Running Total: 25 1/2 Hours
9:00 am- 1:00 pm
On Saturday, April 27th i met with my mentor again at her office for another 4 hours 9:00am- 1:00pm . So what i did was basically the same things i did the last time which was on the 19th. I again was filing the Client progress note, picking up the kids area making sure all the toys and game boards where back onto the shelves and that they were all stacked neatly so that if a kid was reaching for a toy the whole shelve full of toys wouldn't come tumbling down on him. i was also asked to wipe down some of the surfaces like the table in the kitchen where they have some great snacks by the way, and also wipe down some of the toy areas. after i was waiting for my mentor to finish session with a parent because although she counselors kids she also sits down with parents and guides them on how to manage their kids. because the kids here at "A Better Way" are foster children taken by the state, so what this organization offers is supervised visits with the parents or parent. so they can give them some advice and counseling that they need for their good and the good of their child's. after her meeting with the parent my mentor started the play therapy with her client and the child's parent right with her. For this play therapy session i just got to watch and see the different ways my mentor talked to him, and now that i jut got to really sit and focus on the things she was saying i can really tell how some of the questions no matter how simple might trigger something for these kids to say. overall i thought that this was another successful day for me and just getting more experience in this office and seeing first hand what her days are like is always interesting.
9:00 am- 1:00 pm
On Saturday, April 27th i met with my mentor again at her office for another 4 hours 9:00am- 1:00pm . So what i did was basically the same things i did the last time which was on the 19th. I again was filing the Client progress note, picking up the kids area making sure all the toys and game boards where back onto the shelves and that they were all stacked neatly so that if a kid was reaching for a toy the whole shelve full of toys wouldn't come tumbling down on him. i was also asked to wipe down some of the surfaces like the table in the kitchen where they have some great snacks by the way, and also wipe down some of the toy areas. after i was waiting for my mentor to finish session with a parent because although she counselors kids she also sits down with parents and guides them on how to manage their kids. because the kids here at "A Better Way" are foster children taken by the state, so what this organization offers is supervised visits with the parents or parent. so they can give them some advice and counseling that they need for their good and the good of their child's. after her meeting with the parent my mentor started the play therapy with her client and the child's parent right with her. For this play therapy session i just got to watch and see the different ways my mentor talked to him, and now that i jut got to really sit and focus on the things she was saying i can really tell how some of the questions no matter how simple might trigger something for these kids to say. overall i thought that this was another successful day for me and just getting more experience in this office and seeing first hand what her days are like is always interesting.
The Training: 21 1/2 hours down 3 1/2 to go...
Running Total: 21 1/2 Hours
3:30 pm- 6:30 pm
On Friday, April 19th i attended this 3 hour training with my mentor Consuelo Martinez. So this was a very fascinating experience from me because i learned a lot of things that i never knew about being a counselor. So basically what this training included was talking about Motivational Interviewing just giving all the counselors tips for when their with their clients, and all that is what i expected a training for this career would be, but what really got my attention was when we reached the " self- care" portion of the training. so what this "self - care" program is, is to support the counselors to help them to do their job the best they can but also by first helping them help themselves. Some of the exercises they do are just an open discussion about how hey feel about anything which would most of the times be a case they were working on, also they practiced guided meditation to unload stress. i got to participate in a little of the meditation which felt a little unusual considering i never really tried mediation specially in a group. My mentor was telling me one of the reasons they do this is of course to unload stress, but what we don't really think about is the type of stress counselors like this have, some of the cases that they get, that my mentor gets are very upsetting and disturbing, As much is they try to leave those thoughts at work it follows them home and can really affect them. so that's why programs/ training's are offered to them every month because of the emotional demand of this job. What my mentor told me really stuck with me because i never really thought about that side of it all, listening to peoples issues all day and not thinking that one of these peoples tragic story might really upset me, i never thought about that. Although that is something in never considered it dosnt scare me away from this profession but gave me and even deeper respect to the people that do this ever day, because in one way or another these cases do become personal. I think that this training is an amazing resource for all counselors and was really cool to be able to listen, watch, and do someone meditation.
3:30 pm- 6:30 pm
On Friday, April 19th i attended this 3 hour training with my mentor Consuelo Martinez. So this was a very fascinating experience from me because i learned a lot of things that i never knew about being a counselor. So basically what this training included was talking about Motivational Interviewing just giving all the counselors tips for when their with their clients, and all that is what i expected a training for this career would be, but what really got my attention was when we reached the " self- care" portion of the training. so what this "self - care" program is, is to support the counselors to help them to do their job the best they can but also by first helping them help themselves. Some of the exercises they do are just an open discussion about how hey feel about anything which would most of the times be a case they were working on, also they practiced guided meditation to unload stress. i got to participate in a little of the meditation which felt a little unusual considering i never really tried mediation specially in a group. My mentor was telling me one of the reasons they do this is of course to unload stress, but what we don't really think about is the type of stress counselors like this have, some of the cases that they get, that my mentor gets are very upsetting and disturbing, As much is they try to leave those thoughts at work it follows them home and can really affect them. so that's why programs/ training's are offered to them every month because of the emotional demand of this job. What my mentor told me really stuck with me because i never really thought about that side of it all, listening to peoples issues all day and not thinking that one of these peoples tragic story might really upset me, i never thought about that. Although that is something in never considered it dosnt scare me away from this profession but gave me and even deeper respect to the people that do this ever day, because in one way or another these cases do become personal. I think that this training is an amazing resource for all counselors and was really cool to be able to listen, watch, and do someone meditation.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
18 1/2 hours down 6 1/2 to go...
Running Total: 18 1/2 Hours
9:00 am- 1:30 pm
Again i apologize for these posts being late, but back to business, on April 13, 2013 i got 4 1/2 hours in with my mentor i was very fortunate that a couple times a month my mentor does actually work half days on Saturdays so it was an excellent opportunity for me to get hours on non school days. so i once again i arrived at the "A Better Way" office in San Francisco where i met with my mentor at 9:00am- 1:30pm, so what she had me do was first file all her Clients progress notes which are what is says notes and just a record of the progress of he clients are making and any other information. She also asked my to help organize the play area which had and endless amount of toys, balls, game boards art supply's ect. After i was finished with that which took me about 2 hours, i spent the rest of the time shadowing my mentor as she was with a client , usually they wouldn't allow others to be there during sessions but since i was just shadowing and her client is what they would call a " low risk client" and with permission was allowed me to stay and even invited me to play with her client which was a young kid named Ana( all my mentors clients are children), what my mentor was doing is called " Play therapy", they just basically play with the kids let them do their own thing and when they want to say something they will, or if the counselor notices something during this time it will be recorded and addressed later. I thought that doing this was really fun although filing papers is a bit of time consuming it was good for me because it was a chance to practice trying to do something correctly and efficiently these files where important so i had to do it right. The best part was obviously getting to really she my mentor at work and meeting her client it helped my a lot with social skills but not just with other adults but working with younger children as well, it was a really interesting experience and cant wait to do this again.
9:00 am- 1:30 pm
Again i apologize for these posts being late, but back to business, on April 13, 2013 i got 4 1/2 hours in with my mentor i was very fortunate that a couple times a month my mentor does actually work half days on Saturdays so it was an excellent opportunity for me to get hours on non school days. so i once again i arrived at the "A Better Way" office in San Francisco where i met with my mentor at 9:00am- 1:30pm, so what she had me do was first file all her Clients progress notes which are what is says notes and just a record of the progress of he clients are making and any other information. She also asked my to help organize the play area which had and endless amount of toys, balls, game boards art supply's ect. After i was finished with that which took me about 2 hours, i spent the rest of the time shadowing my mentor as she was with a client , usually they wouldn't allow others to be there during sessions but since i was just shadowing and her client is what they would call a " low risk client" and with permission was allowed me to stay and even invited me to play with her client which was a young kid named Ana( all my mentors clients are children), what my mentor was doing is called " Play therapy", they just basically play with the kids let them do their own thing and when they want to say something they will, or if the counselor notices something during this time it will be recorded and addressed later. I thought that doing this was really fun although filing papers is a bit of time consuming it was good for me because it was a chance to practice trying to do something correctly and efficiently these files where important so i had to do it right. The best part was obviously getting to really she my mentor at work and meeting her client it helped my a lot with social skills but not just with other adults but working with younger children as well, it was a really interesting experience and cant wait to do this again.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The Meeting: 14 hours 11 to go
Running Total: 14 Hours
3:30 pm- 5:30 pm
Well i would like to start off by saying that a couple of these blog posts are a little late i have been having some technical internet difficulties including other personal reasons why these posts are late but nevertheless i would like to share what i did. On wed April 3rd i arrived at my mentors office "A Better Way" to shadow her (Connie Martinez) for a little bit so i actually accompanied her to a work meeting. At first i felt a little weird just sitting there but i quickly got over it because all of these counselors really try to keep things lighthearted as possible. what this meeting consisted of was discussing and planning there next fundraiser which will take place in May at Bissat Booald in San Francisco, so basically what they were talking about was the that is was going to be an all age venue, there were going to have food being served but have not yet decided what they will be serving also they explained how the entertainment of this event will be a local high school band. The cost of the event wont be much it will be around $5-$10 because most of the event will emphasis on donations, as well as a raffle that will bring in more money to. Although the meeting was quite boring i have come to realize that this is part of a counselors job going to meetings and participation in these events that might sometimes be a little stressful although the meeting was not that exciting i really like my mentor and its always great to see her and of course to earn more hours as well. The meeting was from 3:30pm- 5:30 pm and I have a running total of 14 hours.
3:30 pm- 5:30 pm
Well i would like to start off by saying that a couple of these blog posts are a little late i have been having some technical internet difficulties including other personal reasons why these posts are late but nevertheless i would like to share what i did. On wed April 3rd i arrived at my mentors office "A Better Way" to shadow her (Connie Martinez) for a little bit so i actually accompanied her to a work meeting. At first i felt a little weird just sitting there but i quickly got over it because all of these counselors really try to keep things lighthearted as possible. what this meeting consisted of was discussing and planning there next fundraiser which will take place in May at Bissat Booald in San Francisco, so basically what they were talking about was the that is was going to be an all age venue, there were going to have food being served but have not yet decided what they will be serving also they explained how the entertainment of this event will be a local high school band. The cost of the event wont be much it will be around $5-$10 because most of the event will emphasis on donations, as well as a raffle that will bring in more money to. Although the meeting was quite boring i have come to realize that this is part of a counselors job going to meetings and participation in these events that might sometimes be a little stressful although the meeting was not that exciting i really like my mentor and its always great to see her and of course to earn more hours as well. The meeting was from 3:30pm- 5:30 pm and I have a running total of 14 hours.
Monday, April 1, 2013
12 Hours Down 13 to go...
Running Total: 12 Hours
10:00 am- 5:00 pm
Yesterday March 31st I got a nice 7 hours in with my mentor, I went down to the A Better Way office and helped my mentor and her co workers set up for the Easter Event. this event was for some of the organizations clients. I helped decorate the whole entire office, i had to clean up and organize the toys in the office that are there the daily for their clients and just make sure they were neat and tighty for the festivity. Once we finished all the cleaning and decorating we went down stairs to get the food they were going to serve, we brought it upstairs and set it up in there big conference room. All this took two hours from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. when the event started i got to say hello to a few of the clients but i was mostly busy assisting with serving the food. After the line of people died down i got to sit down and eat lunch with my mentor. when we were finished she asked me to help with the little Easter egg hunt for the kids, we gathered all the kids and brought them to the front while we quickly hid the eggs. After the egg hunt as the event seemed to wind down we handed out some goodie bags to the kids. once the event was over which was around 4:00 pm i spent the last hour just helping /cleaning u and by 5:00 pm i was out the door. its was defiantly tiring but it was a fun and interesting experience. It was a long day full of lots of people but it cool because i got to see my mentors clients and interact with them. being a help in these kind of thing again shows how being a counselor of an organization like this, that your going to have to put on events like this for your clients which is something i never really realized before all of this. Again this was a great experience, my mentor was very pleased with my help yesterday and i have made plans with my mentor to do more hours on work days, I cant wait for that.
10:00 am- 5:00 pm
Yesterday March 31st I got a nice 7 hours in with my mentor, I went down to the A Better Way office and helped my mentor and her co workers set up for the Easter Event. this event was for some of the organizations clients. I helped decorate the whole entire office, i had to clean up and organize the toys in the office that are there the daily for their clients and just make sure they were neat and tighty for the festivity. Once we finished all the cleaning and decorating we went down stairs to get the food they were going to serve, we brought it upstairs and set it up in there big conference room. All this took two hours from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. when the event started i got to say hello to a few of the clients but i was mostly busy assisting with serving the food. After the line of people died down i got to sit down and eat lunch with my mentor. when we were finished she asked me to help with the little Easter egg hunt for the kids, we gathered all the kids and brought them to the front while we quickly hid the eggs. After the egg hunt as the event seemed to wind down we handed out some goodie bags to the kids. once the event was over which was around 4:00 pm i spent the last hour just helping /cleaning u and by 5:00 pm i was out the door. its was defiantly tiring but it was a fun and interesting experience. It was a long day full of lots of people but it cool because i got to see my mentors clients and interact with them. being a help in these kind of thing again shows how being a counselor of an organization like this, that your going to have to put on events like this for your clients which is something i never really realized before all of this. Again this was a great experience, my mentor was very pleased with my help yesterday and i have made plans with my mentor to do more hours on work days, I cant wait for that.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
More Hours To Come
I have currently not have served any more hours than I already have, do to a very busy schedule but. That will soon change I have plans to be working on more hours with my mentor very soon. I have been in contact will my mentor and she should have some new things for me to do I'm excited.
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