Today we started with the activity I picked out Wednesday afternoon, a worksheet titled Me, Myself Esteem and I. There were three different categories on the paper; one about their heredity and genes, one about their environment growing up and current, and one about their choices. I gave each consumer an index card for each question and we did the activity together on the board. For heredity and genes we went over (and they wrote on their cards) things about them they were born with. For example, some people wrote their gender, hair/eye color, disabilities, talents, life roles (mother, sister, daughter, etc). This was hard for many of the consumers, and most only wrote certain things that I suggested like the examples above.
On the next card we went over things about their environments during childhood, while growing up, up until now. I again started giving examples of things they could write about, such as if they grew up on a farm, in the suburbs, in the city, during a war, extremely religious, in a religious environment, with a big family, poor, always doing sports, etc. They wrote about their interests, hobbies, favorite activities, and how their lives were and are. This was the one category that most people kept going on and kept finding more to write about.
The last category was about the negative and positive choices the consumer thinks they have made in their lives. We went over positive and negative coping skills, and other things in their lives that contribute to those choices. Each consumer listed a few of both kinds of coping skills, and what they can do to change the negative to positive. Some listed things like smoking, eating junk food, and spending too much money shopping as negative coping skills, and journaling, exercising, and talking to people as positive coping skills.
For nutrition group the consumers played nutrition bingo. The consumers seem to always like bingo, as long as we do not play every day, and enjoy it more when we play various different kinds of bingo. I still always have to make sure to watch out for the prizes since so many consumers still think they can just take what they want without winning.
After lunch we had current events where I cut out newspaper articles so each consumer could pick out an article to read. I always let each consumer take turns reading theirs, and thank them afterward, then I read all the leftover articles out loud. By now I know which consumers like to read which kind of articles, and what each is more interested in. Some like to read only the weather or movie listings, while others like to read gossip about celebrities. No one really likes to read about international matters or sports (unless it’s the Colts).
I let Pam take over after that for the last group of the day while I had a consumer help me sanitize and scrub down the kitchen. The kitchen is obviously used on a daily basis, but is not often cleaned. It may not have been very educational for me, but it felt so much better knowing when I opened a cabinet I would no longer be sticking my hand in a pile of gunk.
One of the regular case workers had a consumer who regularly came in every two weeks when she got paid to go over her bills and make sure things are all paid. The case worker had an appointment to go to and asked if I could assist the consumer when she came in. She left a few things to make sure to do, such as look over all the check to make sure they are written correctly, and make sure everything is written down in the checkbook. The consumer did pretty well on her own, and only need a little direction at times, or my assistance realizing when she made mistakes on the checks she wrote.
This was the first time I was able to work one-on-one with a consumer, especially one who was not a Hoosier House member. I enjoyed being able to assist someone, and feeling needed. I felt like I was her case worker, and that my presence was actually beneficial to her. This gave me a bit of a different experience because even though I was there to assist her, I knew I needed to allow the consumer to try to do everything by herself instead of standing over her shoulder doing it for her, or instructing her. If I had done that she would not have learned anything and the whole point is for her to learn to do things on her own.
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