Hillside Learning Center Alexandra Schilling

Mission Statement Hillside Family of Agencies provides individualized health, education, and human services in partnership with children, youth, adults, and their families through an integrated system of care. 

Main Interactions Mentor/Tutor to Student – They try to keep a professional yet personal relationship with students so that they take them seriously, yet they feel comfortable to talk to them about any problems they might have. Student to Student- Most of the children in the same rooms knew each other, so they were all close and comfortable to discuss anything with them. They were also willing to meet new students from other schools.

Tripartite Model of Personal identity

Guidelines that were used for the role of Culture in Helping Relationship Have the right attitudes and beliefs, gain knowledge, and learn skills: Had to go into Hillside with a positive attitude and open mind as the students looked up to us as the strong minded people that were there to help them and even just listen to them if they needed that. Encourage clients to speak their own language: When speaking to a refugee student, I asked her to teach me a few words from native language. Assess the cultural identity of the client: She explained to me the many cultural differences between Africa and America including hunting techniques, the attitudes of Americans, taking advantage of opportunities, etc.

Stressful aspects Sometimes it was hard to keep certain students focused on the task at hand with all the distractions surrounding them. If they had not been to school in a while, you had to try to teach them what they might have missed to help explain work they had. Language barriers make it harder to explain things.

Rewarding Aspects Knowing that many students had goals to graduate and do something with their life Hearing that students liked to be at the after school program to get help with school. Receiving a picture of a student on graduation day with a big smile on her face.

High School Graduation Day

Question What should you, as a mentor or counselor, do if you are placed with a client of a different cultural or religious background as you? A. Ask for a new client B. Accept them as a client and ignore their differences; just try to help solve their problem C. Accept them as a client and try to understand & learn their differences and then help solve their problem D. Pretend you understand what they are saying even if you don’t

Answer C. Accept them as a client and try to understand & learn their differences and then help solve their problem

References http://www.hillside.com/Generic.aspx?id=142 Neukrug, Ed. Theory, Practice, and Trends in Human Services: An Introduction. Fifth ed. Belmont, California.: Brooks/Cole Pub., 2013. Print.