Capstone Project: Man TimeĀ
Man Time was a project that I establish while in internship with Professor Cho.The group was established for my internship site at AHRCNYC Brooklyn Day Hab located Downtown, Brooklyn.Ā Man TimeĀ intended impact for the group was to encourage clients to become more vocal on male problems/issues and then build a line of communication with staff and client. The program was also created to establish trust between staff both male and female and with other clients by also teaching skills that can provide optimal living for clients.
Was I effective at implementing āman timeā I would have to say yes, my reasoning for that answer is as follows: First, I started by creating an environment where it was judgment free and members of the group were able to freely experience themselves weather in music, dance, or in speaking at the beginning of every session. I learned that from my group dynamics class where my professor would have an ice breaker before every lecture to bring the mindsets of the students to focus on the subject. Second I knew it was effective because my coworkers would speak to me on the changing that happened in their daily group by the male clients such as, no acting out in public, and following the rules of the staff in charge and finally not cursing. So lastly I felt that it was effective because I could see for myself that the members of the group enjoyed coming into the group for sessions because I didnāt have to chase them down and they came on their own free will.
I have learned one main lesson from implementing my project and that is everyone wants to feel as if their voice matters and is also heard. With my regular group I would listen to them but I started to understand that other staff members were not listening to the clients, because they may have become burnout from working with the population so long or even not listening because of their personal lack of concern. So I made it my busy to found ways were client could communicate with staff in an effective way by either writing things down in a journal or asking staff for a moment.
