Hello again! My first week of being in Dublin has already come to an end and I cannot believe how fast it has gone by! Throughout the rest of my week, we visited three other sites together to learn about Trinity’s Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities, St. Michaels House Templeogue, and Mental Health Ireland. Each site was very interesting to learn about and gave me some new perspectives and ideas about different topics. After a week of site visits, we took some time to travel around other parts of Ireland over the weekend.
On Wednesday we went to the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities and had the chance to walk around and talk to some of the students that had stands up around the room for SciFest describing the science projects that they chose to do individually. I was very fascinated by some of the student’s projects and their passion for some of the topics that they chose to do their projects on. For example, one of the girls that I talked to did a project on the future in 2023 because she is so intrigued by what the future is going to be like. She wrote out a map and descriptions of things that she thinks will be different in 2023 compared to how they are now.
On Thursday we went to the St. Michaels House Templeogue where we learned about how it is operated and the services that are offered to all of the individuals who attend. The main goal of this group is that social care will turn needs into objectives so that these individuals will be able to learn to do more on their own. I had the opportunity to go around and talk to many different individuals that are part of this group and hear about their experiences and how much it has impacted their lives. One individual that I spoke to has been going for over 20 years and told me about the two different jobs that she has had and that she knows that from going there it has helped her improve so much!
On Friday we had our final site visit for the week. We attended Mental Health Ireland to learn all about the services that are offered to individuals in Ireland with mental health problems. This organization is based upon three complementary themes: mental health promotion, living life well, and organizational fitness. As we listened to the descriptions of the services offered, it made me realize that I am not very familiar with the specific services that the United States, and specifically Penn State, have to offer in terms of specific services for individuals with mental health problems. After listening to all of the information about what this program has to offer, and what the other sites that we visited this week had to offer as well, I am much more interested in learning about what specific programs and organizations are most common in the United States.
Over the weekend we had time to explore some other parts of Ireland! We discovered beautiful beaches, fun markets, and breathtaking views throughout our exploration. My favorite part of the weekend was hiking to the top of a mountain off the island of Howth and getting to see everything from the very top!! I am very excited for my next week in Dublin and what more of the site visits and exploring will have to offer!
What a great experience! Keep on learning to others.