From Gambling to Tutoring: How I Learned to Take Responsibility - Essay Sample

Introduction

Having graduated three years ago, I proceeded to secure a stable job in Damascus College as a tutor. My expectation was to work hard and get rid of my college social hobby obsession with gambling. Unfortunately, it persisted since money was not a problem. The matter set off alarm bells when I was summoned by the school director who complained of my frequent absenteeism and unreliability of my work. He demanded a swift change and that is when I decided to visit Child & Family Services (CFS) organization offices in Ballarat and enrolled for the gambler's help service. In CFS I met fully qualified and experienced therapeutic counselors who offered financial counseling and gamblers help counseling that has helped me integrate responsible gambling in my life and minimize the major gambling-associated problems. I joined the 100-day challenge campaign set up by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation in conjunction with CFS, where I participated in other themes like social wellness and physical which reduced the time and money I would have engaged in gambling. Financial counseling has enabled me to ascertain all the debts I have and exposed me on legal and financial information that can help me settle my debts. Additionally, gambling help counselors have supported me on this journey of change.

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As I know, Human Service Organizations are governmental, private, or NGO enterprises that provide a wide range of services to people faced by several difficulties of life, with a view to promoting peoples' well being. They are distinguished by three characteristics being: their purpose, their technology, and their auspice (McDonald, Craik, Hawkins, & Williams, 2011). For my experience with CFS, its main purpose was the promotion of care and well being as I escape the gambling predicament. Technologies (activities used) by CFS to fulfill its purpose categorizes it as people changing organization. Counseling services and financial education changed my disposition. CFS is an incorporated association organization given legal Identity through the Incorporations Act and bound to non-distribution of the organization's profit but re-invest it back in fulfilling its mandate. The major aspect that may have successfully aided my experience as a service user in CFS is; the provision of safe and non-judgmental environment, confidentiality and very professional approach of counseling, the referral to other related agencies if need be (for example, I was transferred to legal and financial bodies that helped me to resolve debts and any risks associated with these debts), and the warm support afforded me by the therapeutic counselors as I embarked on the journey towards change.

Learning As an Australian Indigenous Community Service Practitioner

Last week, I started my career as a human service worker in New South Wales State in an area predominantly occupied by the Aboriginal and Torres Islander Australians. Being a non-indigenous Australian human service worker from Victoria State, it was the first time I encountered this indigenous culture (Carson & Kerr, 2013). Being immersed in this indigenous culture for the last week, I strived to learn more about these people and realized how they were socially, culturally, and racially discriminated by the dominant society of Australia. I wondered why my social beliefs and assumptions regarding indigenous people and my training as a service practitioner created the contrasting meanings of wellbeing and explanations of issues, challenges, and reality of this society. As an Australian service worker, one is required to adopt and understand each context within which they work; therefore, I had to grasp the three aspects of competence so as to effectively work in this area.

I was therefore supposed to have knowledge of the cultural diversity of the indigenous group, understand the social racism associated with this society, and correctly use the various theories and models of social work regarding indigenous people (Baskin, 2016). Meaning that for effective and appropriate service delivery to the indigenous group, I had to integrate the indigenous knowledge in the service work. I started by applying the cross-cultural theory of trying to overcome the cultural difference between myself and the various members of the society by learning a diverse set of skills and knowledge about their culture (Baskin, 2016). It has so far seemed unrealistic because of the broad diversity of this culture. I have decided to practice the anti-oppressive theory to ensure the success of my service delivery. I will uncover the source of oppression of the indigenous society in Australia, try to understand how the group is affected by this oppression, and institute productive ways to cope with it in the society (Baskin, 2016).

These ways will include avoiding the stereotyping nature that always assumes that the indigenous society always needs help but work with them hand in hand. I will also avoid the uninformed application of the dominant cultural values and norms in the indigenous society and advocate adoption of the ethnic-sensitive culture of these people (Carson & Kerr, 2013). For the perfect service delivery, I would also require to research on various service works done by established practitioners in order to learn what works well and what doesn't for the Aboriginal and Torres Islander Australians.

Learning As an Australian Regional, Rural, Remote or Metropolitan Community Service Practitioner

I have been working in the Northern Territory for several months now, offering diverse social services to differing needy humans. My field of specialty ranges from services concerning mental health, family and domestic violence, youth problems, and child abuse. This has made me grasp the importance of diversification in our field of practice. I have grown to see how the physical isolation of remote Australia is affecting both the service users and human service workers. On my part as a service worker, I have been traveling a lot, covering a very large area alone, and often working for long hours. This is because in this remote area, the health and human services needs of people living here are numerous and the service workers are so few for a very large geographical area. For the service users in these rural areas, their general service needs are ill-addressed due to the difficulty associated in attracting specialized service givers and lack of accessibility due to infrastructural problems. (Chenoweth & McAuliffe, 2005)

All these anomalies in the service delivery in these areas has prompted me to learn and adopt new skills and knowledge that will enable me to successfully fulfill my mandate as a service worker. Firstly, time management will be of essential importance for my work. The fewer practitioners available in the area and the diversification need of my service will obviously increase my service cases. I will have to plan my tasks for the day well and work to fulfill them in my best way possible. Secondly, for quality service work, my service knowledge has to be coupled and strengthened by good communication skills. Therefore, investing my extra time to promote my communication skill especially in these culturally diverse areas will be very important (Clendon & Munns, 2018). Additionally, caseload management is essential for the provision of quality service. This is the ability to serve a number of service users within a restricted time frame and reproduce optimum services. In these remote and rural areas, I will have to show flexibility and innovation so as to be successful.

Moreover, the critical reflection would be essential for effective service work. This is the introspective way of going through my experience. I will learn more about my strengths and weaknesses which would, in turn, improve my work output (Clendon & Munns, 2018). Lastly, research would be beneficial in learning why a particular problem always occurs for a specific service setting in the area. The research would enable me to save time since a meaningful answer is already in place to tackle the problem.

References

Baskin, C. (2016). Current Theories and Models of Social Work as seen through an Indigenous Lens. In Strong Helpers' Teachings, Second Edition: The Value of Indigenous Knowledges in the Helping Professions (2nd ed., pp. 45-64).

Carson, E., & Kerr, L. (2013). Indigenous Australians. In Australian Social Policy and the Human Services (2nd ed., pp. 260-265).

Chenoweth, L., & McAuliffe, D. (2005). Practice Fields and Methods. In The Road to Social Work & Human Service Practice: An Introductory Text (5th ed., pp. 128-144).

Clendon, J., & Munns, A. (2018). Primary health care in practice. In Community Health and Wellness: Principles of primary health care (6th ed., pp. 87-114).

McDonald, C., Craik, C., Hawkins, L., & Williams, J. (2011). Understanding Organisations. In Professional Practice in Human Service Organisations: A practical guide for human service workers (3rd ed., pp. 1-24).