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My journey through social care studies has been an interesting one. I had always wanted my career to involve improving the quality of life and wellbeing of others people, especially the vulnerable and underserved populations of both young and old.
Through this portfolio I hope to illustrate My Journey through Social Care through the Technological University, Dublin Department of Humanities, and Applied Social Studies in Social Care program. Various modules have been taught which has help to develop the understanding of the concepts, skills and its applicability to social care practice. Furthermore, the placement has been an avenue to face the real life applicability of the modules and gaining of field practice, this first hand experience of social care with the supervision and guidance of supportive lecturers and practitioners.

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The core of the various module practices is shown through the lectures and the assessments which were cumulatively applied in the placement. This has brought out the goal of social care to improve the general physical and mental wellbeing with mutual respect of every person dignity. This course module includes Research Methods and Practice which has help to ensure the understanding and application of the concept of confidentiality particularly in relation to child protection, vulnerable adults and elder abuse with the awareness of current legislation and guidelines related to the informed consent for individuals with lack of capacity, also demonstration of the ability to participate in or lead clinical, academic or practice based research.
The family studies course enunciated the understanding of the needs to work in partnership with service users, their relatives/carers and other professionals in planning and evaluation goals and interventions, as part of care planning, also be aware of the concepts of power and authority in relationships with service users.  Also, this course has made it easier for me to Know, understand and apply the key concepts of the domains of knowledge which are relevant to the profession. The advanced Professional Practice address challenging Behaviour of teen. The encouragement of self-reflection, identity building, education, and collaborative work has provided a wonderful environment for me to explore social care and figure out what I want to do within the vast field of social work.

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During my placement, I administered assessments with newly admitted residents and maintained a therapy caseload of service users. Over time, I became very good at developing and maintaining therapeutic rapport with residents in a respectful and clinical manner which was in direct link to the class lectures such as application of motivational interviewing. This refers to a cluster of interventions that focus on increasing the person’s readiness to change a challenging behaviour (Crane, Francis, and Buckley 2013 p.53). My supervisor knowledge and guidance assisted me to develop my writing skills and then consider ways to intervene by being mindful of individual differences when developing interventions based on the specific needs of each resident or service user. Motivational interviewing is client centred and enhance intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence without focusing on  teaching new coping skills, reshaping  cognitions, nor excavating the past (Miller and Rollnick 1991, p. 25). I developed skills providing evidence-based practice interventions which include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy identification of client coping skills, and leading of psychoeducational activities. Social care core value foster the worth and dignity of the individual.

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The participation work with the team in Homeless aids around safeguarding really opened my eyes to the role of social care and the challenges, but it has also highlighted the great reward of being a social care professional when you’ve been able to make a positive difference to someone’s life. I really enjoyed working with people and helping in best way that I can. The efforts that are made to ensure that service users are safe from harm and how social care workers support them and their families to keep them together. I got involved in most aspects of team activities, some of them were helping them to apply for medical Card, housing and contact with families. I could see that the staffs are motivated and committed to giving the best support they could, even when circumstances are challenging and resources are limited. As a student social care worker I really got a lot of support apart from the class lectures, the impact of professional characteristics and personalities expected of a social care practitioner was experienced. These characteristics includes, emotionally resilient, Open minded, Empathy, Respectful, A good communication skills, Resourceful.

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THE MOST INTERESTING SERVICE USER I HAVE WORKED WITH.  

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THE MOST INTERESTING SERVICE USER I HAVE WORKED WITH.  

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As a student of social care worker, I have the opportunity to work in two settings, homelessness and disability sectors. In the course of this, I have met a lot of group, young, old, male and female with different challenges in life. The most interesting of them all was this young lad with Autism spectrum. He was 20 years old, with little verbal in communication. He was the youngest in the family. He got into the residence because his parent was unable to cope with his behaviour at home. Whenever he is angry, he bite, kick and scream so hard. He was very aggressive towards everyone, his father used to beat and locked him up because of his screaming and biting habit, and then his father didn’t seem to understand his behaviours. Due to this his father told the Mum to choose between him and the boy, so the mother decided to put him in care, because she doesn’t like the way his father was treating him and more so to save her marriage. A care plan was developed in team partnership to address his needs. His intervention care plan is based on Applied behaviour Analysis (ABA) is an approach to understand and challenging behaviour, It’s used to teach Autistic children to improve their social skills, communication skills and play skills and ability to manage their own behaviour (Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) 2020). This young chap is lovely and calm, he can be anxious and agitated when it raining. He hate when other residents are screaming or shouting at staff. He will come out of his apartment to defend staffs by shouting back at the resident. He is so friendly and polite, always saying please and thank you whenever you helped him. He loves playing game most of the times with staff in his apartment. He knew the duties of all the staffs. If he noticed that you are not in the day, you supposed to be in, he will asked if the staff is ok and the reason they are not in. He will tell you about the hair style that suit you and the one that doesn’t look good on you. He knew when you are happy or sad and always saying sorry to staffs. He will try to express himself to staff in a way you will understand him better. What made him interesting to me was he say sorry at appropriate time and he study peoples mood.

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A statistic about social care which surprises me/ my hope for future of social care and concern I have for social care.

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A statistic about social care which surprises me/ my hope for future of social care and concern I have for social care.

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According to Community Care and UNISON (2016) reported that more than half (56%) of the over 2000 social work professionals responders said their caseload is influenced by staff shortages. The need for social care practitioners to help maintain individual physical and mental wellbeing cannot be overemphasized, as humans are social beings that values care, respect and dignity. My hopes for social care is that more social care professional are gainfully engaged to address the caseload in social case and the government should help to adequately fund social care agencies. Also, my concern for social care in the area of the workplace is violence. This has a major harmful effect on the social care worker both individually and professionally on the group and the career all together.
As stated by Irish association of social care workers 90% of social care workers had encountered workplace violence and three out of four had experienced abuse. In this case the employer sees violence as permissible part of the job. This workplace violence and trauma have grave effects for the social care worker with regard to physical, mental, social health and wellbeing (Crisis, Concern and Complacency - Social Care Ireland, 2020).It is that an increasing concerns extremely proportion face abuse and distress at work, and that many feel that their jobs are having a negative effect on their own home lives as pointed out in the final thoughts of the report of Community Care and UNISON (2016, p. 12).

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REFERENCE

Community Care and UNISON (2016). A day in the life of social work.

Crane, P., Francis, C., and Buckley, J. ( 2013) Youth alcohol and drug practice guide 3: Practice strategies and interventions. Brisbane: Dovetail.

Develop Good Habits. 2020. 108 Never Give Up Quotes For When Life Gets Hard (2021). [online] Available at: <https://www.developgoodhabits.com/never-give-up-quotes/> [Accessed 2 December 2020].

Medium. 2020. The Journey Is On. [online] Available at: <https://medium.com/blockwhat/the-journey-is-on-8c669656c10> [Accessed 4 December 2020].

Miller, W. and Rollnick, S. (1991) Motivational interviewing preparing people to change addictive behaviour. New York: The Guildford Press.
Raising Children Network. 2020. Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). [online] Available at: <https://raisingchildren.net.au/autism/therapies-guide/aba> [Accessed 1 December 2020].

Richardson, R. (2000). Teaching social and emotional competence. Children and Schools, 22(4), 246-251.

Schmied, V. and Tully, L. (2009) Effective strategies and interventions for adolescents in a child protection context: Literature review New South Wales NSW : Department of Community Services.

Social Care Ireland. 2020. Crisis, Concern And Complacency - Social Care Ireland. [online] Available at: <https://socialcareireland.ie/crisis-concern-complacency/> [Accessed 2 December 2020].