Reflection on the Community Health Practicum Experience

I completed my practicum at the State University Health Research Center. The HRC was launched in March 2014 by the State School of Medicine. Its mission is to utilize the Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach to build the community capacity and leadership for health promotion and disease prevention across the diverse populations of the county.

The HRC is funded by a 5-year, $4.1 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of the Prevention Research Centers Program. The PRC is collaborating with various community organizations including the Community Health Center, Korean Community Services, Workers Alliance, and other community organizations.

The core research project of the HRC is Project RICE (Reaching Immigrants through Community Empowerment) and my practicum work was under this project. Project RICE is a five-year community-driven initiative that aims to promote diabetes prevention among immigrants using a community health worker (CHW) model.

My specific task for the practicum was to develop a mental health component for Project RICE. I carried out my assignments under the supervision of a faculty member; Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith is a Professor of Applied Psychology. Dr. Smith conducts research on the impact of immigration, community contexts, individual differences, and racial minority status on the mental health of individuals and families.

On August 17th, I shadowed Dr. Jones for the leadership shadowing experience. Dr. Jones is a Researcher for the PRC. I attended a morning meeting at the Community Health Center with the HRC staff where they discussed the training activities for an upcoming PRC conference. After the meeting, we moved to the PRC offices wh...

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...t and its problems.

Working in the PRC with the various community partners made me learn to think in a collaborative approach about how to achieve goals; first, unite the goals, and second, reach them together. This collaborative approach will maximize the benefits for all parties and draw on everyone`s resources. It is important to note that in order to collaborate with others, patience and time are needed.

In addition, empowering collaborators, through capacity building as in the case of the PRC, is a great concept. This will build on everyone`s strengths and will result in the increased collective power of the group.

In conclusion, I think my practicum was a rich learning experience. I was exposed to various community organizations and I have the opportunity to interact and communicate with people with varying backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.