The issue our service project touched on was domestic violence, our class went to Golden House, a domestic violence shelter and volunteered whenever we could. Before we began the service project, I knew a little about domestic violence and what it was, but I didn’t know how much it was prevalent in Green Bay and pretty much everywhere. I think most people may not know how much it affects their community, how many domestic violence shelters there are and how many people are really affected by domestic violence. I learned that most people don’t know how much domestic violence is really in their community, as I said.
The obstacles we had during this project was in my opinion knowing what is okay to say or do while hanging out with the kids and their families at Golden House. Sometimes I had to make sure I watched what I said so I wouldn’t say something that may be offensive or make any triggers happen for any of these people there. I’m not saying that I would walk up to one of the moms and ask what happened to them because I wouldn’t do that. But I did make sure I really thought before I said anything around the people there to make sure that I don’t make anyone upset. As I mentioned I just think before I said something to fix this obstacle and make sure everyone around me is also doing the same. I want to make sure that our time there made the kids and families feel better and not worse.
I learned that I really do enjoy working with all kinds of kids. Some of the kids there you could tell were very behind developmentally and I still really enjoyed working with them. It was more challenging to work with them, but I have worked with autistic children before and it was like that. It was very hard to see some of the kids like this though. I would think a big part of this is from being either abused, seeing someone being abused in their family, or when their mom or caregiver was being abused, they couldn’t help them develop properly because they were dealing with domestic violence. I also learned that most the of the times the families and moms were very thankful when we came to play with their children because it gave them time to themselves and or get some things done like dinner for example. Playing with the kids also made the kids so happy and excited. When I learned that I really like being with these kids it made me realize that I really want to help children and families as much as I can. I knew that I have always wanted to be a family therapist and help people but this really opened my eyes to see how much I really want to and how much it’s needed.
My plan going forward is to make people more aware of the fact that there are people who experience domestic violence and its more people then they think. I will also make more people aware that domestic violence shelters always need help. They could use volunteers or donations whenever people can. I hope to continue to volunteer my time at Golden House during the school, once a month or more if I can. I really think that going and helping the families makes such a big and positive impact and more people should volunteer.