Professional Applications in Service Learning Journal Entries
The volunteering provides the deeper understanding and experience, applying the knowledge gained in the classroom to practice. Reading books and preparing assignments is only a part of a complicated, constructive, and productive process of professional growth and development. Actual work and practice with patients encourage the practical improvement and refinement. My volunteering experience widens the horizons of my personal and professional progress as I participate in various activities and procedures.
This week my training was concentrated on the behavioral issues of the patients. As a part of my volunteer program, I worked as an assistant to the youth services behavioral specialist. My daily responsibilities included various duties, such as physical and mechanical restraint of juveniles, recreational activities, medication administration, and housekeeping. The care position requires a strong following of the structured protocol and provides counseling supervision to regulate the juvenile behavior and to promote the community integration and successful rehabilitation. The work involves close physical and personal contact with multiple patients and all the decisions have to be made in order to protect the state property, guarantee the physical safety of the residents and staff.
This opportunity to work with youth services behavioral specialist helped me to realize the key aspects of behavior modification and learning theory and the appliance to child development. I enhanced my skills in observing and evaluating social, adaptive, and problematic behavior issues among children. This work also required my efforts and endeavor to provide the ability to establish and support the effective relationships with all the members of working staff. During this volunteer opportunity, I managed to use my criminal justice knowledge, psychological understanding, human services experience, and acquaintance with education.
The volunteering experience can be unpredictable and quite surprising as any actual job, but it is educating, informative, and enlightening process that prepares the person to become a professional. My impression of my last activity is a combination of experience, education, personal abilities, and critical-thinking …
