Major: Child and Family Development
School: Western Michigan University
Professional Development Skills Plan: Gryphon Place
The first two professional skills that I have obtained from my internship at Gryphon Place were maturity and responsibility. I chose maturity because with maturity there is a linkage to responsibility. If you are not mature, than how can someone think you are responsible and vice versa. When an individual calls Gryphon Place, they are looking for support and if I am not mature to handle that support and responsible to apply the support they need, I will not be successful. Therefore, by choosing maturity, I also obtained the professional skill of responsibility.
Growing up, I was always told that I am mature for my age; however my maturity can sometimes be skewed by my boisterous personality turning my maturity into immaturity.
Throughout my internship, I have gained the knowledge of learning how to turn that boisterous personality on and off. I have gained the knowledge of how to address critical situations with a caller on the line by establishing a clear line of professionalism and maturity. I learned through my internship at Gryphon Place that it sometimes it is okay to be personable "boisterous" because the caller on the line needs to know that there is someone out there that can relate to them and is there for them. I learned to take full-responsibility and accountability for my actions that I have done at Gryphon Place. I learned to be more accountable my being responsible and vice versa. I learned to be more accountable for how I address certain clients such as documenting the frequency of certain callers, or paging Emergency Response for a welfare check when in my gut I did not feel something was right. The clientele that calls Gryphon Place ranges from suicidal to delusional, to minor to major trauma. My job is to address each category and apply the proper steps to assist the caller on the phone. People from Kalamazoo and the surrounding counties call the crisis hotline for support and they deserve to feel safe and protected and heard. Most importantly, they deserve to know that the person they are confiding in and trusting in is someone they can trust and is someone they know has their best interest at heart. This then will result into another professional skill that I have obtained and that skill is called interpersonal relationships.
Interpersonal relationships are defined as building rapport, respecting differing opinions, learning appropriate personal professional boundaries with clients/customers, and with co-workers at each level in the organization. Interpersonal is the second professional skill that I have obtained throughout my internship at Gryphon Place. I have gained knowledge of making professional connections with individuals on a more personal level. An example of this would be when I had a caller who did not want to disclose to their parents that they were thinking about attempting suicide. I attempted the proper steps of trying to build rapport with the individual, however it was to no avail. Therefore, I made the decision to eliminate the "necessary steps" and just talk to the individual. I wanted to show the individual that I am human and that I am here if need be. The individual then became more relaxed and after their parents left the room became more personal with me and actually disclosed that they were thinking about attempting suicide.
My occupation currently is a server, so establishing interpersonal relationships with an individual is something that I am familiar with. However, establishing a interpersonal relationship with an individual that has is either suicidal or delusional, is a different story. I am still worried about coming off as “too much,” or “too strong,” or possibly saying the wrong thing. I learned through my internship that I am what you call a "fixer." I like to find solutions and help the individual, however I learned that I cannot just jump from level 1 to level 5. I may need to go through the process to figure out the best possible solution and that is okay. I have learned to adapt to that which leads me to my next professional skill, adaptability.
Adaptability and reaction to stress is defined as “positive attitude towards change; able to handle unusual/stressful events calmly.” Adaptability is a major skill that I have obtained and am still learning from my internship because as mentioned previously, someone’s life could/is in my hands and that can be stressful. I would not say that I am fully adaptable-equipped because you get different calls every day, however you learn from it and grow from it.
From where I was at the beginning of my internship to now, I have seen growth. I learned to adapt to new implementations at work such as documentation of the call and paging on-call staff. I learned to adapt to the caller shifting from being flat in response to angry based on my response. I have even learned to adapt to getting hung up on in a crisis situation. For me, adaptability is a trait that one can acquire, but cannot fully be adaptable until you have been fully trained in every situation that you may encounter.
The last two professional skills that I have obtained is communication and listening. Communication skills can be defined as “clearly communicates thoughts, ideas, and information. Uses correct grammar and spelling both in written and oral presentations.” I tend to stumble over my words and I tend to not know what or how to say things when I want to say them. My goal throughout my internship was to gain the necessary information to communicate effectively to individuals calling me on the other line. I say I have reached my goal because I learned to adjust my communication based off the caller. Some callers may be noted in their profile to the worker to not say certain things such as um mm, oh okay, mmhmm, etc. Some callers may have documentation in their profile to when they express certain things communicate self-care. However, just as I hoped to gain communication skills, I knew that in order to effectively communicate, I have to learn how to listen.
Listening skills is the last professional skill that I have obtained through my internship because my main task at my internship is to listen and gather information about the individual on the phone. Listening skills can be defined as “listens to understand and learn. Is able to hear suggestions, evaluate, and apply suggestions to work.” My job as an intern required me to listen to the person on the phone and apply the necessary support such as making connections, asking questions, helping them not attempt suicide, etc.