Last Day in Dublin

I can't believe it is already time to come home! This has been such a fun trip. When I think about all I got to do and see, it makes me feel like I have been here so much longer than 2 weeks. We all were pretty tired today so we didn't do much. My friend and I went into town for a bit and got some chinese food. It was pretty funny because we both decided that eating in a chinese restaurant made us feel more at home than all the other places we have eaten :) There is only so much fish and chips a girl can eat! After that we just walked around and came back to the dorms. I am getting ready to start packing (yuck) and get my flight information all figured out. About 5 or 6 of us all have the same flight home so that will be nice. I have very ready to see all of you guys though! Thanks for reading my blog and I hope I described what I was up to well enough. All of the pictures should be up on facebook now for you to see. Mom and dad, I will show you when I get back :) See most of you tomorrow around 5:30!!!!!!

Back in Dublin

We made it back to Dublin yesterday! When we got here we had to wait in the rain for like 10 minutes for our bus and then walk in the rain for about 25 minutes back to the dorms..not exactly the best way to start out the day but it got better! We didn't do much yesterday. A bunch of us went to some restaurant called The Goat and that was a lot of fun..I am ready to watch a sport besides race horsing though :) Today we had our last three lectures. The first was on the economy of Ireland right now. We had learned a little about this earlier but we got a lot more detail today. Then, we learned about the general history of Ireland..Usually, I would have found that interesting but I was tired and zoning out so I don't have much to say about that! Finally, we talked with a lady about the research she is doing on Catholic priests who have been accused of abusing children. It was interesting to hear her perspective on the situation. She said one time a survivor of abuse asked her who's side she was on (meaning the priests or his)..She responded by saying she on the side of people trying to improve and change their lives and she takes her stand against abuse of all kinds, not people in particular. I thought that was a very good way to look at things and it really stuck with me. Tonight and tomorrow are just free time and I will be home on Sunday! I can't believe it has already been 2 1/2 weeks!

Cork

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile! The dorms at Cork do not have internet :( We have been pretty busy here anyway. We arrived on Sunday afternoon but were pretty sleepy so we just hung out and played card games all evening...On Monday we had two lectures in the morning on homelessness in Cork. The lectures were preettttyyy boring but we got to go to a shelter called Cork Simon in the afternoon. The shelter was very impressive..First off, all homeless people can receive free medical service at the shelter. Also, they are not kicked out every morning like they are in the US. Each person has their own room and two people share a shower...that is better than the dorms we are staying in (4 people share a shower). They have programs that send the residents on day trips to go fishing or other things they are interested in. The shelter also has computer courses/GED programs that the people can take. It is kept very clean...The lecturer made a good point that if you give people something to feel proud of, they are more likely to what to change and keep that change up. The shelter has a "harm reduction" model they use that allows people to be intoxicated or high and still come into the shelter as long as they will not harm others. This way, they are not vulnerable on the streets and can still stay warm and have food in their systems. I thought that was an interesting take on the situation. The shelter provides apartments and off-site housing that homeless people can work up to. I was VERY impressed by that because Lawrence is about the lose our shelter (the lease will be up) and the community won't let them build even ONE shelter in the outskirts of town..It seems like people here really understand compassion. One last thing that stuck out to me was the name of the shelter (Simon). It was named after the man who helped Jesus carry his cross. The lecturer said they chose this because they want to help people carry their burdens and help take a weight off the shoulders of the people in crisis. He also said most social services would simply throw a ladder down a well if someone were stuck at the bottom...however, services should really go down the well themselves and help carry the person up the ladder. I thought this was a great example of what social work should really be out; not simply giving services to people but helping people through them. If someone can have someone around who cares and is willing to help them, they are more likely to accomplish their goals...

On Tuesday we had lectures on adoption and visited an adoption agency. It is crazy because currently they only have 6 babies in Cork that are being worked on getting placed into a home. I thought this was an incredibly low number, especially since abortion is illegal in Ireland. Also, same-sex couples here can adopt children (they adopt as a single parent and then the other can apply to be a "social parent:). However, these couples cannot adopt Irish babies. They can only adopt children from other countries. Another surprising part about adoption here is that it is moving towards a completely open adoption model AND it is usually the adoptive parents that are seeking out the birth mom for advice/medical history.

Today, we learned about intellectual disability (learning disabilities). We visited Brothers of Charity which has schools for children with these disabilities, especially Autism. They have programs for the siblings of these children too because they often get forgot about. I thought that was a great idea. They also have medical programs and on-site living for elderly people with learning disabilities.

Tomorrow we are headed back to Dublin! It is crazy how fast this trip is going by. This is the final leg of the journey and it seems like I just got here the other day. I can't wait to see America again on Sunday though!!! I am getting a little tired of how people drive here, taking cabs everywhere, and sharing my shower :) Overall, it has been GREAT though!

Friday/Saturday in Galway

The past two days have been so much fun, I have barely had time to be in my room! On Friday morning we took a bus to a place called Merlin Park. It is an area of Galway were they have some mental health centers, rehabilitation centers, and a children/adolescent acute mental health center. We visited the children/adolescent center. It was probably the agency with the most differences than comparable agencies in America. For starters, the center was beautiful and completely new (it opened January 14th). Kids will go there if they are unfit to stay at home any longer. They have 14 beds for adolescents (14-18) and 6 beds for children up to age 13. All the children have their own rooms, group activities (including yoga, cooking classes, arts/crafts, community meetings), a very nice eating area, playgrounds, and a garden. All of the technology is completely up to date AND it is free because it is covered by public health care. Another interesting part of the unit is the fact that they have what they call a "parent's flat". It is a small apartment that families can stay in during the weekends so their children do not have to separated from their parents all of the time. They said they have only had one case in 30 years in which parents were not involved in the child's life and in that case they had very good foster parents. In the US it is very common for parents to be completely absent from a child's life once they enter a mental health center. Another difference is that in the US these centers are usually kept very dark, cold, and staff members have complete control. Something that really surprised me was that they had no children in this center currently and they suspected the most they will ever have in there at a given time is 2 or 3. In Kansas alone, a child can be on a waiting list for months and months because we have sooo many children being sent there. The social workers in Ireland could not believe that. Something else interesting is that at this center psychiatrists act as therapists and counselors. They do not give out medication to anyone younger than 12 unless it is completely necessary and when they do give out medication to anyone is a last resort. In America, as we all know, medicine is given out like candy to people of all ages hoping that it will cure everything. Not to rag on America or medicine BUT I think it is something we need to work on. Handing out medicine does not solve any long term problems, it just cures the symptoms of a problem. The last difference that surprised me was that adolescents can spend up to 6 months at these centers because they are free and they are getting actual help. American centers try to get kids out within 48 hours, which gets them back home (that can be good) but it makes me wonder if people are really even solving the crisis at hand. Overall, it was a great learning experience and it was a great center.

Friday night, we went to a church from the 14th century and listened to traditional Irish music. There were probably 30 people total in the audience and 3 different performers. It was a very intimate setting and I have never heard such great acoustics anywhere. Both the church and music were amazing. I think that setting and music could get ANYONE to go to church every single day :) We ended up going back to a place called the Crane bar which we went to the night before and a couple nights before that. They have great music there and  some of the musicians from the church were going there. We took a cab home early though because today (Saturday) we went to the Aran Islands.

There are 3 islands that comprise the Aran Islands. We took a ferry to the largest one (Inismor Island). A bus driver took us through the village which has about 800 permanent residents. He said during the major tourism season though they usually have between 1000-1500 tourists a day! He also drove us to a fort that is about 2500 years old. It was used as a defense mechanism and later on it was used for rituals. It was about a 20 minute hike up to it but it was worth it. Once you get up top there are huge stone walls (there are smaller stone walls covering the island) and a cliff with a 300 ft. drop. I sat on the very edge, of course :) It was so pretty. After the fort we drove to a place they call the seven churches. It really is only 2 sets of ruins of old churches and 5 houses were priests and other major people in the island lived. We then went to a house that was used in filming the movie "Man of Aran" in 1930. Finally, we drove up the coastline and watched a colony of seals. On this island they make handmade wool sweaters, scarves, blankets, etc. They also have great homemade food. Finally, we took the ferry back and ordered pizza (very Irish of us, right?). In the morning we are leaving for Cork. We will have pretty busy days there and get to see more agencies and hear more lectures. I am excited, although, sad to leave Galway.

Thursday in Galway

Well, today started off interesting. We were supposed to be up and ready to go at 9:20 today. I was on my laptop before I went to bed and I still haven't changed the time on it yet so I am always remembering to add 6 hours to the time. I went to bed and set my alarm on my phone and woke up at 3:15 am (Ireland time)..However, for some reason I thought I still needed to add 6 hours so I freaked out and thought it was 9:15..I got completely dressed and was wondering how I was going to brush my teeth and wash my face and get ready in 5 minutes..I looked outside my window to check and see if I needed my umbrella and realized it was completely dark outside still. I then realized what I did and was so happy I still had 5 hours of sleep ahead of me :)

Following my minor freak out, I woke up at the right time and we left to go visit University College Hospital in Galway. It was what I was looking forward the most (academic wise) because this is the field I would like to eventually work in. We met with 4 social workers who worked in pediatrics, maternity, and medical social work (this section covers geriatrics, cardiac, and most emergency care). All of the information they gave us was similar to medical social work is done in America. They talked about making sure the parents did not have substance abuse problems, having safe environments to go home to, discharge planning, and services they link people up with. This hospital also has a teen pregnancy program available to all girls 19 and younger that the social workers created. The one major difference they pointed out was the difference in how people pay for medical care. 40% of the country has what they call medical cards which means completely free health care. To qualify for this you either have to be an immigrant/refugee, have a low income, have a large family, severe/long term health problems, high rent, etc..Basically, it is not the most difficult card to receive. Another option is public health care which I believe they said was 100 euros a year and you pay for 10 days in the hospital. If you exceed this amount you are not charged extra though. The third option is private insurance. This is more expensive but you get to choose your doctor and sometimes can jump waitlists. The social workers said if you go into the emergency room though you get the same care as everyone else. We also got a short tour of the hospital. It was pretty nice but they said some of the floors have what they call "long wards". These are basically long hallways that can fit up to 14 beds at a time. They have little privacy which is a problem but it means they can help more people at a time. 

After the hospital, we met up with a professor we had dinner with last night. He have a lecture on domestic/family violence. It was very interesting though because he took a unique angle. He looked at what he calls child to parent violence. Basically, it looks at kids who have behavior problems and abuse their parents. This can be physical violence, psychological abuse, or anything of that sort. In our classes at KU we usually just talk about violence among adults. We tend to thing of children as victims and not the perpetrators of violence. However, after this lecture we learned to think of child aggression and violence as not only a symptom but also as a problem to be dealt with. Oftentimes, parents just blame it on ADHD or other factors like "he had a hard childhood", "he doesn't have a good male figure in the family", and other common excuses like that. The professor made a point that while this might be the case, it only gives the child an escape and does not help them solve their problems of aggression. It was kind of hard to wrap my head around that concept because it is such a different perspective but I really think it is something we can all learn from. I feel like today people really try to just diagnose a symptom and use medicine to solve it. While medicine can help, the child or whoever is trying to receive help, will never learn how to cope with that behavior or how to change their habits. 

Tomorrow we are going to a child/adolescent mental health hospital. They may expand on the idea of child to parent violence. Also, since my practicum will be at a behavioral health center (with adults though), I may be able to pick up advice or information that will be useful to me next year. 

Let's hope I figure out this time situation tonight though! 

More Galway

Today we had our first social work activity..It has been four days so it is probably time haha. We got to sleep in and met up with a professor at the University of Galway around 2. She talked to us about social work in Ireland. Specifically, she talked about the recession and what they call the "celtic tiger". Basically, that was when Ireland was flourishing and thought they could spend all of their money. When the banks got in trouble the celtic tiger collapsed and led to the position they are in now. She also talked a little about families and the rights of families in the irish constitution. She had some interesting facts on marriage in Ireland and divorce rates and a little on the rights of children. It was good to be able to compare that with US policies and rates. It seems like their recession is worse than ours. She said "we always say when the US catches a cold, we catch pneumonia". I thought that was interesting to see how globalization really affects Ireland.

After our meeting with her we had free time and then went to dinner with her and another professor from the university. It was a great little restaurant. We then went to a place called the Crane Bar. The professor sponsoring the trip has been there a couple times and liked it so we tagged along. They had good Irish music was it was tiny and with so many people it was hard to move around. 5 of us ended up walking back and didn't get lost this time at all!

Tomorrow we are touring a hospital in Galway which should be interesting because that is where my main interests are. After that we are having a lecture on child services and domestic violence. The person doing that lecture also went to dinner with us tonight and he seems to be fun and knowledgeable. Hopefully, all works out!

Galway

We arrived in Galway yesterday! It was an interesting day for sure. It began by walking about a mile with our luggage from the dorm to the right bus stop and then getting on a completely full bus with our bags. I think everyone on the bus hated us :) We went to the train station (my first real train ride!) and it was about a 3 hour ride to Galway. We are staying at the university dorms here also (we even get a full size bed). After we dropped all of our stuff off we had lunch at their cafeteria. When we were done some people took a 40 minute walk in the rain to the shore and some of us took the bus downtown to do some shopping. Guess which one I did :) I figured since we are going to the shore on Saturday, a little shopping couldn't hurt. Besides, walking in the rain for that long is silly. We eventually all met up and had dinner at a cute, traditional Irish restaurant. We came back to the dorms for awhile and then six of us went back downtown to a small pub where an Irish band was playing. It was tons of fun! We ended up getting a little lost on the walk home and ended up basically in a scrap yard...Luckily, we found a cab who took us back. It wasn't a dangerous area though, I promise! We came back and played some card games and hung out for a bit. Today, we are finally doing something social worky :) We are going to a lecture about families and the roles of people in families. It should be pretty interesting.

Hope all is going well in America! See you in 11 days!