My journal by Carlos Clarke

creative reflection 1

carlosclarke24 — 2023-11-23 16:34:00 UTC

The first reflection that is going to be discussed is the creative light bottles that had been decorated with numerous art objects such as markers, stickers, cork screw lights, half cut bottles, paper and different art accessories. The purpose of the class was to be creative and to work in a collaborative way with service users who had intellectual disabilities and to show our theory to practise learned from the creative skills classes. The first thought that was going through my mind was how to make myself approachable by saying hello to the service user assigned and to create small talk but at the clients pace that way we can both understand of what activities are to be set out. I was able to self-reflect on the last previous placement as it had reminded me of the time where services users came into the placement and the clients would be a little bit reserved as a new person is working but its about creating the safe space for the clients and welcoming them in the setting. The client was down syndrome so communication and listening were important as its critical to go at their own pace and to have patience when working because rushing the client to do work is never a good thing as they could become overwhelmed and to build that trust in the relationship is a vital aspect of social care work. It was also important to help out the service user with any problems that had occupied but also making sure that not all the work is to be done by one person as its important to empower the service user to look after themselves and to be capable off doing activities by themselves to learn new skills. A cousin of mine is down syndrome and therefore I knew how to approach different tasks with the service user in that session and I was able to be self-aware of what my strengths would be at the time. In the future I hope to work with adults with an intellectual disability and to bring different creative activities to practise is a strength that I would like to work on and creativity in art is a way for the service users to express how they feel and a way to understand what they like and don’t like when it comes to art.

creative reflection 2

carlosclarke24 — 2023-11-23 17:52:27 UTC

This reflection that I’m going to talk about was about adolescents in a family support centre and creating different painted stones which a reason behind the colours and words written or painted on them. I have never worked with adolescents before and wasn’t too sure about the work that is involved, however after the facilitation I had got a sense of the different work involved. During the facilitation I had started to get a sense of how the adolescent people would feel and think about writing and painting on the rocks. The weight of rocks had been heavy and this could be an experience that these people would be carrying with them through life and decorating the rock shows a meaning as to why they drew or painted the rock different designs. I had felt the connection when I started to paint the rock and by using bright colours was a sign of being happy and showing the positives of life, but then made me realise that not everyone else would be the same and there’s a story behind every picture. It made me reflect on what the other person beside me had designed and the words being mentioned, which as a social care worker would be an understand of the weight on the shoulders that adolescents are carrying with them. Art is a way for many people to open up and express their feelings and emotions from mind to paper or in this case rock and everyone has a story to tell and as a social care worker, its important to be non-judgmental as clients come into the service for a reason. I could see this activity being used in practise not only for adolescent placements but different areas of social care and this could be a great way for the clients to open up towards other clients and get to know each other through art. If I was to use this in practise I would definitely use the rocks but this activity could be used as maybe a progress of the client’s journey to life from start to present and could possibly see how their progression is going during the time in the agency.

creative reflection 3

carlosclarke24 — 2023-11-28 13:53:50 UTC

This reflection was getting a feel about working with Adolescents in a Garda diversion project setting. The idea of this facilitation was laid out really well and each activity had a purpose behind it which I really enjoyed. How I felt throughout the activities was a sense of fun and creativity and reminded me of what it was like to be a child again decorating, drawing and playing games with friends which is still a good feeling to this day. I haven’t thought of working with Adolescents before but from this facilitation I understood a bit more of some activities to do with them and the different needs that they would hopefully develop or learn which is important to have. Expressing how I felt and others felt when decorating the sheets of paper gave an insight of how others could see and ask questions about their own creative sheets and asking questions about what does it mean can help learn about other people and their personality. The different skills that I would use if I was to use activities like the ones used in the facilitation would be communication, active listening and to build the trust in the relationship with the clients professionally. There would be other skills needed but for me the skills listed are skills that I have a good grasp on and by using skills can help connect with the clients and creating the safe space can lead to the clients opening up and starting to build that trust in the relationship. Activities like the one used in the facilitation can help bring out the inner child of people regardless of the age and yes it may take a while for the clients to open up, creative arts or activities can be a way for people to open up.