Volunteering Reflective Essay

Volunteering Reflective Essay Audit Assessment As part of my degree I have been in Placement at Barnardos to help develop and acquire my knowledge, skills and values necessary to contribute effectively to the development of integrated practice. Barnardos believe every child no matter who they are, what they have done or what they have been through, ensuring their needs are met and their voices and views heard.(http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/barnardos_today/what_we_believe.htm) Barnardos vision is of a world where no child is turned away, there main purpose is to transform the lives of the UKs most vulnerable children, reaching and helping children who are not heard and their needs unmet. Working in the community as a voluntary service they defend, safeguard and support children at key moments to change their lives for the better, fighting to change policy practice and public opinion. They are not a social service provision and endeavour to work alongside families providing early intervention, giving the family itself the tools themselves to prevent Social Service involvement later on through practical parenting skills, attachment approaches and nurturing skills. Families self-refer or are referred to the service by schools, social workers, health visitors, G. Ps and school nurses if they feel that the family has a need for support or guidance helping the family overcome and resolve things that they are struggling with or concerned about. The services provided can be grouped into CAPSM/ Nurture First Pre-birth- 5 years, Improved future (5-12years), which relates to families affected to Parental substance misuse, historically or ongoing. Early Years 0-5y support and mental health team. Attainment- School years P1-3, offering support to increase engagement and school performance. Kinship-support for families with children under the care of their family. Befriending- engagement with children whose families are already functioning with the service. The service is embedded with procedures and policies that have been delivered down from Scottish and UK legislations and Acts, such legislations stem down mostly from The United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child and The United Declaration of Human Rights. Acts include, Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, this new version of the act put a system in place to support children and young people and to help detect any problems at an early stage, rather than waiting until a child or young person reaches crisis point. The act also provides extra support for looked after young people in care to try to make sure they have the same opportunities as other children and young people. From this act staff and other agencies have become involved in a collaboratively producing a single childs plan for each child at a Team around the child (TATC) meeting, instead of one per agency. This plan covers the support the child receives, why and how long they will receive it. The service n ow, because of this act, will offer support and advice to children through to high schools Year 1, but due to funding not children aged 12+. Barnardos also constructs it policies and procedures, for example Adoption, Kinship care, Childrens hearings in line with this act, while offering support and advice on accessing the free childcare this act now delivers to 2 and 3 year olds. The Data Protection Act 1998 is another key legislation enshrined through the service right from the initial Staff Learning plan on the first day with Data Protection training, Safeguarding, IT training and is written through the policies and procedures instructing staff how to handle confidential data and personal details and the SSSCs Codes of Conduct. The act is set to change in 2017 and Barnardos are ready to adapt their procedures ready for this review. Other acts whose principles can be identified in the workings of the Barnardos include Equality Act 2010, Child Protection Act 1989, Health and Safety Act, Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2009. Steaming from these legislations the service incorporates the frameworks and approaches such as Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) which is a Scottish approach steaming from the UNCRC and Every Child Matters, which came about after the Victoria Climbie report (which also triggered changes to the Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, Childrens Act 2004 and created the role of Childrens Commissioner). These approaches have moulded and shaped the training and practice found in Barnardos entrenching their values and mission statements. Barnardos embrace the attachment theory (Holmes, 1993, Ch. 3) delivering early intervention strategies such as Five to Thrive developed by Kate Cairns which is then fed down into parent groups and all contact with children, reinforcing the need for parents to nurture a child, co regulate using Dr Williams (2011) technique of Mindfulness to approach anxiety, stress and depression. To obtain a position at Barnardos you must possess either a HNC, HND (with or without an SVQ 3) or Degree relevant to the job in a range of social work, health, education or community development fields, or, for some posts, relevant experience. The job titles within the service include Project worker (Grades 1,2 and 3), Nurture facilitator, Attainment officer, Team Manager, Assistant Project worker, Childrens services manager, administration, volunteer co coordinator. In accordance to the Child Protection Act all employees must possess an Enhanced Disclosure and provide at least 2 references, one at least from a previous employer. Upon commencement of a position with in the service Health and Safety training and Safeguarding code of Conduct will be given on the first day along with the corporate safeguarding, child protection policy and professional boundaries policy. This initial training is to protect the individual and the service, acknowledging the role and boundaries of the job, health and safety in the building and while out with service users. The employee is given training on computer usage, private, professional email accounts to maintain confidentiality, During the following week, the employee will then be trained on Barnardos intranet Bhive to complete eLearning, Data Protection, Equality and Diversity, further Health and Safety training, Promoting Equality and Valuing Diversity at Work, Whistleblowing, Services Policy handbook, the Complaints Induction and Information Sharing Courses. This initial staff training must be completed in compliance with the Data Protection Act, Child Protection Act and the Equality and Diversity Act as all Barnardos staff should be working in alignment with the Codes of Conduct and With Barnardos being registered with the Scottish Social. Inverclyde Council provide 3 mandatory training sessions on GIRFEC that staff must attend and Kate Cairns associates deliver Five to Thrive training which is the attachment ethos Barnardos is built on. Services employees must withhold the same values, principles and roles that the service depicts, adhere to the SSSC Code of Conduct with the service being registered and put the child first at all times. Reference Books Cairns, K. (2002). Attachment, trauma and resilience: Therapeutic caring for children. London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). (Cairns, 2002) Holmes, J. (1993). John Bowlby and attachment theory. New York: Routledge (Holmes 1993, CH 3) Williams, M. J. G., Penman, D., Kabat-Zinn, J., Professor of Political Science Mark Williams (2011). Mindfulness: An eight-week plan for finding peace in a frantic world. New York, NY, United States: Rodale Books. (Williams, Penman, Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Political Science Mark Williams, 2011 p 46-89) Websites Barnardos BHive animation (2017, February 27). Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/103703202 Barnardos. (2017). UKs leading childrens charity. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://barnardos.org.uk/ Borders, citizenship and immigration act 2009 UK parliament. (2009, July 20). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/borderscitizenshipandimmigrationhl.html Data protection. (2017, February 27). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.gov.uk/data-protection Equality, rights, S., updates, see all, Government Equalities Office, Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2015, June 16). Equality act 2010: Guidance. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance Government, S., House, S. A., Road, R., ceu, 0131 556 8400. (2013, January 30). Additional support for learning. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/welfare/ASL Government, S., House, S. A., Road, R., ceu, 0131 556 8400. (2017, February 27). Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Young-People/gettingitright Health and safety at work etc act 1974 legislation explained. (2016, June 30). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm. Leonard, A. (2017). The children young people (Scotland) act. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.cypcs.org.uk/policy/children-young-people-scotland-act SSSC codes of practice for social service workers and employers Scottish social services council. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.sssc.uk.com/about-the-sssc/multimedia-library/publications/37-about-the-sssc/information-material/61-codes-of-practice/1020-sssc-codes-of-practice-for-social-service-workers-and-employers The UN Convention on the rights of the child tenth report of session 2002-03. (2002). Retrieved from https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200203/jtselect/jtrights/117/117.pdf Universal declaration of human rights. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html

Development of Attachment Essay -- Psychology

It has been shown that the relationships infants develop early on in life have lasting effects on their identity and behavior. Extensive research has indicated that the relationship between an infant and its caregivers is particularly important. All children are different, and in order to have a healthy relationship with your child, you should adapt your parenting methods to fit his specific needs. All children differin fundamental ways, two of the most comprehensive being their temperaments and attachment styles. A child’s temperament is the way in which he reacts to the world, new situations, people, and experiences. Attachment is an infant’s enduring emotional bond to his parentsor primary caregivers. Both of these factors affect children not only in infancy, but throughout their lives. Temperament has been shown to be a consistent aspect of a  person’s behavior over time, and their style of attachment to their primary caregiver often shapes the quality of platonic and romantic relationships with others as they age. A child’s temperament can affect his parent’s reactions and feelings toward him, and subsequently his attachment style. Infants are put into three defined categories of temperament: easy, difficult, and slow to warm up. Easy babies adjust readily to new experiences and are generally happy and easy to calm. Difficult babies are easily upset, have intense negative emotional reactions, and have irregular bodily functions. Slow to warm up babies react to new stimuli as difficult babies would initially, but with repeated exposure will react more like easy babies. Easy babies often engender positive reactions and feelings from their parents, which helps produce a secure attachment relationship between the paren... ...t them independently. This not only sets him up for immediate success in school or whatever he is focusing on, but also in the future when dealing with college or work. He will be more motivated to complete his work to the best of  his ability and to work past any barriers or conflicts that arise. Works Cited Allard, Lindsey T., and Amy Hunter. â€Å"Understanding Temperament in Infants and Toddlers.†Ã‚  Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. Vanderbilt University, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. . Davis, Jeanie L. â€Å"10 Commandments of Good Parenting.†Ã‚  WebMD. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. . Siegler, Robret, Judy DeLoache, and Nancy Eisenberg.  How Children Develop. 3rd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2011. 425-98. Print.

Mexican Americans Essay

I feel that it is important in becoming an elementary teacher with special education that we study and teach about Mexican-American history and culture. The first article that I am going to talk is called, â€Å"Integrating Mexican-American History and Culture into Social Studies Classroom†. The article talks about how Mexican-American are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States and also the least educated. The article also gives important information on how to prepare teachers for introducing the Mexican-American culture and history in the classroom and school. I feel that it is important in becoming an elementary teacher with special education that we study and teach about Mexican-American history and culture. The first article that I am going to talk is called, â€Å"Integrating Mexican-American History and Culture into Social Studies Classroom†. The article talks about how Mexican-American are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States and also the least educated. The article also gives important information on how to prepare teachers for introducing the Mexican-American culture and history in the classroom and school. My second article is titled, â€Å"A New Latino Underclass†. This article talks about the Hispanic culture, whether they are American born or an immigrant. The main focus of the article is about assimilation. Heather Mac Donald talks about how illegal immigration is just worsening the Hispanics culture, and how it is taking a turn for the worst. The Mexican-Americans are assimilating their culture with the culture from Mexico. The problem is that the immigrants from Mexico do not want to assimilate the American culture with their own culture. The article also talks about the rise of gangs and how some of the parents support it. It stresses on how gangs are affecting the drop out rate among Hispanics. â€Å"Integrating Mexican-American History and Culture into the Social Studies Classroom† is the first article I am going to discuss. The article starts out talking about how important it is to teach Mexican-American culture in the school. â€Å"Parents value the importance of education for their children, but they don’t always agree with the school’s approaches to teaching and learning, nor accept the secular values as appropriate for their family. † (Escamilla, 1992) Teaching the content of Mexican-American culture helps improve the student’s self esteem. â€Å"Studies have suggested that positive ethnic affiliation among Mexican-Americans (and other groups) greatly influences individual development in many ways, including: lifestyle choices, values, opinions, attitudes, and approaches to learning. â€Å"( Gollnick & Chinn, 2006ollnick & Chinn, 2006) The article also stresses how important it is for the student to study other cultures. This idea is through the term Multicultural education which â€Å"is an educational strategy in which students’ cultural backgrounds are used to develop effective classroom instruction and school environments. † (Gollnick & Chinn, 2006) It is important for the entire student body to ethnic literacy. â€Å"Ethnic literacy allows all students to understand their uniqueness, to understand the complexities of ethnicity and culture, and to take pride in who they are as people. † (Escamilla, 1992) The textbook talks about ethnicity and brings up the term ethnic group or ethnic identity. These terms mainly describe a persons’ national origin, religion, race, and may also include gender class and lifestyles. The article then goes on to talk about how important the teacher’s preparation is to present the material. One of the main problems is that only 30% of the teacher faculty is non-white, but a lot of times in urban districts 70% of the student body is non white. That will play an important part of the resources a teacher and school can afford to buy. The way students’ attitudes about themselves, others, and their school depend on the way they are shaped at school. The Mexican-American students will benefit greatly from getting to learn about their culture, but other cultures at the same time. â€Å"It is important to have cultural relativism, which means we need to learn more about are own cultural than is require. † (Gollnick & Chinn, 2006) Learning and respecting other people’s culture means crossing over cultural borders, which is very important in a multicultural school. The second article, â€Å"A Latino Underclass† talks about gang violence among Hispanics. Gang violence is rising tremendously among Mexican-Americans. The author believes that there is some type assimilation going, but to all the worst element of American life. There has been a debate on whether Mexican immigrants are trying to assimilate into the American culture or not. â€Å"Part of the reason for the gang violence according to David O’ Connell, pastor of the church next door to the Soledad Enrichment Charter School, which is the vortex of LA’s youth gang culture, has been fighting gangbanging for over a decade. † â€Å"Hispanic children feel that they have to deal with problems themselves, apart from their parents, according to Mr. O’Connell, and they â€Å"do so in violent ways. † (Mac Donald, 2004) The parents are even sometimes scared of their own children. The children seem to go towards a cultural of violence at an early age. Constant illegal immigration is playing a big part in all of this. Cultural pluralism seems to be what the immigrants are doing from Mexico, they want to live in America but only practice the cultural ways of Mexico. The article talks about a component of underclass behavior that causes school failure. Hispanics have the greatest drop out numbers in America about 30% compared to 13% black and 7% whites. â€Å"Every parent I spoke to said that she wanted her children to do well in school and go to college. † â€Å"Hispanic parents are the kind of parents that leave it to others,† explains an unwed Salvadoran welfare mother in Santa Ana. (Mac Donald, 2004) The constant flow of Mexicans in America is bringing down the Hispanic education levels, 30% of foreign-born populations in the United States is Mexicans. I found both of the articles on the internet. I was looking for something to do with Mexican-American culture and school. I feel both of the articles relate to each other very well. In the first article they talk about how important it is to study Mexican-American culture, but also to study and understand other cultures. They believe this will help Mexican-Americans stay in school and learn better. The second article talks about how Mexicans are coming from Mexico and not assimilating their culture with American culture, therefore causing a large drop out rate in school. This is very important to understand as a teacher because we need to try and fix the problems of children dropping out of school. If we try to educate them on how to respect different peoples cultures, but also have respect for their own. Maybe they will find learning a lot more interesting and want to be in school. It is also important for them to be able to function in the world with people of all different colors. I believe as a future teacher that no matter what subject I am teaching, there is always a way to keep a multicultural classroom. This topic was interesting to me because this is an ongoing issue that the media has been talking about for years. I don’t believe it is going to go away before I become a teacher. It is important to learn about issues that are going on with the student so that we can better understand what they are going through. Understanding what they are going through will help the teachers help them with issues. The issue is important for all teachers to know about because most of them will have a student of the Hispanic culture in their class. References Escamilla, K. (1992). Integrating Mexican-American History and Culture Into The Social Studies Classroom. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from http://www. ericdigests. org/1992-2mexican. htm Gollnick, D. , & Chinn, P. (2006). In Debra Stollenwerk (Ed. ), Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Heather Mac Donald. (2004, July 25). Retrieved October 10, 2007, from The Dallas Morning News, a Latino Underclass Web site: http://www. manhatten-institute. org/html/_dmn-new_latino_underclass. htm.

Sports And Its Effects On Sports - 1397 Words

Concussions in Sports Sports have been a major source of entertainment since the Romans and Greek times, when the Greeks had the earliest version of the Olympic games, and the Romans had gladiator fights and chariot races. In the United States sports, still plays a significant role as one of the leading entertainment industries in the country. In 2010, the big four US professional sports leagues, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, generated $22 billion in gross revenue, with the whole US sports industry generating more than $400 billions.1 The NFL Super Bowl alone, generates more than 100 million television viewers each year. 2 The aggression and violence aspect of sports has often been attributed as one of the reasons why sports, specially contact†¦show more content†¦1 Kerr, J. H. 2005. Rethinking aggression and violence in sport. New York;London;: Routledge. 2 Miller, MC. Concussions in football. Harvard Mental Health Letter 26, no. 7 (January 2010): 8-8 1p. CINAHL Plus with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed April 11, 2016). Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) also known as a concussion, is a serous injury caused by a blow or bump to the head that disrupts the normal function of an athlete’s brain. An impact to the head causes the brain to accelerate very quickly and then stop as it hits the skull which results in disruptions in nerve cells’ connections. Symptoms of a TBI can range from mild to severe and can include changes in vision, feelings of drowsiness and confusion, headaches, vomiting, nausea, memory loss, and loss of consciousness.3 In 2012, 3,800,000 sport related concussions, with 33% of all sport concussions happening during practice, with football being the sport where athletes have the higher incidents of TBI. 4 Football athletes’ have the highest concussions rates among youth, high school, and college levels, with college being having the highest rate of incidents.5 A big concern about concussions, is the potential long-term effects of the mental health of the athlete. On the field, football players are exposed to a series of small hits to the head, that don’t always result in a significant head injury, but result in second-impact