As one of the centre's main services to its clients is a daily lunch club I soon became involved in helping to serve lunch. Each day the clients are invited up to the dining hall just before lunch starts to settle at their tables and choose which option from the menu they wish to have. Some clients need helping reading the menu board and even explaining what certain dishes are.A task such as this which seems so simple taught me about communication and being patient. I am learning the importance of allowing people to choose for themselves, especially as some of the clients who struggle more with verbal communication find it difficult to tell you what they wish to eat and some of those with dementia or other mental illness struggle to choose which dish they want at all. The temptation is to just choose one for them and get on with handing out the food but I began to understand the importance of allowing decisions such as this and not taking away control from the clients just to make a service run that little bit smoother. In the world of an older person in our society choice is not always something allowed to them in many aspects of their life as more and more the have to rely on the provision of services to go about their daily lives. And often in the process of becoming more dependent and in need of help, the element of choice is taken from them bit by bit. So, through watching the workers interact with the clients in this way and by becoming involved in it myself I was caused to consider this.
Also,the workers have some basic rules of serving food which aim to make the clients feel valued and which promote dignity. For example, waiting until all the people at one table have finished eating before taking the plates away so as not to rush anyone or interrupt their eating and conversation. Such small decisions as this really improve the quality of such a service. Also,being involved in this gave me a slightly more defined role for the clients rather than just being a student who hung around them at lunchtime.
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Thanks for writing about this. I know that this reflection follows from our dicussion about the social work role in these kinds of situations. It is great that you are thinking beyond the activity to its meaning and its role in communication as well as how it can convey social work values. In your situation you have the opportunity to explore the idea of the "social work task" in this way and this will be very helpful in the longer term.
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