Patrick's Journey Continues - Part 2 Challenges & Achievements

Phase two of my studies in the Diploma of Community Services (Financial Counselling) really set the bar high for me but I was ready to take on the challenge.

On arrival and settling in, back at the Colonial Club Resort, we learnt that blocks 4 & 5 weren’t going to be easy. We all had to put our heads down and study as hard as we could to complete four assessment modules in Block 4 (community programs and systems advocacy) which were community programs, community development framework, and theory framework implementing community program. We also had to complete one major assessment in a community project that we have all been involved in the past or present or just make one that could be used for a community project. My community project was about a Men’s Group which I put a lot of work into.

At the completion of block 4, we got straight into block 5 which was really hard for us all to stay focused as we were all overwhelmed and brain dead after completing block 4.

However, we all got together and helped each other out and completed three modules in counselling which were the foundation knowledge for counselling, counselling process (models and approaches) and counselling skills. We also completed three activity booklets and two assessments.

• Having to complete blocks 4 and 5 as well as knowing it was nearly the home stretch of completing the Diploma, it was quite interesting to find out and study about six theorists. Those six theorists were Jean Piaget, Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Maslow Hierachy, John Bowlby and Carl Rogers. One of the theorists I focused on was Freud’s theory which was about the human mind. Freud explored the human mind more thoroughly than any other who came before him.
• In Freud’s theory of personality, the conscious mind consists of everything inside of our awareness. This is the idea of our mental processing that we can think and talk about in the same way. The conscious mind includes things, such as the sensations, perceptions, memories, feeling and fantasies inside of our current awareness. Closely related with the conscious mind is the preconscious, which includes the things that we are not thinking of at the moment but which we can easily draw into conscious awareness. The conscious mind wants to keep hidden from awareness which can be repressed into the unconscious mind. While we are unaware of these feelings, thoughts, urges and emotions, Freud believed that the unconscious mind could still have an influence on our behaviour. Things that are in the unconscious are only available to the conscious mind in hidden form. For example, the contents of the unconscious might spill into awareness in the form of dreams.
• Apart from completing my assessments and going to class for a week I also got to make new friends and train twice a week at a local footy club just across from where I was staying. The footy club would have struggled on game day but they were a very friendly and family orientated club which is why I got involved and felt very welcomed by all who were involved.
• I had the opportunity of playing a few games with the footy club and on my second last training block (blocks 4 & 5) I got to stay in Cairns for the weekend and fly back on a Sunday to Darwin. I got to catch up with family, friends, do some sight-seeing around the city and even play my last game for the footy club as it was nearing the footy finals and the club was set miss out on yet another finals campaign.
• My weekend of fun had come to an end and I found myself back on the plane to Darwin and back to reality. I had to come in to work the following day and off I was again on a small twin engine plane to Goulburn Island for a week. My work out bush was steady having clients come in to see me but I also got to go out after work to do some fishing and connecting back to my culture which is what I miss the most whilst living away from home on Goulburn Island (West Arnhem Land) or Milikapiti (Tiwi Islands). After a week on Goulburn Island it was time to return to Darwin once again and get back into my normal routine.
• To take on new challenges is always hard work but the achievement at the end is like kicking goals in a really great footy game when you are playing with a successful team. Read more about my successes in part 3 – my final story.