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My original plan for when I was filling out my CAO form for college never involved social care. I have always been good with children and wanted to help adults or children when I got older. My dad always mentioned how I’ll become a doctor and I just stuck with it. In 2nd year, I realized becoming a doctor required years of studying and work experience plus with the levels of subjects I’ve picked to study would not get enough points to do so.

When I was born, I was diagnosed with Sickle cell anaemia.  “Sickle cell disease is the name for a group of inherited health conditions that affect the red blood cells. People with sickle cell disease produce unusually shaped red blood cells that can cause problems because they do not live as long as healthy blood cells and can block blood vessels.” – (NHS, 2019). My doctors recommend I don’t get a job that’s physically straining on my body. In 6th year when we had to fill the CAO form, I wanted to study psychology or occupational therapy. When filling out my CAO form, a friend of my mum recommended social care to the list to expand my options. I added 2 random social care courses to my level 7 and completely forgot about it.

Due to Covid-19 and lockdown, all 2020 leaving cert students received predicted grades. Results day came and I was extremely nervous wondering what college I would be going to. My mum quickly rushed downstairs declaring that I got accepted into an applied social care course. Once I read the email on my mum’s phone, I felt conflicted. I was happy I got accepted into a college but devastated that I was doing social care that I just burst into tears. At the time from what I understood about social care is that it mainly involves working with the elderly and doing personal care for them. To make me feel better, my mum contacted a friend whose daughter had just finished social care. She explained how social care was very rewarding and how there are plenty of jobs after college.

I decided to accept the offer and transfer after first year if I didn’t enjoy the course. As orientation day came closer, I found myself struggling to become excited for college. I was still unsure if this was the course for me. Due to lockdown orientation was held online. Lecturers were introducing themselves, explaining what their module was about while encouraging students to turn on their cameras. Once people turned on their cameras and I noticed they were mostly mature students I started to cry. I was afraid that I was the only leaving cert student in the course and I would be unable to make friends or have a college experience. Once we were split up into our tutorial groups and had the chance to meet everyone, I felt more relaxed knowing there were other people my age. I started to enjoy classes more especially learning about what social care is about. I learnt there are many different sectors I could work in such as: family, children, homelessness, addiction, community based, residential homes and so much more. I found the modules interesting and was passing all my classes. I decided to stick with social care since I will be able to help vulnerable people that would need help.

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2 - Interesting service user I’ve worked with 

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2 - Interesting service user I’ve worked with 

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I believe the most interesting service user I’ve worked with was a woman who I’ll call Sarah. Sarah is an adult woman who has an intellectual disability. Sarah is very independent, can travel to her day centre alone and has her own job. Sarah loved to help around and even treats herself like one of the staff. She enjoys art, singing, going on walks, and making tea for her friends. What was interesting about Sarah was her journal and how important it is to her. Sarah’s mother is very protective of her and requires that she has a journal where her keyworker will have to write down if she has been good or not. Though the staff believe that this is unnecessary since Sarah has no more challenging behaviour it did promote her to keep her good behaviour knowing she gets a treat at the end of the week and praise from the staff.

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A theory that supports how having a journal had a positive effect on Sarah’s behaviour would be a type of operant conditioning by Skinner called positive reinforcement. “In positive reinforcement, a response or behaviour is strengthened by rewards, leading to the repetition of desired behaviour. The reward is a reinforcing stimulus.” – (McLeod, S. A, 2018). An example of this theory is when Skinner did an experiment where he placed a hungry rat in a ‘Skinner box’ where food was released only when the rat pressed the lever. Once the rat learned how to press the lever, it continues to do so knowing it will get rewarded with food. With Sarah’s journal being filled with positive remarks, Sarah understands that at the end of the week she will receive a treat from her mum. In this case positive reinforcement encourages service uses to continue with showing good behaviour and therefore decreasing challenging behaviour.

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A regret I have about placement is the fact that I was too shy and quiet to interact with the service users. In my first placement I relied on the two other students working with me to be able to have conversations with service users. When doing my intervention, I stuck to doing the intervention with one service user and just mainly talked to them. When I had to move day centres, I was moved to a day centre that had adults with intellectual disabilities, but they were more independent. I struggled to be able to make conversations with the service users as I was worried, I would say something by accident that could offend them. My regret is that I didn’t put myself out there to be able talk to the service users and form a professional relationship.

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4 - A quote that inspired me to be determinate 

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4 - A quote that inspired me to be determinate 

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This quote really inspires me because of what I’ve been through my entire life. From struggling with sickle cell anaemia, my mental health, my brother having autism and switching schools every few years, my dad passing away in 3rd year of secondary school and having to complete my first year of college while my mum was in hospital for 4 months due to covid. Even with everything that has happened, I am determinate to not let my past define me and have been motivated to help other people who are going through similar or worse.

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“Self-determination refers to a person's ability to make choices and manage their own life. Being self-determined means that you feel in greater control” – (verywellmind, 2022). As social care workers it’s essential that we’re self-determinate in our practice. Being self-determinate can benefit ourselves as we will feel accomplished after doing a task, benefits the team we work with and benefits the service users as their needs are being met.

The self-determination theory follows these three components:

Competence: When an individual feels competent, they feel able to interact effectively within their environment. This means they have acquired the skills that’s needed to ensure they succeed in achieving their goals.

Relatedness: This is the ability to feel a sense of both attachment to people and a sense of belonging amongst people. The feelings of closeness and belonging to a social group can be enhanced when the individual knows that they are respected and acknowledged in these groups.

Autonomy: This is the ability to feel in control of one's behaviour and destiny, which involves self-initiation and self-regulation of one's own behaviour. An individual being able to make their own decisions is associated with the sense of independence.

(Lopez-Garrido, G, 2021)

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Lopez-Garrido, G (2021, Jan 04). Self-determination theory and motivation. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/self-determination-theory.html

McLeod, S. A. (2018, January, 21). Skinner - operant conditioning. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

NHS (2019) Sickle cell disease. [online] Available at  https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sickle-cell-disease/  (Accessed 22ndNovember 2022)

Verywellmind (2022) What Is Self-Determination Theory? [online] Available at https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-determination-theory-2795387 (Accessed 22nd November 2022)

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https://padlet.com/roseprecious16/pn4337o5rtduosw3