Blog 24: Independent Component 2

I, Carly Griffin, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work."


I chose to spend both of my independent components completing additional service learning hours at Straight Talk, Inc. with my service learning mentor, Shelly Lummus. 


I knew that when I first started doing service learning in the office of Straight Talk, I would need to earn a lot of trust with the administrators of Straight Talk in order to be granted access into the actual rehabilitation houses with the patients I was studying. For this particular component, I logged 36.5 hours of service learning, a majority of which was completed at Gerry House in Santa Ana with Mrs. Lummus supervision. While there, I was able to see how the patients responded to certain treatments. While I was not able to work directly with any patients for privacy and safety reasons, a few of the counselors were able to share new counseling techniques they were trying out and how patients were responding.  


Being able to see how differently patients would respond to similar treatments led me to choose my second answer, tailoring a treatment plan to fit the individual needs of a patient, as my best answer. Before completing this independent component, I thought that my first answer, offering counseling and testing services to the patient, their partners, and their family, was my best answer. Having this amazing opportunity to see how real-life patients were each so drastically unique really changed the way I viewed my answers to my essential question. 


Log of Hours