Ellen Morrell 

Final Reflection 

Throughout this semester I learned such a great deal I didn't even imagine we would get through as much interesting material as we did. I felt this class was so special to me because it so important to constantly be learning about the culture and environment around us. Not only will this allow you to be a more well rounded human being but it will help vastly in the health workplace I am trying to achieve. I feel I can move forward in professional goals feeling more culturally aware and effective in the way I can communicate with clients or people in general. I feel the world could learn from this class, to be more aware of other cultures, be more open and accepting. I always viewed myself as a pretty culturally aware and accepting type of person but I learned so many valuable things from this class that I will carry with me always. Something that I learned that I had never thought through well was small but very important and related. We had an assigned article or reading about how you shouldn't ask someone where they are originally from because that is assuming they are not from here and therefore making them out to be a foreigner when in fact they may not be. The article instead suggested you just not ask unless it presents itself or if the other person is willingly brought up. I have always been a very curious individual so when I have heard people with accents I love to ask where they are originally from. I from now on will second guess the context I bring this up in and I will absolutely carry this with me throughout my professional career as well. These things are important to continue to learn about because you want the best for your clients and you want them to feel accepted and comfortable. 

As for my personal learning goals I stated at the beginning of this course I felt I did well achieving them. My first goal included becoming and feeling more culturally competent. I can say I feel I have dipped my foot in the right pond and learned a great deal about how to be more culturally competent. I do however feel there is so much more to  learn about other cultures and how to become more aware in a professional and personal setting. Another goal of mine included coming up with plans  on how I could be culturally competent in my current and future workplace. I feel I have absolutely applied this to my current work situation. We have clients who are of different backgrounds and cultures.. We recently had a new client who cannot eat pork because of his culture and religion. I was very eager to learn of his religion and culture because I feel it is so interesting but I held back on asking to ensure the client felt most comfortable. I knew at some point he would most likely bring it up as we got to know each other more and more. Set aside just my personal interest but I do feel this could help me understand his customs better and make him feel as comfortable as possible by understanding his culture better. I feel this class taught me in great detail about other cultures customs and mannerisms and this real life event very much so relates. I think it is so special and exciting I can relate what I have learned in this class and apply it in my real life workplace. All in all this class really helped me move forward with my cultural competence and understand diversity in a more in depth way.