Question1:
When it comes to cultural competence, it’s easy enough to submit papers indicating that one will be open, receptive, and neutral with clients and that this will come naturally and with ease. However, there is nothing like real-life experience to bring into sharp relief our beliefs, values, and biases. Having to confront and manage one’s ethnocentric and cultural biases head-on is the best way to learn how to manage these human ways of being. All of us are ethnocentric, we are just ethnocentric in our own way.
Complete Exercise 7.3 on pages 207-208 of the Human Services Internship book. Type up your responses and add them to your journal entry. Once you have completed this exercise, review the Case Example: One Placement + Two Students = Cultural Insight, found on pages 210-211. Using the case example, and exercise 7.3 responses as a springboard, answer the questions below:
Think carefully about the discussion of ethnocentrism, as well as the case example, along with the results of your completed exercises.
In what ways might your cultural lens have colored your reactions to your field agency and/or the clients it serves? Include information about how you may also have had ethnocentric responses to the agency staff.
Describe at least one experience or incident in your fieldwork in which you experienced an ethnocentric reaction.
What thoughts and feelings did you have in that situation? Describe in detail.
As you describe the incident, explain the specific aspects of your own cultural experience (including family beliefs and values, religious beliefs, educational beliefs, etc) that played into your reaction.
Sum up your understanding of ethnocentrism and culture and give at least three reasons it is important for you to be aware of your cultural beliefs so that you can be a more effective, neutral HUS professional.
Question 2:
Over the course of your HUS program you have been asked to write, write, write. As we know, only by practice do we become comfortable at a particular skill. For some of you, the writing demands have been relatively easy to navigate. Perhaps you began the program with a high level of confidence in your writing abilities. For others, the writing has been more difficult. Through your consistent exposure to required writing assignments of all kinds, luckily, at this stage in the program, you have become more skilled, more efficient, and perhaps have even begun to like writing. Now that you are past the midpoint of your internship, you have been exposed to a particular form of writing that is required by your agency. Regardless of your placement, all agencies require documentation and the chapter outlines the reasons that proper documentation is an essential component of all HUS practice. There are many ramifications to documentation, including legal ones, so it is imperative that you keep factual records, records that say enough, but not too much. There are numerous components in the chapter that will guide you in becoming a skilled practitioner who keeps appropriate records.For this journal entry about writing and documentation:
Describe some of the documents that are required at your internship agency. What purpose do they serve?
Explain what important components you or other staff members may include in these documents. Describe key points you might add to your notes in these forms or strategies that may be useful when filling out these documents.
Sum up this entry with three reasons that proper documentation is an important and necessary component of HUS practice.
*** To get more information on the location I’m doing my internship, please see website at https://lovingheartseniorsolutions.com/
The website has all the information about my internship location.
***Note: If you did not have a lot of experience with documentation, feel free to write about what other individuals in the organization had to document. You can also explain what your role might be like in the future if you are documenting your interactions with clients, etc. in your current internship agency or other human services organizations.
Question 3:
There are four parts to this assignment. Complete ALL parts of the assignment for full credit.
PART ONE
Complete exercise 9.1 of the Human Service Internship Textbook, page 255 (questions are included below) and answer each question with a minimum of one paragraph of 3-5 complete sentences.
What are the prevalent emotions that you have observed in yourself during the course of your fieldwork?
What are some of the most difficult emotions for you to deal with productively?
What specific events or circumstances triggered these emotions in you?
What strategies can you use to deal with these emotions productively?
PART TWO
Complete exercise 9.2 page 256 of the Human Service Internship Textbook (questions are included below) and answer each question with a minimum of one paragraph of 3-5 complete sentences. Remember, when you are triggered by an experience, the answer lies within you as to what that is about. By cultivating self-awareness and self-understanding, you can learn what you need to do to effectively manage yourself when you are triggered.
Describe an instance during your internship in which you were able to move from awareness of your feelings (self-awareness) to understanding the source of your feelings (self-understanding).
What methods can you use to cultivate self-awareness during your internship?
What methods could you have used during your internship?
PART THREE
Complete the ICSRLE on pages 266-268 Human Service Internship Textbook. Please note, as you complete this assessment, even though it was designed to focus on college life, use your internship experience as an additional frame of reference while rating the prompts. For example, one of the prompts notes dissatisfaction with school; also consider, dissatisfaction with an internship. Another is disliking fellow students; also consider, disliking other internship agency employees or disliking agency clients.Also complete the Workplace Stress Scale on pages 268-269.PART FOUR
Complete exercise 9.7, page 268 of the Human Service Internship Textbook (questions are included below) and answer each question with a minimum of one paragraph of 3-5 complete sentences. Use both assessments assigned above to complete this exercise.Focus on two key outcomes from your ICSRLE results:
your overall stress level
your particular stressors
Total your responses to each item and find your score on the survey. Scores on the ICSRLE can range from 0 to 147. Higher scores, of course, indicate higher levels of exposure to stress.Now review the items that you rated either 2 or 3. Higher scored items indicate those stressors are more of an issue for you and are therefore perhaps issues that you might want to focus your attention on resolving.Next, tally your score on the Workplace Stress Scale.
Low stress: 15 and below
Fairly low stress: 16-20
Moderate stress: 21-25
Severe stress: 26-30
As you review your responses to the surveys, identify:
What have been your major stressors over the past month?
Which environmental stressors have you experienced?
What internal stressors have you experienced?
What particular insights do you have about your level of stress as well as your particular stressors?