Development Worker

1

Working with individuals ICE 213

This level 2 project has been done in 2 parts (a & b)

In part a:

I use my journal which I have included as an appendix and appropriate literature to reflect on the process of working with individuals to make change possible. I start by looking at relationships and the impact positive and negative relationships have. I then move on to look at change and some of the difficulties that young people face and how the previous section on relationships can help. I go on to look at examples from my journal I consider the sort of environments I am able to facilitate, I explore the reflection and learning that occurs and the conversations I engage in. I sum up part 1 by looking at how I work with people and plan and commit to change.

In part b

I use my journal and appropriate literature again to evaluate my experience of keeping a journal and as a means of exploring and deepening my practice

Part A.

Relationships

There are many things I believe we have to consider when working with individuals to make change possible, one of the things that I think is important is the relationships we form. (Mark Smith 2001) says “there is, and has been, a lot of talk about relationships in youth work and informal education. Two themes that emerge with some regularity”:

�Education for Relationships and Education through Relationships’

The classic example given from (Mark Smith 2001) about the relationship by someone needing to buy bread at the market place really brings to light the importance of a positive relationship. Trust and co-operation are two of the things mentioned. I can remember being at a car boot sale and I was tempted to buy CD player, the man who was selling me it said that it was in great working order and that there was nothing wrong with it, unfortunately there where no power points to try it out and I bought the item on trust for what I believed to be a fair price. When I took the CD player home I found that it never worked properly and I felt like a mug and angry for putting my trust in someone that I didn’t know, I probably won’t buy any more electrical goods at a car boot sale, if I did I would know of the risk and that would be a gamble! But I should have learnt from my experience (Jarvis 1995). I suppose that this is the same with young people if we have a negative relationship with them or do or say something that gets to them, any trust we might have had with them could be lost. Young people have got instincts and as an educator I have to remember this, it is therefore imperative for me to be able to reflect in and on action taking care of what I say and do, remembering to stay within my professional frame of reference or Being Wise (Smith & Smith 2008). I believe that building positive working relationships is what we should be doing to help us to help others to help themselves.

Change

Change can be difficult for people for a multitude of reasons

“sometimes adolescents will be clear in expressing a desire a desire to change their behaviour but will be experiencing difficulty in putting the desired change into practice” (Gerald K & D, 2004:124).

I think that if I am to help people who have such desires to change then I will have to do my best in order for them to do so.

“If we are afraid of change or believe that change is a bad thing or have unhelpful ways of reacting to change in our own lives, we may distort the helping we offer clients, since change is often what they come for” (Sanders P. 2002, 49).

If we have negative relationships with the young people that we work with how can we expect them to come to us, or how can we help them to change?

I have come to realise that there is more than forming a good relationship that will help when working to make change possible, but having a good relationship is a good place to start. Conversation is central to the work of the informal educator (Smith and Jeff’s 2005) but its how we engage in such conversations that help us to help others, I believe we have to be patient and pick our moments wisely so that we can help and not hinder the learning process.

“They have to take care not to be too visible, not to become the constant centre of attention in a setting” (Brew 1943:16).

I am starting to understand why this is, if we are to help people flourish we need to make sure time spent with, and the focus, is on them and not on us.

As I said earlier being able to reflect in and on action is important and a skill in intervention, I am getting better at choosing my moments to intervene and enter in to conversations. If you look at my (Journal pages 1-4) it shows me engaging with a young woman who has lost her mum. I could relate to the situation she was in and I was full of empathy for her but I realised that she just wanted someone to talk to, share her grief, and explore some of the reasons why she feels angry, I thought that it was best to listen to what she had to say, because, although I could relate to the loss of a parent, I couldn’t relate to the whole circumstances.

“to imagine that we can see the world through others eyes can be to kid ourselves. It can lead to us acting on what we imagine rather than on what we hear” (Smith and Jeff’s 2005, 32).

My (journal page 4) helped me to understand why she might have some of the feelings she has,

“grief reactions tend to be less severe when death is felt to be normative,. The death of loved ones in old age from natural causes tens to be less stressful than unexpected deaths” (Rutter and Rutter 1993).

I could easily have spoken to her about my dad but I didn’t want to overshadow her grief with mine.

“You must have a well developed feeling about what you can or cannot say and when you can or cannot speak” (Wardhaugh 1985),

If I did I would be bringing myself to the