Fall Practicum at Sunny Day Project using EPortfolios

Fall Practicum at Sunny Day Project using EPortfolios Wilmington University AHS 8100 Fall 2016 By: Seanyea Rains

Charter 1: Feeling and Concerns as I get started Stressed about working full time, obtaining grades in school, single motherhood, purchasing a home, taking classes for adoption and maintaining 10 -12 hours at an internship Another concern was learning something new. I've been in Human Services for 17 years. I did not want to spend my time doing community events, coordinating programs or obtaining partnerships. I wanted new task to learn.

Getting Started Search for an internship that was right for me and my schedule. Discussed my wants and needs for this internship Choosing the Sunny Day Project because it served any one in need in the community without a lot of red tape. The hours were flexible and the job duty were new for me such as writing policies and working on the updates for the 501 c 3 status.

Chapter 2: Learning the Agency The sunny day project’s context is at a community level to serves both adults and youth. People of all cultures, family status, income and education levels. The overall target population for the sunny day project is anyone who is in need to be inspired.

Chapter 4: The Integrative Processing Model Step 1: Gathering Data from Concrete Experience One of my task in this placement is to evaluate the previous volunteers, projects and people who we have served to assess the program and services provided. This task has allowed being gain information about the agency and drawing a clearer picture of the program needs and my role in this agency as an intern. I am able to fill in gaps with my experiences and knowledge. Step 2: Reflecting When I started this internship I was not happy about the placement because I did not want to work for this is agency had anything to offer me that would increase my experience or knowledge. However after starting this internship and working on my task which include my most recent assignment (the evaluation) I am beginning to understand my place here and feel that I am gaining useful experience. Step 3: Identifying Relevant Theory and Knowledge Over the years I depended on my 17 years of experience to get me to the level of my career. However, since starting my Masters in this program and now working at my internship placement agency I realized it is a lot more to Human Services Administration than I thought. My theory was proven wrong once I realized how much I could take away from this practicum. Step 4: Examining Dissonance My conflict with this internship is lack of time. I wish I could afford to work 20 hours per week and more than one semester. I feel as though this position will increase my confidence. Because I am graduating in December I am often looking at jobs and feel a little intimidated as though I am not able to be the Director of Fundraising or ED of a nonprofit. I know I have the tools and just need the confidence at this point. Step 5: Articulating Learning I have learned to speak up when planning with the committee and voice my opinion or concerns. I realize I am a valued part of this agency for the next few months. Step 6: Developing a Plan My plan is to continue learning, continue growing and remember no matter how much I know there is always something more to learn.

Charter 3: Ethical Competence During my fieldwork experience I have had to write policies related to ethical issues that may accord during the agencies volunteer hours. This particular policy was mostly related to the method to receive donations. The policy had to be stated clearly and included a tracking system to limit unethical behavior such as misusage of the donations.

Chapter 5: Role as a Supervisor I am currently supervising a MSW intern within my practicum. Initially, my supervisor interviewed her and was working directly with her however I was her supervisor. At the time I did not address the issues however things shifted and me supervisor was unable to address some of the interns concerns so she redirected her to me as her supervisor. I was able to assist her with her task and from that point on she has been reporting directly to me. I am unsure how I would have handled the situation if my supervisor would have continued to manage my intern. I am sure at some point I would have had a conversation with her to address the issue. Part of my internship was to increase my job description and I would not want to take away from my experiences and skills.

Chapter 6: Working with families, individuals, children and communities During this internship so far I have been working on administrative services for all four interventions (individuals, families, children and communities). My professional experience includes all four interventions. My areas of strength for these interventions include providing resources, creating partnerships and case managing. The areas I could use some improvements is finding funding with grants or fundraising for these four areas of intervention. As I plan my career after completing this degree I plan to continue to focus on administrative services for all four interventions. Not only because I have the experience but because I have a love for improving services for all.

Chapter 7 Cultural Competency This is a hard discussion to respond to because I am working with an agency that does not have an office so we come together in phone conferences. Along with that I work on policies and procedures for the agency to use moving forward. I am not working directly with clients or face to face with volunteers I am working with my direct supervisor who has similar culture values as I do. We are faithful believers of God and desire to help people just because. In this agency we are culturally accepting. We understand that views and values will differ. We pride ourselves on being a non-judgement agency. However, with any agency everyone could use improvements. With our organization being Christian based. I wonder what the response would be if the culture difference was a gay or lesbian rally or an event for transgender teens. “The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence. ” ― Jiddu Krishnamurti

Chapter 8: Writing Samples Date Valued Community Partner The Sunny Day Project is seeking community partners to help support our cause. Our mission is to restore hope in small impactful ways and encourage believers to be intentional about sharing the love of Christ. Your support will assist with providing services to individual and families in need of a cheer, hug or addressing a small need. The Sunny Day Project believes its responsibilities go beyond a simple hello. We give their activities and services to bring joy to some unexpecting of anything. The Sunny Day Project is requesting funds to support our monthly events. This month we will be ………………. . Any amount of donation would be helpful for this event. All donators will be provided with our Tax ID (00 -0000000) for your support during this event. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (number) or email thesunnydayp@gmail. com. Many Blessing, Stormi Burns Covington, Founder

Chapter 9: Stress During your Internship As I reflect on stress for this discussion, I began to truly think about my task over the next 14 weeks in my practicum. At this point I have not had to endure stress related to my practicum. Soon the stress of my practicum will start to set in as I have to raise funds for an upcoming community service event that will provide transportation for school age children. I have also be charged with writing policies and applying for a grant during my internship. In my personal life I am under a great deal of stress at this point in my life. Currently I am working on my Masters which I expect to complete in December 2016. I’m a single mom working full time. I am also closing on a home in two weeks which I then have 10 days to renovate. I am also in the process of adoption so I am gathering paperwork and taking courses to become licensed. Reflection is my method to deal with stress. For me that’s peaceful and comforting. I am a very spiritual person and I tend think about how blessed I am to have so many awesome things going on in my life. I reflect on the days I was so depressed, that I laid in bed all day and let my dreams and goals pass me by. To reduce stress I often use breathing techniques and do a lot of praying. I avoid stress as much as possible by not allowing myself to feel overwhelmed. As discussed in the reading many students such as me have a hard time separating personal lives from the internship. The book suggests better organizational skills, time management and developing a greater assertiveness in their personal lives. I believe stress comes daily. Every goals or task you have there is a level of stress and everyone has their own way of coping. For some its healthy and for others it’s unhealthy. A quote that I live by related to stress. “The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it. ”– Sydney J. Harris Reference: Kiser, P. (2015). The Human Services Internship: Getting the Most from Your Experience (4 th ed. ). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Chapter 10: Ending the internship Over the duration of this internship I have grown so much with creating policies and procedures. Leaving behind forms and creating structure that will allow the agency to continue to grow. I have coordinated volunteers, obtained funding and worked hard for the next person to be able to jump in and pick where I am leaving off. My one regret is that I did not have the time to work on the 501 C 3 for this agency as I intended. 15 weeks goes by really fast compared to the interns I supervise with one year of internship.

Chapter 11 Career goals short term and long Term I have so many directions I would like to go in as my career goals. At this point I would like to work as a Director of services and teach as an online professor part time. I would also be interested in running the internship program for a local University or College as I am currently supervising interns with my current employer. With that said, my short term goal is to rise up to a management position once I have graduated this fall. I am currently applying and interviewing with a few local agencies. My second short term goal is to work as an online professor teaching for a Human Service Program. In my profession I find so many students or professionals who have high education but lack experience. As a professor I would to teach the importance of the two of them balancing each other. After gaining additional skills I would like to advance to Directors roles which would involve me writing and tracking grants, planning budgets, etc. Over the next five years as stated I would like to be in a Directors role and a professor at the college/university level. However, over the next 10 years I would like to have started my journey of a 501(3)(c) non-profit. There a lot of issues and services I would love to provide however, my heart goes out to seniors. I would like to have housing services for seniors ages 55 and older. I have taken many steps towards accomplishing my goals. The first step was to obtain my Masters in Human Services (complete in December 2016). Second was to apply for positions within my career choice. I continue to apply and have interviews lined up for both management and directors level employment. After obtaining new employment I will work towards using that position to get me into professors roles. I feel I will be taken more seriously applying for a position as a professor with an upper management title. As I plan for the 501 C 3 I have researched and I use my local resource (NC NONPROFIT) as a guide to start my agency over the next 10 years. Every new venture is a learning experience. Although I have had great training from Wilmington University and I know would be a great candidate for new positions. I am would like the hands on experience. I feel my internship has helped me with writing policies. I would have liked to done fundraising on a larger scale and had opportunities to write a grant. However, I have using my employer to work with writing my first full grant. Although I have had a hand in parts of a grant this will be my first grant from beginning to end. It is very hard for to be know at this point where I will be in the next 3 years or so. I’ve been with my currently employer for 9. 5 years with a decent salary for someone with only an ungraduated degree. I do feel I have learned all that I could possible learn in the position and I would be doing myself a disservice if I do not take advantage of the education I have gain, experience from my internship and skills provided through my 17 years in human services.