Personal Narrative: My Experience At Capital District Psychiatric Center

Effective community service involves the ability to overcome stereotypes and judgments, as well as having a genuine passion for helping others while building the capacities and competencies of the clients we serve. An individual cannot truly engage in effective community service without understanding that these principles are necessary to fostering change in institutions and creating a positive healthy relationship within the environment.
Volunteering at the Capital District Psychiatric Center this semester has been an experience like no other. Not only have I been able to have an effective impact on the patients’ lives, but they have truly had an impact on mines. As a psychology major at the University, I walked into the psychiatric center with my own expectations and beliefs about what my experience would be like. Without knowledge and based on what you see in movies, many people assume that patients are constantly being restrained in restraining jackets, and are probably most of the time acting really out of order. To my surprise, that definitely was not the case at Capital District. It wasn’t until I attempted to understand and apply the
My experiences at Capital District Psychiatric center has taught me that everyone deserves a chance, and it would be selfish for anyone who commits themselves to this environment, to just give up. The most important thing that I have learned during my experience at Capital District Psychiatric Center was that knowledge is power. It is easy for anyone to make their assumptions about what really happens, but it isn’t until you learn the truth, that you can begin to have hope for a better future; if not for yourself, than for someone else. These biased expectations that a person may have, can actually affect adequate treatment for the patients, because of someone’s lack of hope for