Throughout the semester, I have learned a lot, such as social workers and counselors possess a lot of the same skills, like listening and asking the right questions. Also, that having empathy and sympathy is important to display at all times, especially when working with those that are not able to do certain things for themselves. One thing that really struck me this semester as an ah-ha moment was the segment on "Isolation Kills". The video, "A Practitioner's Perspective of Social Isolation", discussed the importance and successful outcomes from geriatric assessments being completed, early death, and negative health effects of social isolation. I've heard people say that people can die from being lonely, but, I have to admit, until watching the video, I had not really taken it literally. It is possible, sad, and scary!
The Michigan State Plan On Aging, is a resource of information on Michigan aging services which was developed with the agenda of Michigan to get funding. The plan is an outline of goals, objectives, polices and procedures promoting independence and enhance the dignity of Michigan older persons and their families. The plan can assist both the elder and the young by educating and learning from experience.
1. Michigan receives $4.7 million from Title III-E to support the National Family Caregiver Support Program. A portion of the resources allocated by NFCP will also support services for grandparents raising grandchildren and other older relative caregivers. 2. The population of individuals aged 60 and over consists of 1,596,162 people, or 16.1 % of the total state population. 3. Nearly 8% of individuals aged 65 and over in Michigan fall with poverty status,9% of those aged 75 and over fall within this range. 4. The plan includes prevention and intervention services for all including, Native Americans. I found the information from both videos to be very informative. As a professional counselor or social worker, we should consider social isolation as an important and serious issue. What I like about the videos, while they both discussed the same issues and facts related to isolation. They also, provided awareness on prevention and intervention factors which can serve as resources and tools used to help social workers and counselors to serve their clients more in a more effective manner. Such as, geriatrics assessments being completed to help determine what the clients issues and concerns are and the type of support, if at all, the client may have. This would bring about a better quality of life for the client.
The point that social isolation should be considered just as important as, mental health and physical health, I found to be interesting, and true. When it comes to our physical health, we will get help immediately, because we want to get better, right away. But, when it comes to our mental and social health, we are not as quick to go and get help. Most often, we try and get by, by making excuses, most times. I do agree, social isolation and mental health should be taken very serious. As the videos discussed, social isolation is deadly, and our mental health plays a significant role in social isolation prevention and social isolation intervention. As a social worker, it would be vital to use geriatrics assessments when working with elderly clients as the social worker can communicate with other agencies via the shared language and resources and tools which can benefit the clients better. Also, to ensure you become aware of the clients health history, family, friends, and other activities, if at all the client may have. Educating your elderly clients because they are easy targets is important. I enjoyed taking the quiz. I learned a lot, although, I a lot of the questions wrong. I've never had a quiz given in this format before. The information was very interesting and surprising. For example, it is estimated, that in 2035, age range 15-64, will be taking care of elderly 65 and older. It's scary when you consider that 23 percent of todays population lives of $1.00 a day. Other information, such as, waste causes more environmental harm than other pollutants. The quiz was very a great new refreshing form to be educated.
There were lots of different information that surprised me, the couple that really stood out to me were the facts on regarding female life expectancy between females in U.S., Kenya, and China. It did not surprise me that Kenya life expectancy rate for females would be third place. It was alarming to read that the 46 years is there life expectancy. I assumed that U.S. would have the highest female life expectancy. The quiz, demonstrates that learning can be fun. Tamara Maxwell Displaced Seniors
As I listen to the interview on displaced seniors, I found myself becoming so irritated! The scary part is that there does not seem to be a plan for this growing problem. It's really unbelievable, to think that no one had come up with some type of plan during the housing development discussion. Having to worry about if you will have a place to live, especially, an elderly person, can be very stressful, fearful, and cause for physical and mental concerns. We can't forget the contributions which our elderly have made to help our current existence. Terms I learned this week:
1. Biographical Approaches focuses on people's life histories as a way of getting to know who they are. This technique is very personal and revealing. The purpose is to assist social workers to have a better understanding of their present and future needs and aspirations, according to our text, pg39. A person discussing their life stories can provide various topics of information such as education, family, and work (Johnson, 1976). 2. Care Management is defined as the process linking older people's needs to tailor-made service provision, according to our text, Key Concepts. Our text indicates that there are lots of definitions of the term "care management" or "case management" which is how is it referred to in the USA. Care management is a process which involves creating an effective future life plan that can make aging more peaceful and not stressful. 3. Civic Engagement is a defined as a range of specific, organized actions and behaviors intended to connect individuals to one another in the quest to address public concerns, according to our text, Key Concepts. Our text discusses how elderly adults have an history of being involved and aware of politics, with a focus on age discrimination, pg.50. Civic engagement involves communication, community support, and lots of time, paid and not paid positions that allow elderly the opportunity to be apart of the community. 4. Convoy Theory, an interdisciplinary framework that seeks to explain how social networks and social support operate across the life course, according to our text, Key Concepts. I like the fact that convoy theory is used a form of intervention for aging population. Overall, my weebly experience was not so bad, in the end! At first, I was very frustrated and questioning my ability to accomplish the task. After I really took my time, read, and used the resources and tools which had been provided by our instructor. The experience became fun and exciting! I realized now, that I made the experience harder for myself by attempting to take for granted that I could easily create my weebly website without the following the use of the information that had been provided. Question one ask, what could I do to improve this learning experience? My main issue revolves around me dedicating time for my studies. It seems that no matter what I do to set time aside for me, some how, something happens. Improving my time management will help my learning experience to be easier, smoother, and more enjoyable.
Question two ask, what could the professor do to make this a better learning experience for me? The most important and helpful thing our professor can do for me is helping with any barriers or questions that I may have in the future. Question three ask, what are three things I learned this week. I learned three helpful things such as, using good listening skills, importance of communicating effectively, aging and importance of communication with family, and how easy it is to create a website. which will help enhance my professional counseling skills in the future. Normally, I would say that I am a good listener. Others have also told me often how good of a listener I am. After meeting and listening to our class guest speaker, Mr. Ivory Williams, Story Teller & Speaker. Mr. Williams lesson on good listening skills and communicating effectively demonstrated that sometimes, when you think you are listening, you really may not. Our second guest speakers, the niece and nephew of Mrs. Rosa Parks, reminded me how important it is to communicate with not only aging family members, but with the youth as well concerning health, finances, and other important details about the persons life. This information will possibly come in handy if there comes a time when the person is not able to attend to themselves or personal affairs. Mrs. Parks niece and nephew discussed how they were not able to participate in either of three of their aunts funerals. They also talked about how humble their aunt was and how she did not see herself as a famous person, she was just "Auntie Rosa" to them. I look forward to reading their personal stories which have not been shared in other books published about Mrs. Rosa Parks , according to her niece and nephew. My most exciting and frustrating learning experience this week was creating the class website. It is a really creative and motivating learning experience for me. I can definitely see myself using all the things that I learned this week as helpful tools in my professional role and a counselor. Enhancing my listening skills and ensuring that I am communicating more effectively are things that I will make to apply daily. When I am working with the aging community, I will try to be more aware to ensure they are communicating with their family members and listen carefully to what their needs and issues may be. |
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