Respect

You need to treat everyone with respect whether you like them or not. In your workplace you will be working with people you don’t like, but you still need to treat them with respect.
Even in school, i’ve had people in my class that I didn’t like, the hardest part is treating them with respect and sometimes they will be rude back to you. In the corrections field you will be working with lots of different people and you will not like everyone.
For example as a probation officer the youth/adult you work with, you have to treat them with respect no matter what because you can get into trouble if you don’t.
I have encountered this at my part time job, a while ago there was a manager that I did not like at all! No one there liked her, the hardest part was treating her with respect since she would always bark at us and disrespect us. One time she was really rude to me at the end of my shift because I didnt make enough sales, even though the store was dead and I immediately went to the head manager of the store and had a talk with him. I told him what happened and how I felt, and I didnt want to work here anymore if I was going to get treated like this. He told me that he didnt want me to quit and he would go talk to the manager right away which he did as I got a phone call from her later apologizing to me. One day she was rude to a customer, made her cry, had way too many customer complaints and ended up getting fired. This shows that if you don’t treat others with respect on your job, it can cost your job.
At the young offenders centre, respect is a BIG thing since you are working with youth that come from different backgrounds and crimes they have committed. Just because they committed a crime doesn’t mean you need to disrespect them, you still need to treat them like you would to others

Responsibility

You are responsible for your own actions and the consequences of those actions. When you are responsible you give your best at everything you do, your job, your life your family, just to name a few. When things go wrong, you don’t make excuses, you make amends. When you accept responsibility you gain control over your live and influence the lives of the people around you. People who are responsible in general have higher paying jobs, social status and power.
In regards to the two fields I am considering for my future I would describe my responsibilities as follows. As a youth probation officer I am responsible for the supervision of the offenders. Report to court, the success or failure of the inmate. Rehabilitation, help offenders reintegrate into society. Educate, help the inmates develop skills to live on the outside and many, many others.
As a Border Services Officer I would have the responsibility of keeping the country safe. Making sure whoever is coming into the country is not a terrorist or bringing in illegal drugs. Of course there are many other responsibilities as well, but that would be the most important one. I thought I would end with a quote about being responsible that I think sums it up.
Many times I always had to take responsibility for something. For example, I used to babysit a lot, I would be responsible for taking care of the kids, feeding them, putting them into bed. This situation sometimes was hard to handle since some kids are picky on what they eat, or they dont want to go to bed yet. I usually will be nice about the bedtime and allow them to go to bed a little later. The difference that I made was that it shows the parents how responsible of a person I am and that they wanted me to babysit again when needed. The lessons that I have learned from this experience is the fact that it sometimes is hard to take responsibility but it is a very important essential skill in life.

“The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.” ~Joan Didion

Judgmental

It is important not to be judgmental in life, although the word judgmental can also have positive implications, for the most part it is looked upon as a negative one. That’s the kind you don’t want. Things happen in our live, how we perceive those is a different story and that’s where being judgmental comes in. So what exactly does it mean if someone says you are judgmental? Being judgmental means that you judge the beliefs, opinions and actions of others in a negative or condescending way without it being based on any actual fact it is purely based on your personal opinion. Here is a scenario where how you perceive things, or what you believe makes you either judgmental in a positive way or judgmental in a negative way: You read in the newspaper that a man went into a local bar and shot three innocent people and killed them. The cops arrest him and he goes to jail. Is this man a bad person, or were his actions bad? Can you see the difference?
Your mind does what it is conditioned to do, so changing a negative behavior like being judgmental, and again I mean when you are being judgmental in a negative way, will take a conscious effort. But it can be done. Awareness is the first place to start. Stop, think and then “speak”. Make sure that your responses are based on fact and not just simply a reaction to a situation or in the heat of the moment. If you continue to do a “self check” over time your brain will be trained and you will go from being judgmental in a negative way, to living life without judgment.
There has been times when I have faced with being judgemental, for example one of my friends kept saying mean things about her godfather and I would tag along and make mean comments even though I didnt know this person. Later on I felt guilty about this and I finally met her godfather, and he was a very nice person. I felt bad about judging on him and I apologized to him and he appreciated it. The difference that it made was the fact that we actually got along really well. I learned that you are not to judge a person until you have met them.

Essential Skills

Essential skills is something that you need to have in order to get the job you want. This would include being patient, listening to others and understanding.
I am currently doing practicum at the Young offenders centre which I really enjoy! It teaches me that I have to be patient with the kids and to help them become a better person. I have used these skills by listening to others, following the rules, being patient.

Listening to others is extremely important, especially in this career. As a probation officer and even border services officer it requires good listening skills as you will be working with many different people. At the young offenders centre, this is extremely important because the offenders always have things to say about everything and you have to listen to them, sometimes you even need to eavesdrop just to make sure they are not keeping any secrets such as assaulting someone, planning on escaping etc…

Following the rules is also important because when you don’t follow the rules you can get into serious trouble. When I first started at the young offenders centre I was given a list of rules of what I can do and not do while doing my practicum and the basic rules they have, and I then had to sign that I will obey the rules.

Another thing that is important is patience, you have to be patient with these kids at the young offenders centre. Some kids will take longer to change, or recover than others. The hard part is you cant change the person, but you can help change. The only person that can change is themselves, which can take time. Its the same thing with little kids when you potty train them, teach them the basic skills, it takes time and patience. We tell them its their choice and the choice they make will have consequences which can be good or bad.

The 3 L's

My goals for the future

I haven’t made a blog yet on my goals for the future!

Well first of all, my career goal is to either become a border services officer or youth probation officer. I haven’t quite decided on which one I want to do yet, and I am glad I don’t have to make a decision at this very moment.  I know that as a probation officer I would have to do A LOT of paper work.  I’m not quite sure I want to do things such as, presentence reports, enforcing court orders, keeping up to date on the youth I’m working with etc… So for now being a probation officer is not out of the question, it’s just not on the top of my list.   However, being a border services officer is something I have thought about and can visualize myself doing as a life long career. My parents and I travel to the United States a lot and of course we always have to go through customs and I have always been fascinated watching the border service officer doing their job.  I think it would be interesting to meet all sorts of different people from around the world and find out things like; where they have been, where they are going, why did they go etc.  It would also be exciting to get the “gut” feeling that someone might be trying to bring something illegal back to Canada and have the authority to have them and their positions searched.  In a sense protecting Canada, that in itself makes me feel good. 

If I want to get into youth probation I will either need my Bachelors of Social Work if I want to work in Calgary, or I can get my Bachelors of Arts in Criminal Justice if I plan to work outside of Calgary. For Border Services I need my Bachelors of Arts in Criminal Justice. If I chose to peruse a career in border services one thing that is apparent is when you apply for the first time, you don’t get to pick at what crossing you want to be at. I could end up working in a different province, which I think would be pretty neat but it will be hard to leave the comforts of home and my family.  But that has to be done eventually I guess!

My other goals include traveling! I would love to travel to Australia and New Zealand! There is no apparent reason why I want to see these places, I just hear the beaches are beautiful and the surfing is great and I love to surf! I would also love to travel to Europe especially France, England, Italy, and Germany, since there is so much to do there.  I guess you could say I want to travel ALL over the world! 

NOVEMBER

Its already November!!! 


Wow, time sure flies by!!! 


October has been a pretty good month, been busy with school, practicum and work. 
Schools going good! Just need to take more time and study instead of spending my time on Cafe World. lol 
Practicum is going good, its been busy tho! I have been learning a lot and what it's like working in the jails! 


My least favorite class ends this THURSDAY!!!!!!!! So happy! 


November 11 is a very important day, its Remembrance Day. 
My grandpa was in the Second World War, and was a Veteran. 


My goals for this month are:
-Study hard for exams so I can get a good mark
-Finish all my projects before the month of December so when the month comes I can start studying for exams!


Things to look forward to:
-Least favorite class ending this Thursday
-Practicum! 
-Closer to the end of the semester
-Christmas is coming soon!