can this be done by 10 am 8-11-2018

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGY

Capstone

Kiara Bonds

USCB HMSV B490

Psychology

My responsibilities in the Extra Mile Club as an intern was to mentors the kids, and assist them in doing homework and also preparing meals. The Extra Mile Club is located in Beaufort in the South Carolina and is usually a non- profit organization and its aim is to change the stereotypical images of the children in the community by mentoring and coaching them to be confident and respectful and through that there are able to develop leadership skills and self-esteem. Some of the programs which were used by the Extra Mile Club to mentor and coach children included Bible study, sports, community service, and tutoring.

Apparently, the approach which I used in coaching and mentoring the children in the organization was the strength-based approach whereby I outlined to them benefits of having positive minds. Admittedly, people with positive mind become successful in life since they develop a positive attitude which encourages them to work hard thus succeeding in the activities they are pursuing (Monette et al., 2013). Additionally, people with positive minds possess the most admirable characters which make them be considered the most important people in the society. Furthermore, I used the strength-based approaches to help the children to their potential in education so that they can work hard and do better in their education. Similarly, the approach helped me in mentoring the children by making them realize different skills that they possess for instance like sport and how they can utilize those skills to their highest so that they can make in life.

During my first days in the Extra Mile Club I felt intimidated working with children in the middle class and those who are in the preadolescence stage, which caused me to feel uncomfortable but I was able to apply the skills which I learnt in psychology and which made it easier for me to relate and interact with them. One of the skills which I used in psychology is communication. By communicating with the children I was able to make friends with most of them, whereby we shared some personal experience with them thus strengthening our friendship bond. This created for me a good platform which I used to mentor and coach them. Additionally, the skill of problem-solving which I also acquired from the psychology field helped me in solving some issues which could arise among the children thus helping them to live to together in friendship.

Similarly, the skill on cross-cultural understanding which I acquired in sociology assisted me a lot in mentoring and coaching the children since I was able to understand and embrace different cultures from different children in the organization. By embracing someone culture and believes it helps in the creation of a good friendship bond, therefore it aided me to create a friendship with most children which gave me the opportunity to mentor many of them.

Moreover, I used the knowledge I learned in human service in human developmental stages to relate and interact with different children of a different age in the organization. Additionally, the knowledge on human developmental stages also assisted me to be able to choose the best topic on which to teach different children of a different age in the organization (Greene, 2017). Additionally, it is from the concept and theories which I learned about human developmental stages which assisted me to adapt and understand different behaviors from different children of different age.

Apparently, the changing social-economic conditions are causing the redefinition of the helping professions and human services. This is because people are living in different socio-economic status. Socio-economic status determines the lifestyle of different people in the society. Undoubtedly, people living in different socioeconomic status face a different type of challenges which cause the redefinition of helping professions and human services.

People living in poor social-economic status face health problems which are associated with malnutrition like marasmus and kwashiorkor and anemia, while the people who are wealthy are likely to be affected with lifestyle diseases like diabetes and obesity (Manners, 2017). Similarly, wealthy people in the society are more educated than those people who live in poverty, therefore wealth people require to be taught by human services professionals on how they can implement what they have learned in school so as to be more successful. The different challenges which affect different people of different socio-economic status are the cause of redefinition in human services.

Summary

A professional in human services is a person who is motivated to succeed in aiding organizations and people to work at their optimal level and they contain orderly series of skills and knowledge that assist them to understand people within groups or as individuals. Admittedly, human service professionals have the knowledge on human development, how society and culture affect people’s behavior and how the people’s behavior influence the economic structures. Additionally, human services professionals have sufficient supply in areas which include knowledge of organizations and human systems, knowledge of states that tend to contribute in human systems functioning, ability to find out methods which can contribute to human systems highest functioning, potential of having a plans to analyze and implement the methods which contribute to human system highest functioning, consistency in the usage of the appropriate method, having good process strategies and implement services. Undoubtedly, a human services professional with personal abilities and competency in above field is very useful in the society since he or she is able to aid clients to achieve their goals thus making them happier and healthier. Additionally, they also help organizations to become more effective.

References

Greene, R. R. (2017). Human Behavior Theory and Professional Social Work Practice. In Human Behavior Theory and Social Work Practice (pp. 31-62). Routledge.

Manners, R. A. (2017). Professional dominance: The social structure of medical care. Routledge.

Monette, D., Sullivan, T., & DeJong, C. (2013). Applied social research: A tool for the human services. Nelson Education.