See Beauty... in collaborative change
Systems Essay
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Who I am
As I went through the Core sequence of the Human Service major I learned about how systems interconnect throughout society and how I fit in it all. We started Junior Core by first explaining personal systems and all the dynamics that layer to create who we are. It was this course that started my reflection on the separate parts of my own identity and how each aspect is a piece of who I am as a whole. I began to delve into concepts on a much more fundamental level that changed my perception of myself and my role in the systems of the world.
In an essay written for Human Service Professionals and Personal Systems, HSP 301, the prompt was to reflect on who we are intrinsically and how that may differ from who we present ourselves to be. This is when I was struck with the idea of identity and all that it encompasses. I learned that while myself and another person may identify as the same thing our interpretations and understandings of our claim could be completely different. I realized we categorize ourselves to find commonalities in one another, but it can’t end there. The following is an excerpt from the essay mentioned above:
We live in a society of categories. We try to make it as easy as possible to identify each other, but we forget that these categories are just a starting point. Our labels help us to let people in on our identity, which can be a benefit and a hindrance. We want to be able to relate and connect with one another, but it holds us back when we don’t look deeper. You can’t assume our differences or similarities. We are individuals with layers of identity that are personal and different for all of us. You can claim to be anything, Christian, prochoice, homosexual, Native American, but that doesn’t mean we know everything or anything about that person as a whole. I am learning who I am and what labels I want and can most identify with to help people better understand me. I realize words are where we start, but then we get to know one another, as well as ourselves, by our actions and connections. I strive to be a person who can look past the label, similar or not, to the individual and not claim to know or empathize, but instead to learn and interact.
It is essential to be able to connect with the people around us, but before I try to interact with others I have to understand my own labels and who I am internally versus who I present myself to be.
Who I am in relation to others
The interpersonal connection we have with others has such on influence on the way we go about communicating. I have come to see that I used to hinder my interpersonal relationships and risk the opportunity for truly authentic relationships with the ways I would listen. I have always considered myself to have strong listening skills, but after learning what it really means to actively listen I started to recognize all of the areas I have room to improve on. In Human Service Professionals and Interpersonal Systems, HSP 303, we wrote a paper, entitled exploration of self, where I realized that by good intention I try to be relatable to whoever I am talking to. While I may have good intentions, I find myself getting distracted as I am searching for what I can say next to be ‘empathetic’ rather than just hearing what that person has to say. By trying to be empathetic I was trying to connect with others, but during a class discussion with Professor John Korsmo, he touched on the theory of how this can actually get in the way. I wrote about this discussion in a paper for Case Management and Interventions, HSP 345:
This quarter I have really given a lot of thought to empathy within this class and others and I have realized how important it is when used appropriately. Within my own life I find myself clarifying in conversation that while I can never be in anyone else’s shoes, I can pull upon a “respectful curiosity.” Doing this I reflect on, not what it would feel for me to be in their shoes, but instead what it may be like to be them in their shoes. I have basically tried to eradicate “I understand” from my vocabulary and have tried to find replacement phrases that are less likely to make assumptions and run the risk of invalidating someone’s feeling by imposing what my own might be.
This realization has been very important to me because by taking away the assumptions of what another person might be feeling and just asking them, I am able to be completely present in our conversation an actively listen to what they are saying. Under Standard 17 by the Council for Standards in Human Service Education I am building my own interpersonal skills which will effectively impact the way I will communicate with a client and establish rapport. I believe this is how we can really get to know one another and create authentic and valuable relationships.
How I impact community
These interpersonal relationships are what pave the way for the connections that create community. Social capital was a topic covered in Human Service Professionals and Community Systems, HSP 404. The concept of social capital can be defined as “the network of social connections that exist between people, and their shared values and norms of behavior, which enable and encourage mutually advantageous social cooperation” (social capital, n.d.). The benefits of social capital can be seen through emotional, instrumental and informational exchange (Grosso, 2010; Laser & Leibowitz, 2009); all of which I feel I benefit from with the community I surround myself with. My colleagues, my roommates, my family and friends are all examples of groups that build my social capital. Their support in all facets has a positive impact on my life and because I have strengthened these ties over the past few years I have become happier and more successful in my everyday life. My community directly impacts me and because of their positive influence it creates a positive outcome in my life, and I do the same by reciprocating these interactions. I have developed many strong friendships as a result of friends of friends and have had internships opportunities through networking.
To think one individual can enact significant change within a community seemed like a fallacy to me. I do strongly believe in change, but change that significant seemed too large for someone like me to be capable of. This was put in perspective for me in Human Service Professionals and Community Systems, HSP 404; that it’s not a matter of if anyone is capable of change within a community but how. In the Council for Standards in Human Service Education National Standards, Standard 12 states that ‘there are processes to effect social change through advocacy work at all levels of society including community development, community and grassroots organizing, and local and global activism.’ In my community organizing essay I talk about the power of being able to mobilize-If one individual can spark a fire to make others crave change as much as they do, that’s when authentic change has the chance to occur. “The powerless will remain powerless, and therefore exploited, discriminated against, marginalized, and otherwise taken advantage of, as long as they remain isolated and divided” (Miller, 2010, p. 45). Under Standard 18, the Council for Standards in Human Service Education says that there ‘should be knowledge of constituency building and other advocacy techniques such as lobbying, grassroots movements, and community development’. In the community organizing essay I say “community organizing is what makes change within the big picture appear tangible; breaking down the issues and challenges we face as a society to a more personal level to create change where results and wanted outcomes are able to be seen and felt.”
How I connect with society
Learning about systems over the past two years, I have come to realize that while systems are working around each and every one of us, and at many times we are involved with the same systems, they work in relation to the individual. Everyone will interact with the same world, maybe even the same culture, or the same community, but we will interact and perceive it in our own individual ways relative to how the world interacts with us.
Reference
Grosso, A. (2010). Social Support as a Predictor of HIV Testing in At-Risk Populations: A Research Note. Journal of Health & Human Services Administration, 33(1), 53-62. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Laser, J., & Leibowitz, G. (2009). Promoting positive outcomes for healthy youth development: Utilizing social capital theory. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 36(1), 87-102. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Miller, M. (2010). Alinsky for the Left: The Politics of Community Organizing. Dissent (00123846), 57(1), 43. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Social Capital. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved January 26, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social capital
As I went through the Core sequence of the Human Service major I learned about how systems interconnect throughout society and how I fit in it all. We started Junior Core by first explaining personal systems and all the dynamics that layer to create who we are. It was this course that started my reflection on the separate parts of my own identity and how each aspect is a piece of who I am as a whole. I began to delve into concepts on a much more fundamental level that changed my perception of myself and my role in the systems of the world.
In an essay written for Human Service Professionals and Personal Systems, HSP 301, the prompt was to reflect on who we are intrinsically and how that may differ from who we present ourselves to be. This is when I was struck with the idea of identity and all that it encompasses. I learned that while myself and another person may identify as the same thing our interpretations and understandings of our claim could be completely different. I realized we categorize ourselves to find commonalities in one another, but it can’t end there. The following is an excerpt from the essay mentioned above:
We live in a society of categories. We try to make it as easy as possible to identify each other, but we forget that these categories are just a starting point. Our labels help us to let people in on our identity, which can be a benefit and a hindrance. We want to be able to relate and connect with one another, but it holds us back when we don’t look deeper. You can’t assume our differences or similarities. We are individuals with layers of identity that are personal and different for all of us. You can claim to be anything, Christian, prochoice, homosexual, Native American, but that doesn’t mean we know everything or anything about that person as a whole. I am learning who I am and what labels I want and can most identify with to help people better understand me. I realize words are where we start, but then we get to know one another, as well as ourselves, by our actions and connections. I strive to be a person who can look past the label, similar or not, to the individual and not claim to know or empathize, but instead to learn and interact.
It is essential to be able to connect with the people around us, but before I try to interact with others I have to understand my own labels and who I am internally versus who I present myself to be.
Who I am in relation to others
The interpersonal connection we have with others has such on influence on the way we go about communicating. I have come to see that I used to hinder my interpersonal relationships and risk the opportunity for truly authentic relationships with the ways I would listen. I have always considered myself to have strong listening skills, but after learning what it really means to actively listen I started to recognize all of the areas I have room to improve on. In Human Service Professionals and Interpersonal Systems, HSP 303, we wrote a paper, entitled exploration of self, where I realized that by good intention I try to be relatable to whoever I am talking to. While I may have good intentions, I find myself getting distracted as I am searching for what I can say next to be ‘empathetic’ rather than just hearing what that person has to say. By trying to be empathetic I was trying to connect with others, but during a class discussion with Professor John Korsmo, he touched on the theory of how this can actually get in the way. I wrote about this discussion in a paper for Case Management and Interventions, HSP 345:
This quarter I have really given a lot of thought to empathy within this class and others and I have realized how important it is when used appropriately. Within my own life I find myself clarifying in conversation that while I can never be in anyone else’s shoes, I can pull upon a “respectful curiosity.” Doing this I reflect on, not what it would feel for me to be in their shoes, but instead what it may be like to be them in their shoes. I have basically tried to eradicate “I understand” from my vocabulary and have tried to find replacement phrases that are less likely to make assumptions and run the risk of invalidating someone’s feeling by imposing what my own might be.
This realization has been very important to me because by taking away the assumptions of what another person might be feeling and just asking them, I am able to be completely present in our conversation an actively listen to what they are saying. Under Standard 17 by the Council for Standards in Human Service Education I am building my own interpersonal skills which will effectively impact the way I will communicate with a client and establish rapport. I believe this is how we can really get to know one another and create authentic and valuable relationships.
How I impact community
These interpersonal relationships are what pave the way for the connections that create community. Social capital was a topic covered in Human Service Professionals and Community Systems, HSP 404. The concept of social capital can be defined as “the network of social connections that exist between people, and their shared values and norms of behavior, which enable and encourage mutually advantageous social cooperation” (social capital, n.d.). The benefits of social capital can be seen through emotional, instrumental and informational exchange (Grosso, 2010; Laser & Leibowitz, 2009); all of which I feel I benefit from with the community I surround myself with. My colleagues, my roommates, my family and friends are all examples of groups that build my social capital. Their support in all facets has a positive impact on my life and because I have strengthened these ties over the past few years I have become happier and more successful in my everyday life. My community directly impacts me and because of their positive influence it creates a positive outcome in my life, and I do the same by reciprocating these interactions. I have developed many strong friendships as a result of friends of friends and have had internships opportunities through networking.
To think one individual can enact significant change within a community seemed like a fallacy to me. I do strongly believe in change, but change that significant seemed too large for someone like me to be capable of. This was put in perspective for me in Human Service Professionals and Community Systems, HSP 404; that it’s not a matter of if anyone is capable of change within a community but how. In the Council for Standards in Human Service Education National Standards, Standard 12 states that ‘there are processes to effect social change through advocacy work at all levels of society including community development, community and grassroots organizing, and local and global activism.’ In my community organizing essay I talk about the power of being able to mobilize-If one individual can spark a fire to make others crave change as much as they do, that’s when authentic change has the chance to occur. “The powerless will remain powerless, and therefore exploited, discriminated against, marginalized, and otherwise taken advantage of, as long as they remain isolated and divided” (Miller, 2010, p. 45). Under Standard 18, the Council for Standards in Human Service Education says that there ‘should be knowledge of constituency building and other advocacy techniques such as lobbying, grassroots movements, and community development’. In the community organizing essay I say “community organizing is what makes change within the big picture appear tangible; breaking down the issues and challenges we face as a society to a more personal level to create change where results and wanted outcomes are able to be seen and felt.”
How I connect with society
Learning about systems over the past two years, I have come to realize that while systems are working around each and every one of us, and at many times we are involved with the same systems, they work in relation to the individual. Everyone will interact with the same world, maybe even the same culture, or the same community, but we will interact and perceive it in our own individual ways relative to how the world interacts with us.
Reference
Grosso, A. (2010). Social Support as a Predictor of HIV Testing in At-Risk Populations: A Research Note. Journal of Health & Human Services Administration, 33(1), 53-62. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Laser, J., & Leibowitz, G. (2009). Promoting positive outcomes for healthy youth development: Utilizing social capital theory. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 36(1), 87-102. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Miller, M. (2010). Alinsky for the Left: The Politics of Community Organizing. Dissent (00123846), 57(1), 43. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Social Capital. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved January 26, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social capital