My Internship at DC (Day 4)

* I am writing this log not only to fulfill a course requirement but for personal-enrichment as well.

1) Date: 8/28/2014 (Day 4) Start: 4pm

            I am, of course, still a new intern at Dismas Charities, having my orientation on Monday (8/25).  I learned many of the procedures, my tasks as an intern, and about Dismas during the orientation.  To be brief, as a student intern, I am required to see residents.  I do this by first conducting a psycho-social assessment on them.  Then, I identify three of the main problem areas the resident may have.  For each of the problem area, I am to have a goal.  Each goal will have three objectives and each objective three tasks.  The tasks need to be timed, measurable, and attainable.  Once approved, I can start seeing my client to get those goals and objectives met.  Interns are also required to conduct educational groups to teach the resident various transitional skills.  I feel I am more comfortable conducting groups than helping the individual on the PSA or treatment session because, for the education group, I already know the material to teach.  It is just a matter of disseminating the knowledge to the other residents.  I can use drawing out and cutting off techniques.  To compare with the individual PSA and treatment sessions, however, I am not the expert.  I have to ask questions to get information.  Well, being an intrapersonal person, I might be comfortable with both.  Now if the group session is about treatment, that would be much more challenging.

            Speaking of education groups, I heard that the residents in many of the sessions tend to be lacking in participation.  Many of the groups conducted tend to be quiet with only the teacher or group worker leading it.  If that is the case, I may not have to worry too much on cutting off, a technique that I may need more practice in.  I will have to use drawing out techniques such as rounds or activities to get everyone to participate.  I think passion is also an important factor.  If the residents see that I am passionate about what I’m teaching and genuine, they may pay more attention. 

            The gist of this entry, or what I want to write about, is the nature of Dismas and the residents.  I am told and taught that involuntary clients, especially offenders, can be the most difficult clients a social worker may encounter.  However, at Dismas, I believe an exception is made.  These residents at this halfway house, are almost out of prison and almost into mainstream society.  They are almost free.  Thus, many of them will behave like angels, on their best behavior, so they can have their dream of freedom.  They know that if they mess up, they will go back in prison.  This is unlike other correctional facilities, where its residents know they will not be freed anytime soon.  To be more philosophical, why can’t people, everyone in general, behave like angels all the time?  It is certainly possible for these federal offenders to behave nicely even though they are on their best behavior for a reason.  People should be on their best behavior because it is the right thing to do, not just to gain something.  But I know that people are naturally selfish, and many will only be nice if they can get Santa’s present.  To apply Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development, many of these residents are probably at a lower stage of moral development.  To many of them, their thinking is punitive.  It is about punishment and not the reward.  It is about the short-term and not about the long-term, not about karma, or anything like that.  Social workers, on the other hand..  ok, I won’t get to that.  But, people can be bad because there are no incentives to be good or to avoid negative consequences.   

            To look at myself, I am starting to be more selfish too, after finding out that being nice doesn’t really pay.  Nice guys do indeed finish last, but clever nice guys in heart can still finish first. 

            So right now, I’m doing a lot of theory and not a lot of practical.  I still have my manuals to read (each of them is like a textbook!).  I am pending approval for my PSA practice outline so once approved, I can start conducting PSA’s.

*Only unclassified material will be included.

2/27/2014: Seek making a difference, not acceptance [Discovery]

2/27/2014: Seek making a difference, not acceptance

S: 6:19am

E: 7:00am

Everything I do, everything we do, can be seen as right or wrong.  If I try to help others, there will be people telling me “oh why are you helping others?  Why not just help yourself?”  They will tell me that the only one who will care about you is yourself.  Yet, if I only help myself, there will be people telling me that “Why are you only helping yourself?”  Why are you not helping others?  Life is not just about living for yourself; Life is about living for others.  Everything can be subject to debate, everything is not black or white.  Except the eternal laws found in the Bible, but that is my belief. 

I feel writing benefits the reader but hurts the writer.  The writer has to give valuable time to write while the reader benefits from reading.  Yet, from another perspective, there are times when writing benefits the writer more than the reader.  The writer might be advertising something, that person might have something to gain.  Or, the writer can be having fun, making humor at the expense of others.  The writer can also troll.  Troll lol lol. 

Children should be taught right from wrong.  Children should learn to think for themselves.  Do not impose religion on children.  Children benefits from religion.  It seems like everything I do, everything we do, can be considered by others to be deviant, illegal, or wrong.  Even if I take a rule that society generally agrees on, such as not sleeping in class, there are times when sleeping in class is a better course of action than staying awake.  That person, or should I say student, might be thinking ahead and need the extra energy to get through the day.  If that person forces him or herself to be awake, that person might be too tired to function in other parts of their lives.  That person might get into an accident driving or biking back from school, for example.  I’m not saying sleeping in class is a good thing, there are generalities, there are exceptions.  If I go north, people (it seems a lot of people actually) will try to tell me to go south.  If I go east, people tell me to go west.  If I don’t go anywhere, people will tell me to go somewhere!  There are also people telling me just to stop moving. 

I know there are things that are considered to be opinions, others to be generally accepted by society, still others that are generally to be considered to be correct due to past experience.  Let nobody say that something must be right 100% of the time.  There are no absolutes.  Only God can do that and I do know some absolutes due to my (or what I call *my* holy spirit) interpretation of the Bible.  Since God sees everything, let God be the judge.  Yet, when I say that, some people, to quote one of my professors, interpret more than what I say.  They think, “What!  Are you trying to judge me?  Are you trying to say what I’m doing is wrong?”  Nobody is saying that what you are doing is wrong.  On the contrary, I’m trying to say that only God knows if something is right or wrong or different shades of it.  No human being should give value judgments.  That’s what I mean when I say God will be the judge.  I say that to myself “God will be the Judge” all the time.

What I’m trying to say is that people should not try to seek acceptance because it is not possible to be accepted or to please everyone or even the majority, but people should seek to make a positive difference.  People should be the person God wants them to be.  Or, if the person doesn’t believe in God (and that is fine, I’m not going to judge, only.. yeah) that that person should be all that they can be; that person should reach their full potential. 

Sorry about writing this, but in a way, I’m not so sorry.  I’m tired of people trying to gerrymander me into doing what they think, in their own definition, is right.  If I am a lawyer, I can debate anything.  I could be the devil’s advocate.  People can have their own opinions, but in my opinion, hardly anything is black or white, instead, I see different shades of gray.  Just look at history, for example.  There are full of interpretations and different sides say different things, it’s just in the case of history, might tends to make right (Look are WWII, Japanese textbooks vs. Chinese or even American ones or look at the Axis’ side).  Although morally, I do see one side as having a darker gray than the other side.  Oh well, God will be the judge.