Empowering Families
Any experience brings about thoughts. Thoughts that will
form realizations. Realizations that will materialize through actions. Today,
another experience has passed. Thoughts were formed in mind. Realizations were created. Resolutions were noted.
I can say
that staying at Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) is another field
work just like staying at the oncology and pediatric ward of East Avenue
Medical Center (EAMC). It can be another fieldwork that gives me the same set of
lessons. However, for every experience, there are always unique realizations.
Unique lessons. The PCMC experience provided me these. It made me realized
various things that made me formulate four steps on how to empower families.
First, I
should develop rapport with the family. Establishing warmth is very important
especially when dealing with the family’s inner self. This was realized when my
partner and I encountered a parent who was very well-guarded. We couldn’t get
through him. He had a lot of questions thrown at us. He looked apprehensive, as
if talking to us could lead to something bad. This experience made me rewind it
in mind a lot of times ‘til I saw what was wrong. My partner and I didn’t
establish warmth.
Second, I
should recognize the strengths and vulnerabilities of the family. After
fulfilling the first step, I am now free to look inside the family. To see
their stars and dust. To notice their strengths and vulnerabilities. This is
where the speaker during our class comes in. He told us that we must start with
what the family has. I take it that the phrase, “family has”, doesn’t just
refer to the family’s resources but also its capabilities and skills.
With this knowledge, I can go on reinforcing their strengths and helping them
work on their vulnerabilities by applying the theories I learned in my various
major subjects.
Third, I
should know the priorities and goals of the family. Here comes the question,
“Anong mga pangarap at pangamba po ninyo?” Following the second step, it is
very important to ask the family what specifically they want for themselves,
where they’re headed to and what are their perceived hindrances. As a FLCD
student, I believe that a family is independent enough to decide for itself.
That is why it is very vital to ask them about it.
Fourth, I
should strengthen the family. Knowing their strengths, vulnerabilities,
aspirations and fears, I should give them hope. I should tell them that they
can do something about their experience. A parent that my partner and I talked
to sighed with resignation. With helplessness. “Wala na tayong magagawa eh.
Ganyan na talaga iyan.” People who are depressed or experiencing extreme
difficulty tend to be helpless and I realized that what they need is hope. For
me to say that they are well-equipped to alleviate the effects of what they’re
going through.
These four
steps are the fruit of my thoughts that became realizations. And topping it
all, I realized that as a FLCD 147 student, I wasn’t there in PCMC to give the
families a list of what they should do, where they should go and how to
accomplish them. I was not there to throw a list of to-do things and make them
follow it. I was there to give them hope. To empower them.
