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LO1 – Awareness Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth. |
Initially having joined UWC, I took part in many different services: college, local and global included. I’ve been a part of
‘Circus in a Box’, ‘Gray Area’, ‘Green Umbrella’ and a couple more. During my ninth grade, there had been a complication, and some students hadn’t been allocated a service – including me. We were sent a spreadsheet with the few services that were willing to accept more students. I ended up first stumbling across the local service: ‘Fine Motor Skills Games & Lunch with Sun Dac’ over there. Unknowingly, I had found my calling. In the service, we worked with people with intellectual disabilities. Although I was initially intimidated with how hands-on and proactive this service was, I was soon planning and leading both socially inclusive activities and activities designed to help improve the client’s muscle coordination. I found myself looking forward to the service each week. It not only taught me meaningful lessons about interaction, but I am also thankful for the relationship I was able to build with clients.
Unfortunately, during my eleventh grade, I was no longer able to continue the service, because the timings had changed. However, I discovered another service called, ‘Music Therapy with Apex Harmony Lodge’, which I’m currently a part of today. This service provides us an opportunity to interact with dementia patients through musical engagement. This service provoked me to find out more about the scientific research behind this musical therapy and how it reduces stress and anxiety for dementia patients. As a service, this year we have been very excited to begin a project, where we donate ipods with personalized playlists for specific patients who have shown positive reactions to this music throughout our visits. On the other hand, something that my experiences have taught me about service that is real is that it is not always pretty – which makes it all the more worthwhile.
Some goals I wanted to outline:
- Learning more about patient interaction.
- Staying up to date with research about musical therapy.
- Updating our local service portfolio and blurb.
