Harmony Hall Reflection

Over the summer of 2015, I volunteered at Harmony Hall in Bassett, Virginia. Harmony Hall is a nursing home for the elderly. I had heard about this agency during the last couple of months in my senior year in high school from my friend, Kanan Patel. She had volunteered during the winter of 2014 and she instantly fell in love with the mission, the staff, and the residents. When looking for a place to volunteer, I came to her for references, and she quickly directed me to Harmony Hall. I began working with this agency the following summer.

The day was July 10th 2016, and my mission for this day was to help an elderly woman learn how to use her new cell phone. She had recently received this iPhone as a gift for her birthday from her daughter.
Luckily, I picked up on these actions and changed them as quickly. The issue that I was facing was that I was not leveling with the woman. I was looking at the situation through my eyes rather than hers, and because of this I allowed myself to become agitated with her repeated questions. I had to realize that her memory loss was a condition that she could not control. After I regained my composure, I changed my tone of voice and altered my approach. I decided to act like I had forgotten to tell her about a certain feature if she asked the same question twice. For example, if she asked me how to launch Facebook a second time, I would respond, “Oh yea! I completely forgot to tell you about that!” Using this technique, I was able to control my emotions while repeating myself. I also tried singing the instructions to her to see if she could remember more that way, but I had no luck. I am aware that learning is unique to the person, so I tried every possible technique that I could think of on the spot. Although I was unable to find a specific technique to help her remember the instructions, I did notice an increase in happiness after I changed my
I was getting agitated by her questions because I looked at the situation through a first person point of view. This view allowed me to understand the resident’s situation, but not put myself into the situation she was facing. I quickly learned the importance of the “Person-in-Environment” approach because as soon as I related to her situation, the atmosphere in the room completely changed. Other than learning the significance of this approach, I also learned the importance of effective communication while talking to the resident. As DeVito noted in The Interpersonal Communication Book, communication, of any kind, serves to teach, relate, influence, play, and most importantly, help. I want to continue to have valuable conversations with people to not only help them, but help myself in learning effective skills within communication. I intend to push myself further and allow myself to volunteer in any agency that has an opening. The best way to learn more about how you can help others is through knowledge and experience, so I want to continue to build my resume in different areas to insure future