Prompt Response: 

The best thing about my internship placement is that it feels truly worthwhile in terms of expanding my knowledge and experience in my desired career field. In all honesty, I would have been excited and eager to come to Ireland, despite the work that I was doing. However, I am pleased to share that as well as my time exploring the country, my job has felt fulfilling to be apart of which is really all that you can ask for. As a Social Work major, there are a lot of possible fields that we can go into. Within the breadth of our whole career, it is possible that social workers will experience roles across different genres and helping diverse populations. To me, that is what is so exciting about this field because there will always be something new to learn and something different to aspire to be. The fact that I will have the chance to work in a lot of various fields makes it important to experience as many areas of this career as possible, before I am in something more long-term. An international Internship, like the one I am in now, is perfect for that and I have been learning so many skills that I know I will carry with me. 

One of the main areas of adjustment for me in both my role at my internship, as well as being in a new country, has been dealing with communication style and understanding. Although America and Ireland have the same dominant language, English, the idioms and colloquialisms are different among different geographical groups. So far, I have only noticed slight differences when talking to people, like someone’s accent sounding thicker to me, or ways of teasing being strange to me. This will not completely hinder relationships, but it does create a barrier between easy conversation and ways of getting to know local people. Luckily, I have some close friends that are Irish, and I have spent a lot of time around them so I feel as though that experience has made me more able to join in dialogue and joke around. Otherwise, I can understand how there would be an initial disconnect between two groups, until they were able to find middle ground. Working with people with intellectual disabilities, often includes the experience of diverse ways of communication. Among the 28 service users that utilize support from the office that I work at, each of them have their own preferred communication styles. At first, this was a hard adjustment for me, as I’m sure it was for them. Many of the people I work with daily can have varying degrees of language preferences. There are some people who are non-verbal, some who enjoy talking a lot and quickly, some people with speech impediments or thick accents, and some people who speak loudly or mumble, it is a very mixed bag. This is okay, because that is life, we don’t all have one universal way of speaking. The only issue for me was making sure I was able to understand each of the people that I was supporting in order to give them the best care that I can as a provider. No one wants to feel misunderstood, unheard, or like someone is going out of their way to communicate with them, it is not a welcoming feeling. But, in all honesty, it was hard for me to understand each word of every conversation that I had in my first week. But, I think through practicing with it over the last few weeks, forming relationships with each of my service users, learning each person’s specific style I have grown to have a great rapport with each of them. I believe that this topic, which was a bit of a challenge for me in the beginning, has only made me a better listener, communicator, and advocator. It was challenging, but rewarding, and I feel more confident about communicating in all situations now so I will take this transferable skill with me wherever I go, both professionally and personally. 

As well as transferable, everyday skills, it is important to gain technical skills during my time at this internship placement. Although different areas of social work can be varied in their content and organization, much of the technical work in this field is similar despite the population that you are serving. Much of this similar work handles sensitivity and competency around a patient’s information as well as the tools used to understand the separation of the job and personal life. I believe that this role has helped me to work on both of those skills simultaneously. Pertaining to client information and sensitivity, I believe that it is necessary that knowledge about a person that you are supporting is confidential unless otherwise outlined. One of the tasks that I have gotten to assume in this role has been working with service users on their personal care plans. This is one of the ways that I have had the opportunity to be one-on-one in someone’s progress goals. During this experience I have learned how to help someone outline their future career goals, sign them up for programs and workshops, introduce ideas about interesting projects and activities, and support them in planning their futures. It is an exciting thing to be apart of, but it also improves my technical skills of working with a client specifically and taking into account their personal needs. With this work comes the need to be able to separate work and home life. In this role, it is necessary that I be social, all of the time — hence the name. While I enjoy being social, and it feels like something that I am skilled at, the time spent constantly talking and working with people can be overstimulating, especially depending on the work that is being talked about and the content of conversation. Sometimes, the issues that arise on the daily can be hard to manage and think about. But it has been important for me to be able to learn how to divide work and home life so that I don’t bring stress home with me and I am able to separate my days. It is important that I am conscious of the work that I am doing and that I am passionate about it, but it is possible that I become too invested in the work that I am doing where it is not good for me. It is good that I learn this lesson now, early in my career so that I can implement the skill throughout the rest of my experience. 

So far, I have really enjoyed the work that I am doing, the people that I am doing the work with, and the skills that I am gaining in this role. It is so valuable to be able to be exposed to the natures of this career, while still in the safety net of learning and being supported by my coworkers. Mistakes are possible, and often common, but they are handled better when there are systems in place to be cautious of them. It it also so great the amount of understanding that I am gaining in my ability to communicate, just through daily tasks in the community. I will continue to grow and discover more skills to use throughout my life while I continue my time here. 

Personal Response: 

This week marks our fifth week of being here in Ireland, working and living in Dublin. I cannot believe how fast it is going by, and all that I have been able to do and experience during this time. This week I have a few exciting events on the calendar, as well as continuing to enjoy my daily routine of work and fun. On Monday I went back into the office, after a nice weekend of exploring the City Centre. I had a few meetings with service users and my co-workers and then I went home. Back at the dorm, I enjoyed a long walk through the woods close to campus, listening to music and looking at nature and then I went inside to cook dinner. My friends and I tuned in for a late night viewing of the Jimmy Awards in New York, and stayed up far too late considering the time difference. On Tuesday I went into the office again, and then we all traveled as a team to take some service users to the cinema. We traveled to a part of the city I had never been before and we saw How to Train Your Dagon. The guys really liked it and I thought it was great too. I really enjoy that my job is a mix of serious, tuned in work, as well as leaving time for fun and activities to help bond the group that we are serving. After work on Tuesday I headed into the City Centre to do some shopping and I bought a few clothes, then I grabbed some groceries and hopped on the bus home. At the dorm my roommates and I made dinner and watched a few episodes of Derry Girls together before calling it a night. Wednesday at work I spent time watching a workshop that my coworkers produced, and then I traveled to another office to meet a EUSA team member and my supervisor to have a check in meeting about my time here so far. Wednesday evening my friends and I headed to the Northside of the City Centre to go to the Abbey Theatre for a play. The play is called The Cave and Tommy Tiernan (an actor from Derry Girls) stars in it. It was truly so exciting to see him and see a piece of live Irish art like that. One of the greatest things that I have had more time and appreciation for while here in Dublin has been art in all forms. No matter where you go, someone is playing music on the street or in a Pub, I have spent more time reading on my commute, I’ve gotten to walk through museums and now seeing concerts and plays. It is wonderful, and reminds me of how important art is in all life. On Thursday I headed back to work and joined the crew at a Photography workshop, as well as brought a service user to the library. Friday during the day I went to the office, where we walked to the library with the guys to go to a Biodiversity/gardening workshop and then I did some computer work afterward. After work I went home and got ready to enjoy the evening with my friends in Town. It was a great night with a lot of fun, laughs, and good music. Saturday I was super excited because my friend Lilly and I got tickets to go see a band we like, the Backseat Lovers, at the National Stadium. I have enjoyed their music for five years and was so excited to see them play live. It was so awesome to see, the place was packed and we got some good weather for an outdoor venue which was great On Sunday, I took some time to sleep in and then my parents arrived in Town! They are visiting this week which I am so pleased about. I am so lucky that I will get a chance to share this awesome place with them and show them all the amazing things that I have gotten to see so far. I am so glad that they are here. Overall the week was great, it had a good mix of work as well as fun, making the week feel productive but also exciting. I can’t wait to see what next week has in store.