#8- My hands on experience

For my Human Development and Family Studies class, us students had to do at least five hours of community service for a project. While looking into what I wanted to volunteer for, I wanted to do something along the lines of my future major. On Thursday, I went to the Helping Hands Respite Care for the Breaking Barriers Today (BBT) program. Since I recently decided that I wanted to major in Human Development and Family Studies I thought this program would be a good fit for me.

At the BBT program I was allowed to shadow the fellow workers and volunteers. This program consists of 6-8 "children" with all different types of disabilities. They come everyday after their school from 3-6 pm. Most of them are in a wheel chair and unable to speak, but two that I met yesterday were able to function by being able to walk alone and talk naturally. The workers and I refer to them as "children" because they still have the mindset of a child even though they range from 18-30 years of age.

Going into this shadowing position, I was a little nervous because I have never worked with anyone with disabilities before. While I was there, I watched over the clients as they watched tv and played with toys, I fed one of them, and I was there for anything they need
ed. They are all very smart and very responsive, even those who cannot speak. You can tell their mood or what they need by their expressions.

I enjoyed this hands on experience and I liked how I got to actually experience this myself instead of someone telling me about the program and what they do. I learned that the work in this field could definitely be challenging, but with time I could become natural with it. Besides the BBT program, they also have another program called the Adult Day Services (ADS) program that a supervisor was telling me about. It is a place for the elderly where they play games, exercise, read, etc. I was very interested when the supervisor told me due to my love for old people.

It did feel really good to give back and help others while taking a break from school work. In the future, I am definitely interested in going back to BBT and definitely want to try out the ADS program.

If you would like to look into the Helping Hands Respite Care, go to: http://www.helpinghandsrespite.care/category/adult-day-services/

-Julia

Picture Citation:
Volunteer. 2016. Watermelon Mountain Ranch. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.