E-Portfolio

Chapter 1: GETTING STARTED The thought of starting my internship brought a lot of mix emotions because I didnt know what to expect. The characteristics I will use to describe how I was feelings prior to starting my internship are. Curious Open-minded Nervous Anticipation Excitement Eagerness

Chapter 2: GETTING ACQUAINTED The thought of going to my internship on the first day made me very nervous because I didnt know what to expect from the employees. However, I to my surprise everyone was pleasant and welcome me with open arms. My first day was all about meeting all the staff and getting to know the agency by reading their printed materials. It was like I was starting a new job and going through the orientation process. One of the things I credit myself on is always being prepare if can. So I decided to learn everything I could from their website before the beginning of the internship. Getting to my co-workers was not overwhelming like I thought because the organization is small and I did not have to remember too many names. I also try to focus on the staff that were approachable because I knew engaging and interacting with them will be easier. I went all in and with an open-minded when I walked through the doors of my internship site. I had so many questions that I didnt waste no time asking my supervisor. I think my supervisor first impression of me was a student eager to learn. I knew learning about the agency was a very important aspect

of my internship so I spend the first day reading about the agency mission, goals, objectives and all of the services they provide their clients. After my first day, I felt confident and knew I selected the right agency because the atmosphere was good. Chapter 3: DEVELOPING ETHICAL COMPETENCE In the years I have been in the human service field, I have seen a lot of ethical issues within my employment. I wasnt always good at recognizing ethical issues until I took the course Legal and Ethical Issues in Human Service Administration. After taking this course I realize that I had overlooked a lot of ethical issues because I lack the knowledge at the time to stand up for what was right. But when this issue became clear to me and I learn the importance of it, I started recognizing all the ethical issues my staff were displaying. As a supervisor, one of my responsibility is to ackownledege and address ethical issues as I observe them to make sure my clients were being treated right and respected. Some of the ethical issues I have notice with my staff in my current and previous employment are, the use of personal cell phone, abusing company phone and computer, staff talking to clients like there are children, leaving work early, doing school assignment on company time etc. I have address these issues with staff by having 1:1 meeting with staff and a general meeting with all the staff as well. I also retrain staff of company policies and procedures. Because I only been with the company for a few months, I occasionally ask my coordinator for assistance if I am not able to handle an issue. But it havent resulted in involving my coordinator because I am very good at managing and communicating to my staff. The thing that I try to get my staff to understand is once they are at work, I am expecting them to abide by the organizations policies and procedures. When I see any ethical issues that violate these policies and procedures, I give staff disciplining actions up to and including termination.

One of the thing that I have observe that really upset me is the way staff communicate with the clients. I am sensitive to this because the clients are in a vulnerable state. I always tell staff to treat the individuals the way they want people to treat them. They are adults not children and I want them to be treated as such. I am still learning and growing but I believe I am on the right track. Chapter 4: USING SUPERVISION What have you learned about what you want and in your supervisory relationship? Being a supervisor myself, I have an open communication with my staff. I also have an open door policy where staff can feel comfortable coming to me with any issues. As supervisor I lead by example because I like to inspire my staff to take initiative to reach their full potential. I dont want to have double standards where I am encouraging staff to follow the organization policies and procedures when I am not doing the same. So what I want and in a supervisory relationship is open communication, trust, respect and flexibility. Kiser (2012), stated ideally, supervisory relationships are based on trust and mutual understanding. Having this kind of relationship with a supervisor allows me to articulate my ideas and thoughts. I also want a supervisory relationship that will give me the opportunity to practice independence to get the job done. I dont like a supervisor that is constantly hovering over me when I am working. I like feedback because it helps me grow so I will appreciate a supervisor that will give me an honest evaluation. How have you handled your responsibilities within this role in terms of being an active and open participants in the process? I have handled my responsibilities within this role in terms of being an active and open participant in the process exceptionally well. I accept the responsibilities assign to me by my site supervisor as a way to prove my abilities and work ethic. I have the same expectation as the staff

to get the job done within in the time frame given to me. I was assigned a few tasks last Wednesday and I had weeks to complete the assignment. However, I was able to get the job completed within the same day before leaving. The next time I reported to my placement I provided my supervisor with my completed assignments. He was happy with my work and couldnt believe I got it done in such a short time. That made me feel good because I think at that moment he saw me as an employee rather than an intern. I dont take on responsibilities that I know I cant handle. With each responsibility I have the opportunity to learn new information. Each time I report to my site, my supervisor has something different for me to do because he wants me to gain as much knowledge and skills during my time with him. What particular challenges have you encountered in your supervision and how have you handled? I havent encountered any particular challenges with my supervision. When I started my internship I was nervous because I did not know what kind of supervision I was going to receive from my supervisor. However, after my first initial meeting with my site supervisor I felt comfortable knowing that I was in good hands. He was approachable, knowledgeable and welcome all of my questions. He also made me feel comfortable by insuring me that he was there to provide me with whatever I need to make my internship a success. The line of communication was establish from the beginning. The reason I havent encountered any challenges is because I have the support and understanding of my supervisor. How would you like to grow in your skills to use supervision effectively? (Brown) wrote, supervision is viewed as essentially a helping process, which is designed to support your members as they seek to promote the goals of their organization and to advance

their leadership development. Supervision is a continuum learning process that get better with time. As a supervisor, I have definitely seen growth over the years. My first supervisor position was when I was in high school. I worked for McDonalds as a crew member for four months when I got promoted. I was a companionable supervisor because I wanted all my staff to like me. I develop a friendship as suppose to a supervisor and staff relationship. When I realize that staff werent taken me seriously, I try to be more authoritarian which is define by (Brown ) as the belief that members require continuous attention because they are often undependable or immature basically, because people will attempt to work as little as possible unless someone monitors them carefully but that didnt work. Throughout the years I was able to learn and grow as a supervisor. With time I was able to find a balance between my role as a leader and the relationship I had with my staff. Now I feel like I am a more synergistic supervisor because I work collectively with my staff to accomplish a common goal. I assist staff to reach their maximum potential by utilizing their skills and knowledge. I want to continue to grow in my communication skills, problem solving and leadership skills. I dont want to be one of those supervisors that stay behind my desk. I want to be involve in my staff on a professional level. Based on your internship supervisory experience, what do you anticipate that you will need in a supervisor when you enter your first professional job? Kiser (2012), noted that effective supervisors are knowledgeable, supportive, and skillful in giving feedback. They must be willing to address difficult issues as they arise, teach their supervisees important information and skills, and model high standard of professionalism and expertise. Based on my internship supervisory experience, when I enter my first professional job, I want a supervisor that is describe above.

I will appreciate a supervisor that has an open door policy. Someone that I can discuss any topic with at any given time. I want my supervisor to be a mentor and educator. A person that I can not only gain knowledge and skills but can also guide me to accomplish my goal. Communication is very important to be so having a supervisor that listens to what I have to say and welcomes my ideas and suggestions will be idea for me. Kiser, P. (2012). The human services internship: Getting the most from your experience. (3rd Ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Brown, S. (n.d.). Your supervision style. Retrieved from http://csi.ucdavis.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2012/04/L12supervision_style.pdf. Chapter 5: LEARNING TO LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE -THE INTEGRATIVE PROCESSING MODEL Reflecting back on my work experience I have seen growth in me as a person. I am currently working as a program supervisor but I did not start of in this position. My first supervisory role came when I was in high school. As a high school student being a supervisor was great because I had power. Having a role that made people address problems and issues with me, made me feel valuable, important and I was contributing to the company by keeping the customers satisfy and happy. But because this was my first leadership role, I had a lot of learning to do. There were times when I found myself in the middle of a staff conflict that I didnt know how to handle. I often got frustrated and let my emotions get the best of me. Sometimes I crack under pressure and started thinking that maybe being a leader wasnt my thing. But I never give up and made it my mission to continue to learn to be the leader I envision. I didnt know how much I have grown as a leader until I had to handle a difficult staff a month after I started my new job. I came in a situation that have been going on for a while. It is always

challenging to walk into an existing issue. This staff was an unhappy staff and no matter what I did to help or provided her with the support she needed, nothing didnt work. It was a stressful, intense and uncomfortable environment that made me worry for the safety of my clients. Eventually the staff resigned and everything worked out for the best. I was very proud of myself because I remind professional throughout the situation. This was my best work because even though I was stress, frustrated and overwhelm, I wanted to help that staff. My coordinator impress with how I handle the issue. Chapter 6: COMMUNICATING WITH CLIENTS According to Kiser (2012), because human services professionals are human it is to be expected that at times our attitudes and reactions towards the people and situations we encounter may be less than ideal. This is a very accurate statement because as humans we have the tendency of allowing our feelings and emotions to interfere with how we react to others or situations. There have been times when I try to place my values and beliefs on others when I disagree with their perspective. I used to think that my way was always better because I wanted people to view and see things the way I did. However, over the years I learned that others ideas and thought are as important as minds. Even though my internship is at a foster care agency, the only people that I communicate with is staff and potential foster parents that I get the opportunity to interview. Because I am an intern learning about the daily operations of Progressive Life Center, active listening is key because I need to hear and understand my supervisors directions, feedback etc. However, I also need my supervisor to listen to what I have to say and not tone me out. Based on my previous and current job experience, the level of intervention that I have the most experience in is working with individuals.

I work with individuals in a community group home setting. Even though I am the program supervisor and dont have much interactions with the individuals. Throughout the years I have learned the importance of communication at work and in my personal life. Being in the position that I am in, I always encourage my staff to communicate everything they think I should know about. I like to be inform when an issue occur so I can address it immediately. Kiser (2012) noted that the most fundamental communication skills for human services professionals are best reflected in the verbal and non-verbal aspect of active listening. The primary communication skill that I use is active listening. Active listening is very important because a good communicator not only talk but also listens. I always feel like with I dont listen or pay attention to the information that I am receiving, I will miss an important piece. Working with non-verbal and verbal individuals I have to use the most effective communication method with each group. With my verbal individuals I give the opportunity to voice their feelings, thoughts and needs. I am very observant with my non-verbal individuals with they are unable to communicate their needs or how they feel. So I try to pick up on cues to determine their mood and needs. The level of intervention that I have the least experience with is the community. I havent had the opportunity to work in the community where I can explore all the resources available to my clients. I will like to become more involved in community because I want a relationship with different agencies. I want to be able to work with other agencies in a way that we can come together to plan events that will bring the entire community out to support. If I was employ at my internship, the way I will expand my work to encompass all four level of interventions is by combining it in a way that benefit the agency, workers and clients. I feel like each level brings something different to the agency.

For instances, having the families involvement helps with the unification process with their children. Gathering the staff together once a week as a group to discuss the process and areas that need improvements. I will also get the individuals involved in the services that they are receiving if possible because its their life. Finally building relationships with other agencies in the community and having access to those resources that clients can be refer to. My communication method as change dramatically over the course of my education. I used to be a passive communicator because I had problems expressing my thoughts in a classroom. In addition, I used to sit in class and just listen without saying a word unless asked to. However, over the years I have found my voice and I am not afraid to express myself. As I enter my human services profession, the areas of intervention that are more interesting to me is individuals, families and community because I enjoy working directing with the individuals, getting families involve as much as possible and using resources in the community to better service the my clients. Kiser, P. (2012). The human services internship: Getting the most from your experience. (3rd Ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Chapter 7: DEVELOPING CULTURAL COMPETENCE My internship is diverse because they have staff from different cultures working there. Since I started interning at my site, I have encounter debates about the African and American cultures. The first debate was about why do people come to America? It was a fun conversation amongst staff and the responses were very interesting. It was refreshing for me to see staff have these conversation, laugh, and share and give everyone the opportunity to communicate what they have to say. Being at my internship, culture has not been a focus because it is not an issue.

Everyone works well together as a team no matter what their background is. I havent really encountered cultural differences at my internship. So I am going to refer back to when I first arrived in the United States. I experience cultural difference immediately I felt like an outsider. When I started school, the students were rude, mean, and disrespectful and tease me because of my accent. So that made me feel insecure and I view my accent as my downfall. Chapter 8: WRITING AND REPORTING WITHIN YOUR FIELD AGENCY During my internship I wrote two family profiles and submitted them to my supervisor. Before I could complete the profiles, I had to do an interview and the profiles were based on the answers the parents give me. The family profile is to get a little deeper into the parents backgrounds. The feedback I receive from my supervisor was great because it was my first family profile and I exceeded his expectations. I cannot provide the completed profile because of confidentiality. I was supposed to facilitate training with my supervisor but the training was cancel because only one person showed up. My strength in writing is I provide a lot of detail because I like people to fully understand all the information. I dont like when people are not in depth with their writing. On the other hands, my weakness is grammar and punctuation I am not good at proof reading my own work. When I am giving a presentation, I tend to let my nerves get the best of me which is my weakness. My strength is getting through a presentation and connecting with my audience. I will continue to work on my proof reading skills and practicing doing more oral reports to improve and become better. Chapter 9: TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF The thing that this internship taught me about the sources of stress is the fact that I tend to stress myself out because I like being in control and when Im not that is a problem. The way I handle

stress is by listening to music to get my focus off what I am stressing about. I dont do such a good job of taking care of myself. I know my body needs to function properly but sometimes I deprive my body of sleep if I need to get an assignment completed. Because I dont take care of myself, there are times that my body will shuts down forcing me to rest. My work environment create stress for me because I am being pull in different directions at the same time causing me to become overwhelm and frustrated which leads to stress. The ways I impose stress on myself is by trying to be superwoman. I want to help everyone and at times I take on too much even when I have a full plate. I dont like letting people down so I always have to make sure I follow through with the responsibilities I take on. I am learning to set goals and know my limits. When I found myself in a stressful environment, I try to step away and have a moment to myself. When I am dealing with stress in my life, I try to avoid those things and people that are causing my stress. If I am unable to avoid the pitfalls, I take a deep breath and remind myself to stay clam and professional. I am still trying to finding a healthy boundaries between my professional and personal like. Sometimes I let my professional life interfere with my personal life because I always feel the need to answer my work phone even when I am off. Staying safe in my workforce is about having the right people around me and effective communication. I am still learning to leave work behind when I go home but it is going to take some time. But I am getting better at having time for me. Chapter 10: ENDING YOUR INTERNSHIP The thing I appreciate about my internship experience is the fact that I was very hands on. My internship give me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and try something different. I learn to challenge myself by taking initiative and expressing my views and opinions in ways that

I havent done before. From the very beginning I knew what I wanted to accomplish during my internship. I was in control of my learning experience because I express my needs and wants. Even though I was an intern, I didnt sit around and wait for my supervisor to assign me work. The person that I used to be, would have taken on many tasks because I didnt speak up much and saying no was difficult for me to do. So now having the confident and ability to be opinionated about something makes me proud because it took a lot for me to get here. I am grateful to Progressive life center, the staff and my supervisor for giving me the opportunity to be part of their team and accepting me as one of their own. I dont have any regrets about my internship because I was able to accomplish my goals within the require time. However, I wish I got a chance to meet some of the clients and spoke to them about how the agency have help them. My supervisor and I had a good relationship which made it easy for me to ask questions. My supervisor believe in my abilities within the first week because he saw my desire and talent to get the job complete. He listen to what I had to say and made sure my expectations were met. As I leave my internship, I feel like I might go back to volunteer if they have an opening. I want to continue to learn and grow as a professional because I never want to let my clients down. The thing I need is a better job especially since I am about graduate with my second degree. But I know this might take some time due to the fact that I dont have much experience in the field. I feel like the thing I need for my continued personal and professional growth is to volunteer and network. This is why I decided to join the National Honor Society because not only will I be helping the community, I will also be gaining valuable experiences. I need to get out there and become involve in other organizations through volunteering. I want to be able to attend leadership conferences, sit in a board meeting and feel like I am using my education for

something more than just a paycheck. I want to travel to my native country of Liberia, West Africa and make a difference so I need learn ways that I can accomplish this goal being in America. Chapter 11: PLANNING YOUR CAREER Short Term Goals Graduating Volunteering Experience Long Term Goals Don Bosco Homes Executive director FEMA

In five to ten years from now, I will like to be working with an organization that will allow me to travel and make a difference in the lives of people that are living in poverty, people that dont have clean water or helping countries dealing with a disaster. When I started this program, my first course was the principles of creating a non-profit organization. My project for this course was starting a non-profit organization call Hope Lives Here to help get street of the streets of Liberia. But during my research, I discover that there was already an organization in Liberia doing the same thing call Don Bosco Homes. So I will like to travel to my native country and try to collaborate with this organization. I havent really plan out my life for the next five to ten years so I dont have any specific road map. All I want is the opportunity to be doing what I love which is helping people. I want to travel to countries that I have experience disaster and help them rebuild, provide food and water etc. I want to change lives and empower people because I have a story that can inspire others to pursue their dreams. For now, I am going to volunteer and gain all of the experiences that I will need to achieve the career I want.