Academic Skills of Essays and Report Writing Essay

Academic Skills of Essays and Report Writing - Essay Example This paper provides an in-depth discussion on the possibility of academic skills in report writing and essays increasing one’s employability and making them more competitive in the global market.Apart from being knowledgeable, many employers will always want people with critical thinking abilities. In fact, some employers will even prefer critical thinkers to knowledgeable employees. Due to the fact that writing reports and essays usually involve critical thinking one’s critical thinking abilities are always improved in the process. Â  Critical thinking can be defined as a reflective and purposeful analysis, which leads to conclusions that had not been reached before. Â  One reason as to why report and essay writing can be said to enhance critical thinking is the fact that through such processes students usually interact with different perspectives. This makes them able to view situations from various perspectives. Having numerous perspectives will mean that you are a ble to give more than one possible solutions to issues in the field.Some people might have some concept, but fail to present the concept in a manner that it will be easily understood. No employer will be willing to employ an employee who does not know how to present his or her information in a manner that is clear and easily understandable. This is the reason as to why report and essay writing can be of importance in increasing one’s employability. Â  When one is involved in the essay and report writing processes one will definitely be in a position to know how to present concepts in a manner that they can easily make sense. If one is not able to present concepts and ideas in a way that some meaning can be deduced from them, then the concepts and ideas are as good as non-existent. This is because it would not be of any help to the organization.

Five Years Strategic Plan Essay Example for Free

Five Years Strategic Plan Essay Executive summary You are employed by a Swiss subsidiary of a transnational company in the processed food business whose products are sold via retailers and direct to the food service industry in a number of countries. Recently in Swiss subsidiary has been allocated responsibility for the Asia-Pacific Region and you have been assigned the task of spearheading the firm’s push into china and adjacent countries. In the light of opportunities and constraints to be awaited on the chinese market, the evaluation of alternative entry options showed that our best opportunity was on health food products related to the dairy products actual massive trend. We also decided to adress chinese cultural sensitivity issues by entering in long term close relationship with customers instead of being too focused on quick deals and to adapt our networking strategy to chosen entry strategy. We also examined how we should select a strategic partner, should the Chinese government advise us to do so, and how we should be adapting our global marketing processes to the issues raised by national sovereignty in China. Finally, we decided to include as adjacent market either Thailand or Vietnam in order to benefit from the existing trade relationship between them and China, even if countertrade obligations are to be met. INTRODUCTION The overall purpose of this paper is to present our five years strategic plan which objective is to enable our firm to become a major player in the processed food market adressed to retailers and food service industry. Among our very wide range of products, we will examine alternative market entry options in the light of potential opportunity and constraints, then examine the question of the influence of cultural sensitivity on negociations and on introduction of our product to chineses market. The next step of our analysis will be to examine the impact of adhesion of China to WTO on market environment and the consequences of cultural sensitivity to network and relationships. Our next field of investigation will be to examine the threat represented by a potential obligation to enter a strategic alliance with a local player and by our global company culture regarding national sovereignty issues. And we will finally include perspective of developping an adjacent market with eventually compulsory countertrade involved. Section 1 Alternative chinese market entry option for breakfast cereals and cereal bars in the light of potential opportunities and constraints. The recent huge success of dairy products in China, although a majority of the population is lactose intolerant and milk was never part of the traditional chinese food is showing that chinese market has become increasingly open to adopting foreign fooding habits. This is even reinforced by the success encoutered by Mc Donald’s and Starbucks. But one very interesting element of dairy products success is that its main reason and marketing idea is to value its good impact on health. This is what makes us think that the best way to introduce our firm’s product range is to be highly positionned on health benefits to be awaited from consuming our products, their total safety through high level controls. In terms of politics, China is a stable country, which has invested huge efforts into modernisation of its institutions and legal framework in order to enter the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001. Contract enforcement and business matters involving foreigners are to be brought before high courts specifically trained. Intellectual property protection is still a broad problem through counterfaiting and brands like Starbucks are now facing parasite competitors who sell similar products to much lower prices. Chinese market is a huge opportunity but the country still lacks infrastructure and geographic entry has to be limited to main big cities, with a view of extending to the ever increasing number of middle sized cities growing all around the country. The idea of staying in urban areas is linked to two factors: our products are distributed through retailers networks, and food service industry which can only be found in big cities in China at the moment. As we work with retailers and food service industry, indirect market entry strategy through intermediary could prove worthy, at least at the beginning, as long as our products are not known. We could benefit from the intermediary’s network and his expertise on selling foreign products to chinese market. However, using and intermediary is not the prefered solution as it would increase our costs, and as chinese market is very price sensitive due to copycats, keeping good price/value ratio is a key strategic point. With direct market entry methods, we would have more control on market reactions and be able to lower our export costs. Alternative solutions to enter market range from specialised trade fairs (on dairy products, health products, breakfast and snacking products, etc) to a campain of trial gifts to be organised with either yoghurt or milk distributors, or by giving free samples in school, university and working areas cafeterias. We could also reach agreements with already installed foreign companies who would be interested in distributing our products on their shelves. Considering our objective of becoming a major player on processed food within the next 5 years, it would probably be worth it to make a large upfront investment to develop internal expertise in chinese market, in order to maintain our own relationships in the target market, which could be later used in order to introduce other product range on the same market. Therefore, and in the context of a long term investment, prefered market entry would be on health safe products targeting families and young working singles. SWOT Analysis Opportunities: Economic climate : a double digit economic development favourable to high quality trendy foreign food processed products with an attraction to health promising food. Demographic changes turning a rural population into city office working people whose life standards have increased dramatically over the last few years. Market opening through China’s entering WTO system and making legal and administrative environment more import friendly Threats: Competitive activity: other global firms are already on the market and Mc Donald’s, Vuitton and Starbucks experience of the market show that any brand valuation generates its army of copycat making it difficult to keep up with very low prices in a very price sensitive market. Culture: Reluctance to adopt new foreign fooding habits in a very traditional culture Pricing: chinese market is very sensitive to pricing and client segment will have to be chosen carefully and matched to pricing range. Strength: Health food image connected to dairy products Processed food in a booming ever increasing market Product adaptability: Cereals can be flavoured according to Chinese market tastes Networking: Company’s excellent ethic reputation Large target: Product attractive to kids and adult alike Weaknesses Not enough differentiation in products Need high advertising budget to gain trendy attracting image Section 2 How culture might impact on (i) negotiating in china and (ii) introducing your firm’s product into china. The usual tip when you prepare a business trip to China is to carry business cards, bring an interpreter, wear a conservative suit. These advice are easy to follow and have proven usefull, but they are too superficial to get you into the kind of association with chinese you need to be able to negociate agreements and introducing on a long term perspective the firm’s products in China. Graham and Lam (2003) have described the roots of chinese culture which have bound chinese people for 5,000 years and show through chinese business negociation: agrarism which superseedes business(survival depends on group cooperation and harmony, loyalty and obdience to familly hierarchy), confucianist morality (relations of ruler and ruled between husband and wife, parents and children, older and younger, and of equal between friends), being more concerned by means than by end in negociations, the fact that chinese tend to see easily the big picture, and finally that chinese people are very cynical about rule of law and rules in general, only trusting their families and their bank account. The elements that are important in chinese negociation are: have personal connections (friends, relatives and close associates), use an intermediary in order to avoid suspicion and distrust, be formal in order to show social status, pay attention to interpersonal harmony (smile, be nice and friendly), see the big picture and leave the detail to a later stage, be patient in order to get concessions on prices, never embarrass or provoque a lost of composure to a chinese (equivalent to loosing face), value endurant work more than talent. As a result of the above, introducing our products into China will probably require either a very long time necessary to build a trusted network, or the use of an intermediary. It is of first importance to try to establish close contact with significant actors of the retail and food service industry. The pricing of the products will probably also be of concern, as, if too low, it might not have the value effect, but, too high, it might repell consumers more tempted by a local copycat.    Impact of recent access of China to the WTO on other environmental variables which can be encountered when doing business in China and how it might benefit to our ability to establish worthwhile business in China. When China joined WTO in 2001, it made a transition from a centrally planned economy to a market driven economy. The institutional framework for foreign trade was inexistent, the information transparency culture still to be invented, existing judicial and administrative system inadapted. A tremendous amount of work was requested before China could integrate WTO system. China agreed with its major trading partners to open chinese market within 3 to 4 years to foreign companies in various sectors, including telecommunications, distribution and wholesaling, financial services, and banking and insurance. The change in laws included codifying existing administrative practices into written laws and regulations, therefore increasing transparency and predictability, covering around 200. Foreign trade law had to be modifyed. Regulations on international trade of goods and rules of origins were created. Regulations on transnational mergers and acquisitions and franchising were developped according to their new objectives. Anti-dumping, subsidy, countervailing and safeguard measures were prepared, and altogether, the capacity of the Government to provide legal information to the public was strengthened. Under the China’s central planning system, foreign trade was administered with both tariff and nontariff controls, including quantitative controls which WTO rules require to eliminate. To ensure that the WTO’s nondiscrimination principle is met in the judicial process, China issued an order that took effect on 1 March 2002 to elevate the jurisdiction over commercial cases involving foreigners from the primary courts to the higher level of courts, the question of training the judges to the appropriate regulation still being an issue at the moment. (Mitchell:2004). Altogether, when entering WTO system China had the tools to a market economy. These modifications created a foreign investment friendly framework, but the cultural reluctance to rules and the natural reliance to human bonds are still to be watched when doing business in China (Usunier Lee:2005). It had a great impact on having major competitors entering the chinese market with success and provides market with the stability and rules needed to establish worthwhile invesment. Section 3 Significance of the focus in China on relationship and network on our chosen entry strategy. As, in China, all business is subject to relationship and network, and as we have chosen to invest into a direct market entry strategy, we will have to rely on building our network with key players. Relationship marketing involves creating, maintaining and enhancing strong relationships with customers and other stakeholders. This type of marketing is moving away from focusing on individual transactions and moving towards to focusing on on building value-laden relationships and marketing networks. This type of marketing is long term oriented, very demanding as it is aimed at delivering long term value and satisfaction to customer (Kotler al:2005) It also involves building relationships at different levels: economics, social, technical and legal resulting in high consumer loyalty. Kotler (2005:476), distinguishes five different relationships that can be formed with customers: basic (sale is made but no follow up on satisfaction) Reactive (salesman encourages customer to come back if any question arises) Accountable (salesperson contacts customer shortly after the sale to check that product meets expectations) Proactive (salesperson or company person phones customer from time to time to suggest other products) Partnership (company works with its customers to discover ways to deliver better value) Considering that we intend to sell our product to a large number of customers with medium profit margin, the adapted relationship level would be â€Å"accountable†. Therefore, salesperson would phone retailer or food service company shortly after the sale to check if product meets expectations. Of course, identifying key customers and being more proactive with them would also enhance efficiency of such relationship marketing. Company would probably take advantage to using other marketing tools as giving special treatment and reward to good customers, or inviting them to special events. Chosen strategy network map and discussion on focal and subsidiary relationship involved. First step is to identify key player in retail networking and food service industry, like main wholesalers to be met at trade fair, mass retailers like supermarkets, trendsetters to be identified on TV or sports like football. Next step is to initiate contact with them with a focus on long term relationship and not on result. These relationship, due to their weight on market and the advantage that can be gained from being referenced with them have to be favoured at a first stage. Then, once this network is established, and in order to continue expansion, identify other distribution channels than wholesalers or mass retailers and initiate subsidiary relationship with them, as smaller restaurants, or hotels. Section 4 Adressing the issues related to rumour that Chinese government might request that we enter into a strategic alliance with a Chinese owned firm: selecting and managing strategic alliance partners in china. As in many asian country there is a rumour that we may have to enter a strategic alliance with a chinese partner in order to be allowed to market processed food in China. As Charles Revson, founder of Revlon cosmetics said once â€Å" I don’t meet competition, I crush it† and this should be remembered when entering a strategic partnership with a chinese partner. In fact, as cultural analysis hereabove showed, chinese only trust their family and their bank account, so, in order to enter a sound alliance, a few criterias must be met. Criterias for selecting strategic partner in China should be: good reputation of loyalty and integrity on the market, but also of product quality for reputation purposes natural feeling and common values, understanding of what our goals are and willingness to collaborate extensive network on our targeted customers, on the areas where we have the greatest growth or the most profitable areas proven synergy opportunity between our two companies instead of competition long term relationship seems possible through mutual cooperation (strategic alliance must be a win-win situation in order to be sustainable on the long term) Impact of the issues of national sovereignty in China on application of our standard marketing approaches in order to enhance global image and additional profits through economy of scale. China is very sensitive on the issue raised by separatist claims by   Taiwanese nationalists, Tibet and Xinjiang separatists. Our standard marketing approaches, designed to enhance global image and enable additional profits through economy of scale, mustn’t be a threat to our main objective which is to become a major player in dairy products in China. Therefore, our standard marketing approaches should be amended in order to avoid any differenciation between the average product sold within China and the ones sold in these three areas. The main market should be priviledged against the particularism of the three separatists areas. No marketing argument that our product would be specifically adressed to the separatists areas should be set forth and it should under no circumstances become a selling argument or even be mentioned, because it would probably cause us to loose main market. Section 5 Criteria to select an adjacent market between Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam The first criteria to take into account is capacity to use both markets to enhance presence on each other. Creating synergies in a market entry phase might be vital and the level of trade relationship already existing between China and that country is the right measurment. The second one is to choose a market which might be governed by the same cultural trends in order to be able to adopt the same marketing approach to both. A third criteria, maybe more operational, is distance and accessibility (custom tariffs, roads, etc) between both territories. This might enable to base product in one country and ship to the other from thereof. Fourth criteria might be existing trade relations with Switzerland which might make it easier for us to start networking, as the swiss image would already be a commercial advantage. Myanmar being subject to economic sanction from China due to compulsory labor is not a valid adjacent market, though it has entered the asian liberalisation trend and was even acknowledged by the UN Conference on Trade and Development in 2001 as a member that performed ‘well to better’ in the trade liberalisation process under the WTO’s principles It also does not have the right development stage to be interesting and human rights issues might be damaging our image. It has very little commercial bonds with Switzerland. Thailand had rather recent diplomatic relations with China (dating 1975) but shows since then a real will to become a partner of choice of China. Both nations have common roots and share common ancestors. The commercial agreement between the two countries (Sino Thai Free Trade Agreement) only covers fruits and vegetables at the moment but could possibly be extended. Thailand is also member of the WTO. Its main advantage is to already have strong network trade connections with Switzerland (on machinery, watches, etc), where we are based, which could be a decisive advantage for us in terms of network. Taiwan is actually administrated by China which makes it a priviledged area to invest in. It also has a long tradition of trade with China which makes it a good candidate due to the need for trade network to enhance each others, and as a little dragon, it also has the wealth to be interesting, but choosing it would probably not be the best in terms of advantage on chinese market as it does not really add anything different to being only present in China. Also it does not have any specific links with Swiss market. Vietnam has a common frontier with China and is following more or less the same path towards becoming a market economy and entered WTO in january 2007. Though it does not have the same laws, it has a similar development trend, close traditions and the close commercial links with China in all sectors that makes it a suitable adjacent market. It is also a so called little dragon, a booming economy that could be a very profitable market. The trading network between Vietnam and Switzerland is not too developped though Switzerland is present in Vietnam with a swiss embassy in Hanoi. Finally, in order to develop a global brand image in asia, it might be a good choice to choose between Thailand and Vietnam. How to turn the risk of being obliged to countertrade into a profitable trade More than 80 countries nowadays use or require countertrade exchanges. A concensus of experts opinions (Okaroafo, 1989) has put the percentage of the value of world trade volumes related to countertrade at between 20 to 25%. Counter trade usually occurs when countries lack sufficient hard currency. There are five main variants of countertrade which could be of different value to our firm. Entering a barter (exchange of goods or services directly for other goods or services without the use of money as means of purchase or payment) could eventually be interesting if we manage to find good quality bulk products that could be integrated in our products, like fruits or packaging. Using the switch trading practice (in which the country would exchange allowing our importations against an obligation to make a purchase on the domestic market) could also be of interest to us for the same reasons. A buyback (buying machinery necessary to our production in exchange for products) agreement is not a really interesting deal for us as it involves very heavy transportation. Finally, entering an offset agreement (offsetting a hard-currency purchase of an unspecified product) would be a very dangerous operation as we would have to cover currency exchange variations. Proactive strategy to trade profitably with the selected country In order to be ready when the ban on import occurs, we will implement a proactive strategy by identifying products that could be of use in our production process. Then we will start making contacts with producers of these products and gain market knowledge of prices and quality available, identify suitable suppliers that meet our quality requirements and are able to supply us with the adequate quantities. Therefore, when we will be forced to countertrade, we will already have our network in place. Conclusion: As stated in this document, our five year strategic plan on entering Chinese market involves: entering market with health food linked to dairy products mass trendiness with direct marketing tools Always keep in mind the cultural sensitivity of China in order to use it as a competitive advantage instead of a falling trap. Utilise the huge work done by China to be able to keep up with WTO entering necessary standards in terms of transparency and legal framework to our profit in developping our business Invest in developping extended network and long term relationship marketing in order to open the route to introducing our other products on the market later If needed, choose carefully strategic partners Amend global marketing policy in order to avoid sovereignty issues Choose between Thailand and Vietnam as adjacent market, even if countertrade is involved. Reference Table SunfaithChina Ltd,September 2006,†Market Analysis report on China Yoghourt industry†, http://www.mindbranch.com/listing/product/R521-158.html Chen, C, February 2003, â€Å"Got Milk?†, Wall Street Journal http://www.mindfully.org/Food/2003/China-Dairy-Drinks28feb03.htm John L. Graham and N. Mark Lam, 13 october 2003, â€Å"Negotiating in China†, Havard Business School, Excerpted with permission from The Chinese Negotiation, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 81, No. 10, October 2003 Mitchell, A â€Å"Implementing WTO rules: The Importance of Law Reform, Remarks of Arthur M. Mitchell, General Counsel Asian Development Bank, February 2004, apeC Workshop on Best Practices in WTO Capacity Building, http://www.adb.org/Documents/Speeches/2004/sp2004050.asp Vertariu, P., (1992), Trends and Developments in International Countertrade, Business America, (November 2), 2-6. Okaroafo, S., (1989) Determinants of LDC Mandated Countertrade, International Management Review, (Winter), 1624 â€Å"Interview: Thailand aims to further enhance Thailand-China strategic partnership† People’s Daily, Beijing, 28 June 2005, http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=2180 Swiss Federal State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, 2005, â€Å"Report on Swiss Economic Development Cooperation with Vietnam† Kotler,P, and al: (2005), â€Å"Principles of Marketing†, Pearson Education Ltd Usunier, J-C and Lee, J (2005) â€Å"Marketing across cultures†, Pearson Education Ltd Buksbaum, L (1999), â€Å"Choosing strategic partner that really partner†, press release on Inc.com, (http://www.inc.com/articles/1999/11/19511.html)

Importance of Communication in Social Work | Essay

Importance of Communication in Social Work | Essay People continually communicate with each other in one form or another whether it be through spoken or written language. Communication is fundamental to social work enabling interactions with service users, carers, communities, professionals and organisations. The following assignment discusses how social workers communicate with a variety of individuals, how this can positively or negatively affects individuals and legislation which affects communication. The assignment will also look at barriers which affect communication and how this can affect individuals, the role self-awareness has ensuring social workers have an understanding of themselves and the effects of personal and professional values on communication. Finally the assignment will look at skills required for effective communication and ways in which these enable empowerment of individuals. Barker (2003) defines communication as ‘the verbal and nonverbal exchange of information, including all ways in which knowledge is transmitted and received.’ (Cited in Trevithick 2005: 116). Everyone communicates something, social workers need to understand how to and how people communicate enabling relationships, gaining understanding of personal circumstances and experiences through carrying out assessments, writing reports, access resources to address need e.g. multi-agency collaboration. If individuals experience a negative communication the individual may become suspicions, doubt and mistrust the social worker leading to a loss of belief in the possibility of change, however positive experiences can result in individual’s being left with a feeling of hope. (Trevithick 2005). When communicating social workers require knowledge of legislation regarding the transfer of information, the Data Protection Act (1988) controls how individual’s personal information is used by organisations and government, who are required to follow a set of ‘data protection principles’ including ‘information used fairly and lawfully’ (www.gov.uk). The Wales Accord on the Sharing of Personal Information (WASPI) framework provides protocols and agreements enabling effective collaborative working throughout organisations, enabling barriers to be overcome for ‘sharing information legally, safely and effectively’, while still ensuring the safeguarding individuals. (wales.gov.uk) some individuals experience barriers which disenable communication, individuals with learning disabilities or specific communication issues including hearing loss or visual impairment experience social issues such as being ignored, treated as stupid, shouted at or people losing patients if they require more time, resulting in individuals being excluded from communication interactions leaving people isolated from society (Cree and Myers 2010). Thompson (2007) suggests age as a barrier stating Children and young people can be seen as unable to ‘legitimately participate in decision making’ being on the ‘periphery of what are seen as adult matters’, some older individuals state they feel the same as becoming ‘elderly’ they are no longer adults having a valid point. An individual’s language is not just a means of communication it is part of their culture and identity, being able to use a preferred language can impact on professional relationships. Some people feel languages such as English are more important than others, however for Individuals with Welsh as their first language are unable to express need clearly in English due to the issue being discussed or lack of confidence, resulting in a need to swap from English to Welsh, being unable to may leave individuals feeling disempowered and oppressed as needs are not identified. Welsh Language Act became law in 1993 ensuring Welsh became equal to English enabling individuals to access services in Welsh (Davies 2011). This also impact individuals from ethnic minorities whose first language is not English. To enable effective communication social workers need to become aware of how they interact and communicate with individuals. Burnard (1992) defines self-awareness as ‘the process of getting to know your feelings, attitudes and values [and] learning about the effect you have on others’ (Cited in Thompson 2002: p3). Thompson (2002) suggests self-awareness is gained by understanding own strengths and weaknesses in different situations, recognising any prejudice and accept diversities within individuals enabling confidence in own practice. If self-awareness is not acknowledged there is a risk of creating barriers between themselves and individuals by concentrating on their issues not the issues presented by the individual e.g. traveller communities may require a female social worker to request permission from a senior male to work within their community, the social work may not agree with this but they need to understand the cultural requirements to enable engagement. Thompson (2009) suggests personal values develop from ‘upbringing, experiences and learning’, impacting attitudes, practice and ability to empower individuals. These values impact us with or without our knowledge and influence every decision social workers makes. Warren (2007) suggests social workers need awareness of own value base for two reason, firstly for awareness of ‘manipulation and control’ which may disenable social workers to fully empower service users. Secondly to enable social workers to identify conflicts which may arise between their and the service users values, such as social workers valuing a good work ethic and the service user not working claiming benefits. Service users and carers also have individual values which impact on how they engage with the social worker. Professional values are core values within codes of practice and organisations grounded in anti-oppressive practice. The care council for Wales has a set of 6 core values which impact the practice of social workers and employers including ‘strive to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of service users and carers’, social workers need to use good verbal skills such as interviewing skills to enable this (Care Council for Wales 2011) . Biestek (1961) suggests seven traditional social work values which can be reflected in how social workers communicate with individuals. Four of the suggested values link directly to social work engagement with individuals to ensure ensuring a ‘non-judgmental attitude’ which does not including professional judgements which are made by social workers, while showing the individual ‘respect’ and ‘acceptance’ of individual’s strengths and weaknesses as an individual. Social workers need to react appropriately in a sensitive and supportive way understanding the uniqueness of individual and their feelings about situations, acknowledging individuals have knowledge and experience of need, if social workers fail to acknowledge this they are at risk of treating everyone the same and not meeting the individual need. Two values relate to individuals ensuring ‘Client self-determination’ and ‘Purposeful expression of feelings’ by encouraging individuals to discuss and express their feelings openly, enabling partnership working and individuals making decisions about their lives. The final value ‘Confidentiality’ enables the individual to discuss sensitive and personal issues in a confidential environment recognising confidentiality to the organisation not the individual, which social workers need to make service user and carer aware of in the initial meeting as this may impact on relationships making individuals feel deceived if they are no t informed. (Cited in Thompson 2009: 127) Society also portrays values which are reflected in political policy and implemented in legislation, such as how individuals act within society, if individuals do not comply with societies norms they could be arrested, taken to court and issued an ASBO, however there are some values held by certain sections of society which cause the oppression of certain members of society such as people who claim benefits seen as work shy. (Warren 2007) Thompson (2007) states social workers need to understand communication can oppress individuals, to ensure communication is anti-oppressive and empowering social workers need to ensure they use appropriate communication skills to enable individuals to give their views through involvement in planning, developing and evaluating services resulting in a positive impact on individuals who engage and highlight any barriers which include issues of discrimination and oppression. Communication skills required depend on the situation and individual e.g. using basic language for a child or adults with learning disabilities would differ to giving evidence in court where more professional language is required (Trevithick 2005). Social workers need an awareness of words including gestures, meanings and understanding which may accompany them. The words a social worker uses can create relationships with individuals, but if the wrong words are chosen it can also have a negative impact on the individua l, such as using large complex words with individuals could cause feelings of inadequacy and reduce engagement. Good communication involves the use of tone, timing, body language and choice of words which convey information and meaning to what needs to be communicated. Without clarity of purpose and language to describe what is being done social workers are not able to see clearly what individuals’ needs are and if interventions are working. Thompson (2002) states verbal communication can be separated in to two different areas which are what is said and what is heard. Social workers need to be aware of the speed a conversation is conducted, if they speak to fast it can appear they are feeling angry or anxious which the individual may reflect, it can also be hard to follow especially if the person has a hearing impairment or they are not speaking their first language. However if the social worker speaks to slowly it can portray the social worker is unmotivated, very cautious o r defensive. Hanley (2009) states having good communication skills is central to empowering and anti-oppressive practice. Social workers need to ask a wide range of questions as part of interviews which have a wide range of functions including stimulating self-reflection and returning individuals to their knowledge base where self-determination and empowerment can be located. Open questions enable service users to express their thoughts and feelings in their own words, in their own time, this type of questioning forms a major part of an initial interview, however some individuals feel intimidated by this type of questions and might guess the answers. Closed questions are usually answered by yes, no or short answers such as name or age, this sort of question is good for fact finding, where time is limited and keeping the individual focussed. However this type of questioning can lead the service user away from what they perceive as the main issues leading to frustration (Trevithick 2005). Thompson (2002) states empowering interviews are built on strengths to overcome weaknesses or turn weaknesses into str engths. Appropriate interviewing can make an important contribution to empowerment however inappropriate interviewing can cause great harm. Good listening skills are required in a variety of situations such as carrying out assessments, requiring the social worker not only listen to what someone says but how it is said, when they say it and if certain themes occur. Social workers need to create an environment free from distractions to enable the social worker to listen appropriately. Trevithick (2005) states social workers need to be able to listen to what is not being said which is referred to as a ‘third ear’, being aware of the wider social and cultural context of the individual. By adopting a non-selective approach to listening the intention is to minimise the social workers bias and stereotypical assumptions and follows the lead of the individual to create an opportunity for change. Non-verbal communication accounts for two thirds of meaningful communication, there can be miscommunication between messages sent and what has been received. Egan (1982) suggests the mnemonic ‘SOLER (Straight position, Open body, Leaning, Eye contact, Relaxed) as a model for non-verbal communication through body language (cited in Hanley 2009:177). The body language of a social worker in relation to what is being said can be confusing if they do not convey the same message e.g. sitting slumped in a chair, avoiding eye contact while carrying out and assessment of need can be perceived as disinterest (Hanley 2009). Trevithick (2005) suggests observational skills are important in understanding non-verbal interactions, enabling social workers to gain understanding of a situation. Observation skills can be used as a general or specific part of an intervention to gain an understanding of the environment as well as the individual. Koprowska (2005) states by using silence this can give people the opportunity to speak, but the social worker needs to appear to show interest in the individual to encourage them to fill the silence. Lishman (1994) states symbolic communication is important to practice, being ‘punctual, reliability and attention to detail can show the social workers ‘care, concern and competence’ which can make the individual feel they are important. (cited in Trevithick 2005) The way a social worker dresses can also reflect something about the social worker and have a lot of influence on individuals depending on their age, culture and social standing. Returning phone calls can communicate a lot and can start or stop creating a working relationship. Fanon (1967) states ‘Language is a central aspect of discourse through which power is reproduced and communicated’ (cited in Thompson 2007:5). Social workers have power through decision making and statutory powers, through using effective communication skills, knowledge of value bases and legislation social workers empower individuals to gain equivalent power where appropriate. Social workers collaboratively work with individuals through sharing information, opinions and asking questions based on information and ideas of the individuals to ensure engagement is positive ensuring goals set are specific and achievable, empowering individuals to make positive changes within their lives. References Adams, R., Payne, M., Dominelli, L., (eds) (2009) Social Work themes, issues and critical debates, third edition. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan Care Council for Wales (2011) Code of Practice for Social Care workers and Employers of Social Care Workers. Cardiff. Care Council for Wales. Cree, V. and Myers, S. (2008) Social Work: making a difference. Bristol: Policy Press Gov.uk, Data Protection. Available from www.gov.uk [accessed on 01/02/15] Koprowska, J. (2005) Communication and Interpersonal skills in Social Work. Exeter: Learning matters Ltd. Thompson, N. (2002) People Skills. Basingstoke: Palgrave Thompson, N. (2007) Power and Empowerment. Dorset: Russell House Publishing Ltd. Thompson, N. (2009) Understanding Social Work, third edition. Hampshire: Palgrave macmillan Trevithick, P. (2005) social work skills: a practice handbook. United Kingdom: Open University Press Welsh Government, Wales Accord on the Sharing of Personal Information (WASPI). Available from wales.gov.uk [accessed on 13/02/15] Warren, J. (2007) Service User and Carer Participation in Social Work. United Kingdom: Learning Matters Ltd Williams, C. (eds) (2011) Social Policy for Social Welfare Practice in a Devolved Wales. United Kingdom: British Association of Social Workers

What Has Changed about Epilepsy Essay -- Disorders Neurology Papers

"Epilepsy is a brain disorder involving recurrent seizures. You can relax. It's not the end of the world." This was my neurologist's introduction to my diagnosis as an epileptic with partial petit mal seizures including a curious, not to mention exciting, history of 2 grand mal seizures. As a 10-year-old girl, I remember feeling confused and greatly changed by these words that I had yet to understand the meaning of. As I grew to learn more about my condition, I realized that there are people around the globe, ranging in age, race, social and economic background that have experienced this same confusion. Collectively, we have gathered an incomplete, but valuable and working concept of epilepsy. Although it is one of the earliest recorded diseases, it attracts the attention of doctors, scientists, and researches everywhere, still in search of a clear understanding of the causes of particular seizures. Different nations contribute to our ever-expanding understanding of its history, epidemiology, prognosis and mortality, along with clinical manifestations and differential diagnosis. Tracing modern diagnosis and therapies back to biblical times allows us to compare another very important aspect of epilepsy: very similar modern and ancient perspectives on this disorder. Our language gives clues as to the longevity of epilepsy: the term epilepsy derives from the Greek word "epilambien" which means "to take hold of" or "to seize." (1). Epilepsy is a disease with one of the longest recorded histories and an impact spanning the globe, allowing healers and physicians from a wide range of countries and time periods to study epilepsy. Worldwide studies have estimated the mean prevalence of active epilepsy, (i.e. continuing seizur... ...ocusing on common folk lore concerning epilepsy and several descriptive stories illustrating epilepsies role in the past, and all over the country. http://www.epilepsiemuseum.de/english/diagnostik.html<br> 7) Ketogentic Diet , a description and exploration of one very common and world wild treatment for epilepsy, being used less often today with the introduction of drugs. http://www.epilepsy.org.nz/PDFs/19Ketogentic%20Diet.pdf%20<br> 8) Surgical Treatments for Epilepsy , a personal questionnaire helping one who is epileptic to decide if surgery is right for them; packed with valuable and interesting information. http://www.iupui.edu/~epilepsy/surgery.html%20<br> 9) Seizure-Related Injuries in Epileptics , an editorial by Somsak Tiamkao looking at injuries related to epilepsy. http://www.internmedjthai.com/vol17n3/Seizure_Somsak.pdf%20<br>

Family and Son Essay

Success can be a rather abstract term and it can mean very different things to different people. Trying to define what success is is not easy. To most people, success means achieving a goal. In order to achieve a goal, a person usually has to work hard and believe in himself. Being successful at what you do can also be very motivating. People who are successful in one project, tend to be more successful in other projects. This is because they get the feeling that their hard work pays off and that a goal is worth their time and effort. Success usually goes hand in hand with appreciation. If someone we know succeeds at what he or she does, we will most certainly congratulate them. This will make them feel good and motivate them even further. To some people, success means being the best at what they do. Another truth about success is that it can create envy. If you are good at what you do, others will want to be good at the same thing, and if they are not as good as you, they will envy you. This means that success can create a bitter taste in your mouth, because instead of being happy about your achievements, people are mean to you. In this case it is important not to forget that you have done well and that there are many other people who appreciate what you have done. Just think about it this way: if people envy you, you have done something right. And if you are lucky, the envious people will see your success as a means of motivation for achieving their own goals. Success means more to some people than to others. Some want to be successful by all means, others are satisfied by simply trying and giving their best, whether they succeed or not. The secret of success! A young man asked Socrates, an ancient Greek philosopher, the secret of Success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward the river. When the water got up to their necks, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him under water until he started turning blue. The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get up. The first thing he did was to gasp and take a deep breath. Socrates asked, â€Å"What did you want the most when you were under the water?† The man replied â€Å"Air†. Socrates said: â€Å"That’s the most secret to success. When you want success as badly as you want air, you will get it. There is no other secret†. Reflection: A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishments. Just like a small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire cannot produce great results†¦ Hard Work Bring’s Success. There once lived a rich businessman who had a lazy and fun loving son. The businessman wanted his son to be hard-working and responsible. He wanted him to realize the value of labour. One day he summoned his son and said: â€Å"Today, I want you to go out and earn something, failing which you won’t have your meals tonight.† The boy was callous and not used to any kind of work. This demand by his father scared him and he went crying straight to his mother. Her heart melted at the sight of tears in her son’s eyes. She grew restless. In a bid to help him she gave him a gold coin. In the evening when the father asked his son what he had earned, the son promptly presented him the gold coin. The father then asked him to throw it into a well. The son did as he was told. The father was a man of wisdom and experience and guessed that the source of the gold coin was the boy’s mother. The next day he sent his wife to her parent’s town and asked his son to go and earn something with the threat of being denied the night meals if he failed. This time he went crying to his sister who sympathized with him and gave him a rupee coin out of her own savings. When his father asked him what he had earned the boy tossed the rupee coin at him. The father again asked him to throw it in a well. The son did it quite readily. Again the father’s wisdom told him that the rupee coin was not earned by his son. He then sent his daughter to her in-laws’ house. He again asked his son to go out and earn with the threat that he shall not have anything for dinner that night. This time since there was no one to help him out; the son was forced to go to the market in search of work. One of the shopkeepers there told him that he would pay him two rupees if he carried his trunk to his house. The rich man’s son could not refuse and was drenched in sweat by the time he finished the job. His feet were trembling and his neck and back were aching. There were rashes on his back. As he returned home and produced the two rupee note before his father and was asked to throw it into the well, the horrified son almost cried out. He could not imagine throwing his hard-earned money like this. He said amid sobbing: â€Å"Father! My entire body is aching. My back has rashes and you are asking me to throw the money into the well.† At this the businessman smiled. He told him that one feels the pain only when the fruits of hard labour are wasted. On earlier two occasions he was helped by his mother and sister and therefore had no pain in throwing the coins into the well. The son had now realized the value of hard work. He vowed never to be lazy and safe keep the father’s wealth. The father handed over the keys of his shop to the son and promised to guide him through the rest of the life.

Mother Teresa

BLESSED MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA Mother Teresa of Calcutta was an Albanian-born Indian Roman Catholic nun and founder of the Missionaries of Charity. She was a very devout catholic who dedicated her life to caring for well-being of others and helping those in need of love and affection. Her beliefs and values of life reflected her religious identity and purpose, which developed and contributed to her life and work. Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, in Macedonia, on the 26th of August, 1910.From her childhood, Agnes attended prayers and received first communion at the age of five. Her father died when she was just eight years old leaving the family in financial straits. Her mother raised her children firmly as Roman Catholics and this greatly influenced Agnes' character and vocation. Her religious formation was further assisted by the parish of the Sacred Heart in which she was much involved. Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service i n Bengal.By the age of 12, she was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life. She left home at the age of 18 and joined the sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. She arrived in India and began her novitiate in Darjeeling in 1929, where she taught at the St. Mary’s school. She took her first religious vows as a nun on 24th May 1931. She chose to be named after Therese de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries and received the name Sister Mary Teresa.She stood her final profession of vows on 14th May 1937, while serving as a teacher at the Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta. Mother Teresa was deeply disturbed by the suffering and poverty surrounding her in Calcutta. On 10th September 1946, she experienced what she later described as â€Å"the call within the call†. She heard God’s voice- the message was â€Å"to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. † It was an order and had to be obeyed. â€Å"To fail would have been to break the faith. †She left the Loreto community and devoted herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948 wearing the traditional white cotton sari with a blue border. After receiving basic medical training in Patna , she ventured out into the slums. Although she had no funds and no income, she depended on Divine Providence and started the first open-air school for slum children in Calcutta, helping them and teaching them about hygiene. Soon she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving.In early 1949 she was joined by a group of women and laid the foundations to create a new religious community helping the â€Å"poorest of the poor. † On 7th October 1950, Mother Teresa started the Missionaries of Charity. Its mission was to care for â€Å"the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those peo ple who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society†. It began as a small order with 13 members in Calcutta and by 1997 it had grown to more than 4000 sisters. In 1952 Mother Teresa opened a home for the dying in Calcutta.She converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Home of the Pure Heart. Those brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith. â€Å"A beautiful death is for people who live like animals to die like angels-loved and wanted. † The Missionaries of charity established a home and clinics for those suffering from Hansen’s disease, commonly known as leprosy, providing medication, bandages and food. Later in 1955 they opened a children’s home of the Immaculate Heart, as a haven for orphans and homeless youth.The order spread through India in the 1960’s and soon expanded through the globe. The Missionaries of Charity Brothers was found ed in 1963 and contemplative branch of the sisters followed in 1976. In 1981 Mother Teresa also began the Corpus Christi movement for priests and in 1984 founded with Fr. Joseph Langford the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. By 2007 the Missionaries of Charity numbered approximately 450 brothers and 5000 sisters worldwide, operating 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries.Her work has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John Paul xx111 Peace Prize, 1971, the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding, 1972. After Mother Teresa’s death in 1997, the Holy See began the process of beatification, the third step towards canonization. This process requires the documentation of a miracle performed from the intercession of Mother Teresa.In 2002, the Vatican recognised as a miracle the healing of a tumour in the abdomen of an Indian woman, Monica Besra, aft er the application of a locket containing Mother Teresa’s picture. The beatification of Mother Teresa took place on 19th October 2003, bestowing on her the title â€Å"Blessed†. A second miracle is required for her to process to canonization. Everywhere in the world, Mother Teresa's work has been seen and awarded & she was given many awards for her selfless & loving acts. Pope John XXIII awarded Mother Teresa the Peace Prize in the year of 1971.Also, she was awarded the Nehru Prize because of her promotion of international peace and understanding in the year of 1972. Sadly, Mother Teresa had died on September 5, 1997 in her convent in India when she was at the age of 87. All in all, Mother Teresa was a selfless, living saint that had changed the lives of millions of people throughout the world. She had affected the lives of the poor, Catholics, & people like herself, that wanted to help others. She had done many great things from becoming a nun to creating one of the most effective orders in Catholic history. Mother Teresa Agnes Goanna Bauxite was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia. Her parents' names were Nikolas and Droned Boo]axis, and she was the youngest of three children. Agnes was interested in helping people at a very young age. She became a member of a youth group in her parish called Stolidity. While she was a member of this youth group, she became interested in missionaries.She Joined a community known for their missionary work in India named the Sisters f Loretta at the age of 17. This is where she took her vows, and she chose the name Teresa after Saint There's of Leslies. Soon after, Sister Teresa began teaching at SST. Marry High School in Calcutta. In 1944 she became the principle of the high school. Sister Teresa became very ill and was not able to teach anymore, she was sent to Adrenaline for rest and recuperation. On the way to Adrenaline, she received a call that said, â€Å"She was to leave the convent and work with the poor, living among them. Mother Teresa started teac hing at a school in the slums. She also learned basic declined skills and treated people that could not afford doctors or medicine. Mother Teresa and some of her pupils went around poor neighborhoods and looked for dying children, men and women on the side of the streets who were rejected by local hospitals and brought them to a room that she rented out, and gave them the opportunity to die knowing that someone cared. The group of people that did this with mother Teresa was known as the Missionaries of Charity. The Missionaries of Charity started to branch throughout the world.The society became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI. In the asses Malcolm Muggier wrote and produced a documentary called â€Å"Something Beautiful for God†. This book brought a wider public attention to the life of Mother Teresa. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, â€Å"for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace. † Mother Teresa did not attend the banquet but, but asked that the $192,000 be given to the poor. She also was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the highest U. S. Civilian award.She also received the honorary U. S. Citizenship. Mother Teresa never tried to convert the people she helped to the Catholic faith, but she still had strict a Catholic faith. She was strict on abortion, the death penalty, and divorce. On February 3, 1994 at a National Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives, in Washington DC, Mother Teresa spoke about family life and abortion. She said, â€Å"Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Give the child to me. The last two decades of her life she spent traveling with different branches of the Missionaries of Charity helping the poor.During this time she mad multiple illnesses. In Rome is 1983, while visiting Pope John Paul II, she suffered a heart attack. While she was in Mexico she suffe red from pneumonia, soon after she suffered from further heart problems. Due to all of her health issues she offered to resign from her head of Missionaries of Charity position, but the order of the sisters, a secret ballet, voted for her to stay. In April 1996, Mother Teresa fell and broke her collar bone, in August she suffered from malaria and failure of the left heart ventricle. After her heart surgery her health began to decline again.She believed that she was under attack by the devil so she had a priest perform an exorcism on her. On March 13, 1997 she finally resigned from her head of Missionaries of Charity position. She died on September 5, 1997. If Mother Teresa had never come to be most people would not be affected, however it would have made a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of lives that she impacted thought her life. Mother Teresa Mother Teresa was born on 26 August 1910, but she considered 27 August, the day she was baptized, to be her â€Å"true birthday†. She was born in Skopje, now capital of the Republic of Macedonia, but at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. On 10 September 1946, Teresa experienced what she later described as â€Å"the call within the call† while travelling by train to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling from Calcutta for her annual retreat. â€Å"I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith. † She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton sari decorated with a blue border. Mother Teresa adopted Indian citizenship, spent a few months in Patna to receive a basic medical training in the Holy Family Hospital and then ventured out into the slums. Initially she started a school in Motijhil (Calcutta); soon she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving. In the beginning of 1949 she was joined in her effort by a group of young women and laid the foundations to create a new religious community helping the â€Å"poorest among the poor†. In 1982, at the height of the Siege of Beirut, Mother Teresa rescued 37 children trapped in a front line hospital by brokering a temporary cease-fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. Accompanied by Red Cross workers, she travelled through the war zone to the devastated hospital to evacuate the young patients By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Over the years, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity grew from twelve to thousands serving the â€Å"poorest of the poor† in 450 centres around the world. Mother Teresa suffered a heart attack in Rome in 1983, while visiting Pope John Paul II. After a second attack in 1989, she received an artificial pacemaker. In 1991, after a battle with pneumonia while in Mexico, she suffered further heart problems. She offered to resign her position as head of the Missionaries of Charity, but the sisters of the order, in a secret ballot, voted for her to stay. Mother Teresa agreed to continue her work as head of the order. In April 1996, Mother Teresa fell and broke her collar bone. In August she suffered from malaria and failure of the left heart ventricle. She had heart surgery but it was clear that her health was declining. The Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry Sebastian D'Souza, said he ordered a priest to perform an exorcism on Mother Teresa with her permission when she was first hospitalised with cardiac problems because he thought she may be under attack by the devil. On 13 March 1997, she stepped down from the head of Missionaries of Charity. She died on 5 September 1997. Mother Teresa â€Å"Love is repaid by love alone.† Mother Teresa first read these words when she was eighteen years old while on her way to Ireland to become a nun. Sixty-nine years later before her death she must have realized that she was one of the most loved women in the world. If the Saint Teresa’s phrase has any literal meaning, there is possibly no one in our age who has deserved so much love in return as Mother Teresa. Anyone who has heard her story can attest to her greatness. This was a woman who felt being a devout nun, just wasn’t enough. She gave up her Sisters of Loreto robe for the blue and white sari of the poor, to aid and live among the destitute of Calcutta. Upon taking a vow of poverty, purity and obedience to start her new order, she told herself, â€Å"I’ll teach myself to beg no matter how much abuse and humiliation I have to endure† in order to help others. Her unwavering devotion to this cause came from her belief that her work was nothing less than a direct order from God. Her Childhood Mother Teresa's story begins in the small town of Skopje in Albania, Eastern Europe. She was born in Skopje on 27th August 1910 to a shopkeeper, Nikolle Bojaxhiu and his wife Drana. She was given the names Agnes Gonxha. The family always called her Gonxha, which means flower bud, because she was always plump and pink and cheerful. She was the youngest of three children, with a brother Lazar and sister Aga. They lived in a large house with a big garden. The Bojaxhiu family had a long tradition of success in crafts, fabric-dyeing and trade. Gonxhe was baptized in the Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and successfully completed elementary and high school years in church schools, where she was an active member of the drama section, the literary section, and the church chorus. Her parents were very caring and never turned away anyone who needed help. When Mother Teresa recalled her childhood she said ‘We were a united and very happy family.' Her greatest joy as a child came during church masses where she could sing, read and pray. Agnes attended mass every day, prayed and said the rosary every night. When Agnes was eight years old her father died. Her mother worked very hard to make sure the children were happy and Mother Teresa remembered her childhood as being ‘exceptionally happy.' Agnes’ mother continued to help others in need, seemingly unaware of her own condition. She would take care of alcoholic women in their neighborhood and helped another widow with six children raise her family. When that widow died, those six children became a part of the Bojaxhiu family. By looking back on Mother Teresa’s childhood now we cannot help but understand the effects of her mother’s values, charity and devotion. She grew up surrounded by faith and compassion and at age twelve received her first â€Å"calling from God† to help the poor. Upon hearing of this experience, her mother gave Agnes this advice, â€Å"Put your hands in His hands and walk all the way with Him.†Ã‚   So at 12, she joined an Abbey, and at 18 she became a member of the Loreto Order of nuns. She trained in Dublin, where the motherhouse of the Loreto Sisters was. She chose the name of Sister Teresa, in memory of Saint Thà ©rà ¨se of Lisieux. In December 1928 she began her journey to India and continued to Darjeeling, at the base of the Himalayan Mountains, where she would continue her training towards her religious vows. Soon after, on January 6, 1929 she arrived in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, India to teach at a school for girls. In Calcutta, she worked as a school aid, teacher and principal for a middle-class high school for Bengali girls. During these years she could not help but be touched by the poverty and misery in the streets and slums around her. She started actively going to hospitals and slums where she became more and more dissatisfied with the state of the people around her and the efforts to help them. On September 10, 1946, on the long train ride to Darjeeling where she was to go on a retreat and to recover from suspected tuberculosis, something happened. She had a life-changing encounter with the Living Presence of the Will of God. Mother Teresa recalls: â€Å"I realized that I had the call to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless – to be God's Love in action to the poorest of the poor. That was the beginning of the Missionaries of Charity.† Read also  Summary : Love Is Never Silent She didn't hesitate, she didn't question. She asked permission to leave the Loreto congregation and to establish a new order of sisters. While the church recommended she join the Daughters of Saint Anna, who worked with the poor, Sister Teresa felt this was not nearly adequate to the calling she had received. She didn’t want to help the poor and retreat to a convent at night, but instead become one of the poor herself. She received that permission from Pope Pius XII. In 1948, at the age of 38, she exchanged her sister’s robe for the uniform of Calcutta’s poor and adopted a diet of rice and salt. The impoverished people of Calcutta were stunned by her presence among them. They could not understand why this European woman who spoke their language fluently would wash their babies, clean their wounds and educate their young. It was here in the streets of Calcutta where she was approached by one of her former students who made the remarkable request to join her. Mother Teresa was hesitant to invite someone else to take part in her calling because she wanted to make sure they understood the poverty that they would have to live in. Several weeks after Mother Teresa asked her former student to take time to think about it, the girl returned without any personal belongings or jewelry, wearing a sari, the uniform of the poor. She took Mother Teresa’s childhood name, Agnes as her own and became the first sister to join Mother Teresa’s calling. More sisters would join every month and by 1950, Sister Teresa had received approval from the Vatican to create another vow beyond her sister’s vows of poverty, purity and obedience. The fourth addition was, â€Å"To devote oneself out of abnegation to the care of the poor and needy who, crushed by want and destitution, live in conditions unworthy of human dignity.† With this vow, the Missionaries of Charity were born and its members were commanded to seek out the poor, abandoned, sick, infirm and dying and Sister Teresa became Mother Teresa. She wrote in her diary at this time that, â€Å"If the rich people can have the full service and devotion of so many nuns and priests, surely the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low can have the love and devotion of a few–The Slum Sister they call me, and I am glad to be just that for His love and glory.† In 1952 Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity began the work for which they have been noted ever since. Her order received permission from Calcutta officials to use a portion of the abandoned temple to Kali, the Hindu goddess of transition and destroyer of demons. Mother Teresa founded here the Kalighat Home for the Dying, which she named â€Å"Nirmal Hriday† (meaning â€Å"Pure Heart†). She and her fellow nuns gathered dying Indians off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died. Mother Teresa's first orphanage was started in 1953, while in 1957 she and her Missionaries of Charity began working with lepers. In the years following, her homes (she called them â€Å"tabernacles†) have been established in hundreds of locations in the world. The world came to know Mother Teresa after a 1969 BBC documentary on her work, which included footage of a potential miracle. Images of an area in the hospice too dark to show up on film appeared in a soft light after development. This public exposure led to growth of her order throughout India and later in the world. Soon after Cardinal Spellman from the United States visited her at the Motherhouse. Mother Teresa recalled, â€Å"He asked me where we lived. I told him, ‘Here in this room, your Eminence. This is our refectory. We move the tables and benches to the side.’ He wanted to know where the rest of our convent was, where we could study. ‘We study here, too, your Eminence,’ I said. Then I added, ‘And this is also our dormitory.’ When the Cardinal asked if we had a chapel, I brought him to the end of this room. ‘It is also our chapel, your Eminence’ I told him†¦I don’t know what he was thinking, but he began to smile.† Mother Teresa made no exceptions to her dedication. When asked what she expected of a sister she said, â€Å"Let God radiate and live his life in her and through her in the slums. Let the sick and suffering find in her a real angel of comfort and consolation. Let her be a friend of the little children in the street. I would much rather they make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.† Mother Teresa's Wisdom Analyzing her deed and achievements, John Paul II asked: â€Å"Where did Mother Teresa find the strength to place herself completely at the service of others? She found it in prayer and in the silent contemplation of Jesus Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart.† â€Å"I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?† â€Å"The poor give us much more than we give them. They’re such strong people, living day to day with no food. And they never curse, never complain. We don’t have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them. â€Å"There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives – the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them. Put your love for them in living action. For in loving them, you are loving God Himself.† â€Å"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.† â€Å"To God there is nothing small. The moment we have given it to God, it becomes infinite.† â€Å"You have to be holy in your position as you are, and I have to be holy in the position that God has put me. So it is nothing extraordinary to be holy. Holiness is not the luxury of the few. Holiness is a simple duty for you and for me. We have been created for that.† Her Achievements In 1965, by granting a Decree of Praise, Pope Paul VI granted Mother Teresa's request to expand her order to other countries. Teresa's order started to rapidly grow, with new homes opening all over the globe. The order's first house outside India was in Venezuela, and others followed in Rome and Tanzania, and eventually in many countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe, including Albania. In addition, the first Missionaries of Charity home in the United States was established in the South Bronx, New York. By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Today over one million workers worldwide volunteer for the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa traveled to help the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia. By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become known internationally. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge . In 1971 Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. Other awards bestowed upon her included a Kennedy Prize (1971), the Balzan prize (1978) for humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples, the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975), the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1994), honorary citizenship of the United States (November 16, 1996), and honorary degrees from a number of universities. In 1972 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, â€Å"for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace.† She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $6,000 funds be diverted to the poor in Calcutta, claiming the money would permit her to feed hundreds of needy for a year. In the same year, she was also awarded the Balzan Prize for promoting peace and brotherhood among the nations. At the time of her death, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters, an associated brotherhood of 300 members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools. Mother Teresa was granted a full state funeral by the Indian Government, an honor normally given to presidents and prime ministers, in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India. Her death was widely considered a great tragedy within both secular and religious communities. The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pà ©rez de Cuà ©llar, for example, said: â€Å"She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world.†Ã‚   When she was asked â€Å"What can we do to promote world peace?† Her answer was simple: â€Å"Go home and love your family.† That was Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Mother Teresa-our mother Teresa. Mother Teresa â€Å"Love is repaid by love alone.† Mother Teresa first read these words when she was eighteen years old while on her way to Ireland to become a nun. Sixty-nine years later before her death she must have realized that she was one of the most loved women in the world. If the Saint Teresa’s phrase has any literal meaning, there is possibly no one in our age who has deserved so much love in return as Mother Teresa. Anyone who has heard her story can attest to her greatness. This was a woman who felt being a devout nun, just wasn’t enough. She gave up her Sisters of Loreto robe for the blue and white sari of the poor, to aid and live among the destitute of Calcutta. Upon taking a vow of poverty, purity and obedience to start her new order, she told herself, â€Å"I’ll teach myself to beg no matter how much abuse and humiliation I have to endure† in order to help others. Her unwavering devotion to this cause came from her belief that her work was nothing less than a direct order from God. Her Childhood Mother Teresa's story begins in the small town of Skopje in Albania, Eastern Europe. She was born in Skopje on 27th August 1910 to a shopkeeper, Nikolle Bojaxhiu and his wife Drana. She was given the names Agnes Gonxha. The family always called her Gonxha, which means flower bud, because she was always plump and pink and cheerful. She was the youngest of three children, with a brother Lazar and sister Aga. They lived in a large house with a big garden. The Bojaxhiu family had a long tradition of success in crafts, fabric-dyeing and trade. Gonxhe was baptized in the Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and successfully completed elementary and high school years in church schools, where she was an active member of the drama section, the literary section, and the church chorus. Her parents were very caring and never turned away anyone who needed help. When Mother Teresa recalled her childhood she said ‘We were a united and very happy family.' Her greatest joy as a child came during church masses where she could sing, read and pray. Agnes attended mass every day, prayed and said the rosary every night. When Agnes was eight years old her father died. Her mother worked very hard to make sure the children were happy and Mother Teresa remembered her childhood as being ‘exceptionally happy.' Agnes’ mother continued to help others in need, seemingly unaware of her own condition. She would take care of alcoholic women in their neighborhood and helped another widow with six children raise her family. When that widow died, those six children became a part of the Bojaxhiu family. By looking back on Mother Teresa’s childhood now we cannot help but understand the effects of her mother’s values, charity and devotion. She grew up surrounded by faith and compassion and at age twelve received her first â€Å"calling from God† to help the poor. Upon hearing of this experience, her mother gave Agnes this advice, â€Å"Put your hands in His hands and walk all the way with Him.†Ã‚   So at 12, she joined an Abbey, and at 18 she became a member of the Loreto Order of nuns. She trained in Dublin, where the motherhouse of the Loreto Sisters was. She chose the name of Sister Teresa, in memory of Saint Thà ©rà ¨se of Lisieux. In December 1928 she began her journey to India and continued to Darjeeling, at the base of the Himalayan Mountains, where she would continue her training towards her religious vows. Soon after, on January 6, 1929 she arrived in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, India to teach at a school for girls. In Calcutta, she worked as a school aid, teacher and principal for a middle-class high school for Bengali girls. During these years she could not help but be touched by the poverty and misery in the streets and slums around her. She started actively going to hospitals and slums where she became more and more dissatisfied with the state of the people around her and the efforts to help them. On September 10, 1946, on the long train ride to Darjeeling where she was to go on a retreat and to recover from suspected tuberculosis, something happened. She had a life-changing encounter with the Living Presence of the Will of God. Mother Teresa recalls: â€Å"I realized that I had the call to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless – to be God's Love in action to the poorest of the poor. That was the beginning of the Missionaries of Charity.† Read also  Summary : Love Is Never Silent She didn't hesitate, she didn't question. She asked permission to leave the Loreto congregation and to establish a new order of sisters. While the church recommended she join the Daughters of Saint Anna, who worked with the poor, Sister Teresa felt this was not nearly adequate to the calling she had received. She didn’t want to help the poor and retreat to a convent at night, but instead become one of the poor herself. She received that permission from Pope Pius XII. In 1948, at the age of 38, she exchanged her sister’s robe for the uniform of Calcutta’s poor and adopted a diet of rice and salt. The impoverished people of Calcutta were stunned by her presence among them. They could not understand why this European woman who spoke their language fluently would wash their babies, clean their wounds and educate their young. It was here in the streets of Calcutta where she was approached by one of her former students who made the remarkable request to join her. Mother Teresa was hesitant to invite someone else to take part in her calling because she wanted to make sure they understood the poverty that they would have to live in. Several weeks after Mother Teresa asked her former student to take time to think about it, the girl returned without any personal belongings or jewelry, wearing a sari, the uniform of the poor. She took Mother Teresa’s childhood name, Agnes as her own and became the first sister to join Mother Teresa’s calling. More sisters would join every month and by 1950, Sister Teresa had received approval from the Vatican to create another vow beyond her sister’s vows of poverty, purity and obedience. The fourth addition was, â€Å"To devote oneself out of abnegation to the care of the poor and needy who, crushed by want and destitution, live in conditions unworthy of human dignity.† With this vow, the Missionaries of Charity were born and its members were commanded to seek out the poor, abandoned, sick, infirm and dying and Sister Teresa became Mother Teresa. She wrote in her diary at this time that, â€Å"If the rich people can have the full service and devotion of so many nuns and priests, surely the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low can have the love and devotion of a few–The Slum Sister they call me, and I am glad to be just that for His love and glory.† In 1952 Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity began the work for which they have been noted ever since. Her order received permission from Calcutta officials to use a portion of the abandoned temple to Kali, the Hindu goddess of transition and destroyer of demons. Mother Teresa founded here the Kalighat Home for the Dying, which she named â€Å"Nirmal Hriday† (meaning â€Å"Pure Heart†). She and her fellow nuns gathered dying Indians off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died. Mother Teresa's first orphanage was started in 1953, while in 1957 she and her Missionaries of Charity began working with lepers. In the years following, her homes (she called them â€Å"tabernacles†) have been established in hundreds of locations in the world. The world came to know Mother Teresa after a 1969 BBC documentary on her work, which included footage of a potential miracle. Images of an area in the hospice too dark to show up on film appeared in a soft light after development. This public exposure led to growth of her order throughout India and later in the world. Soon after Cardinal Spellman from the United States visited her at the Motherhouse. Mother Teresa recalled, â€Å"He asked me where we lived. I told him, ‘Here in this room, your Eminence. This is our refectory. We move the tables and benches to the side.’ He wanted to know where the rest of our convent was, where we could study. ‘We study here, too, your Eminence,’ I said. Then I added, ‘And this is also our dormitory.’ When the Cardinal asked if we had a chapel, I brought him to the end of this room. ‘It is also our chapel, your Eminence’ I told him†¦I don’t know what he was thinking, but he began to smile.† Mother Teresa made no exceptions to her dedication. When asked what she expected of a sister she said, â€Å"Let God radiate and live his life in her and through her in the slums. Let the sick and suffering find in her a real angel of comfort and consolation. Let her be a friend of the little children in the street. I would much rather they make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.† Mother Teresa's Wisdom Analyzing her deed and achievements, John Paul II asked: â€Å"Where did Mother Teresa find the strength to place herself completely at the service of others? She found it in prayer and in the silent contemplation of Jesus Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart.† â€Å"I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?† â€Å"The poor give us much more than we give them. They’re such strong people, living day to day with no food. And they never curse, never complain. We don’t have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them. â€Å"There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives – the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them. Put your love for them in living action. For in loving them, you are loving God Himself.† â€Å"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.† â€Å"To God there is nothing small. The moment we have given it to God, it becomes infinite.† â€Å"You have to be holy in your position as you are, and I have to be holy in the position that God has put me. So it is nothing extraordinary to be holy. Holiness is not the luxury of the few. Holiness is a simple duty for you and for me. We have been created for that.† Her Achievements In 1965, by granting a Decree of Praise, Pope Paul VI granted Mother Teresa's request to expand her order to other countries. Teresa's order started to rapidly grow, with new homes opening all over the globe. The order's first house outside India was in Venezuela, and others followed in Rome and Tanzania, and eventually in many countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe, including Albania. In addition, the first Missionaries of Charity home in the United States was established in the South Bronx, New York. By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Today over one million workers worldwide volunteer for the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa traveled to help the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia. By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become known internationally. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge . In 1971 Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. Other awards bestowed upon her included a Kennedy Prize (1971), the Balzan prize (1978) for humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples, the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975), the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1994), honorary citizenship of the United States (November 16, 1996), and honorary degrees from a number of universities. In 1972 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, â€Å"for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace.† She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $6,000 funds be diverted to the poor in Calcutta, claiming the money would permit her to feed hundreds of needy for a year. In the same year, she was also awarded the Balzan Prize for promoting peace and brotherhood among the nations. At the time of her death, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters, an associated brotherhood of 300 members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools. Mother Teresa was granted a full state funeral by the Indian Government, an honor normally given to presidents and prime ministers, in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India. Her death was widely considered a great tragedy within both secular and religious communities. The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pà ©rez de Cuà ©llar, for example, said: â€Å"She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world.†Ã‚   When she was asked â€Å"What can we do to promote world peace?† Her answer was simple: â€Å"Go home and love your family.† That was Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Mother Teresa-our mother Teresa.

Market Analysis Report Example

Market Analysis Report Example Market Analysis Report Example A market analysis report example determines the characteristics unique to the particular market and analyzes the information, which is extremely helpful in the decision-making process in the business relations. By conducting the market analysis report example, it is possible to gather the valuable data, which will help to know the customers better, determine the relevant pricing, and figure out the competitors’ sensitivities. The global smartphone market is assumed to slow essentially over the next few years. Under a condition of a slowing smartphone market, the large vendors are undergoing growth saturation, and rising brands are interrupting existing brands’ long-standing business models to raise their share. The developed markets were in the center of this year’s deceleration. The core three markets of United States, Europe, and China continue to reach the new highs. The number of the first-time buyers in these countries is shortening rapidly. Therefore, the phone upgrades are the primary factor, which stimulates the sales. The top list of the greatest vendors of the smartphones heads two giants Samsung and Apple. As a world leader, Samsung has sold 81.3 million units in 2015 mostly due to its low-cost smartphones and the Galaxy series. In the first quarter of 2016, this amount has remained approximately the same. However, Samsung’s market share has increased from 23.2 in 2015 to 24.1 in the first quarter of 2016. Apple is the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor and has sold 60.2 million iPhones during 2015. Apple’s market share in 2015 was 14.8 percent. In 2016, there is a growth estimated at 3.1 percent up to 17.9 percent. By varying smartphone market dynamics, Chinese brands are developing as the new top brands in the global scale. To this end, there are two Chinese brands Huawei and Xiaomi which were in the list of the top five worldwide smartphone vendors in 2015. These brands held 11 percent of the market. In the first quarter of 2016, one more Chinese company Oppo was included in the top list. As a result, currently, they represent 17 percent of the market together. These three Chinese smartphone vendors show a great performance, Oppo is the best within them, and take share from the leading players such as Lenovo, Samsung, and Apple. Huawei represents a strong smartphone demand in Europe, South and North Americas, and Africa. At the same time, Xiaomi and Oppo smartphone sales rise in emerging Asia and Pacific markets by 20 percent and 199 percent respectively. In the long term, a slow but stable growth of the smartphone market is expected. Predominantly, this growth will be caused by Asian market, India and Indonesia, in particular. Smartphone sales will be driven by the growing demand for the low-cost smartphones in emerging markets and for a transition from 3G to 4G smartphones, which will be supported by 4G connectivity promotion plans from communications service providers in the various markets all over the world. Additionally, a great effect on the smartphone market vector of developing will have a growing popularity of multi-SIM smartphones, increasing the corporate acceptance of smartphones as business class smartphones, the introduction of the faster data networks and the third-party application systems. References: BI Intelligence. (2016). The global smartphone report: The forces behind the global deceleration in smartphone sales. Business Insider. Web. Retrieved September 22, 2016, from businessinsider.com/global-smartphone-market-forecast-2016-3 Global Industry Analysts. (2015). Smartphones Market Trends. Global Industry Analysts. Web. Retrieved September 22, 2016, from strategyr.com/MarketResearch/ Smartphones_Smart_Mobile_Phones_Market_Trends.asp McKay, P. (2016). Global smartphone market share 2016. Statista. Web. Retrieved September 22, 2016, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/271496/global-market-share-held- by-smartphone-vendors-since-4th-quarter-2009/ Meulen, R. V. (2016). Gartner says worldwide smartphone sales grew 3.9 percent in first quarter of 2016. Gartner. Web. Retrieved September 22, 2016, from gartner.com/newsroom/id/3323017 Reisinger, D. (2016). As the smartphone market grows, the iPhone’s share is shrinking. Web. Retrieved September 22, 2016, from http://fortune.com/2016/05/19/apple-iphone-smartphone/

Biography of Coco Channal essays

Biography of Coco Channal essays Coco Chanel, The first women to create clothing for women that is both attractive and useful. Chanel was one of the first women to run a large, successful business in the fashion industry. Today, its hard to imagine the controversy Chanel stirred up simply by making womens clothing beautiful, comfortable and practical. Chanel understood that women wanted a sense of style and professionalism in their fashion. The clothes she created changed the way women looked and how they looked at themselves. Coco Chanel fulfilled the American Dream through definite actions, personal accomplishments and worthwhile contributions to America. Coco started off at the age of nineteen when she worked at a tailor shop with her young aunt Adrienne. Coco sewed extremely well, so she began to do alterations on her own, but she had higher ambitions and did not plan on being a seamstress for the rest of her life. At this point in time she was seeing a man named Etienne Balsan, he asked Coco to be his mistress and move to his new estate that he had just bought. She agreed to go since she did care for him and for once in her life she wouldnt have to take care of herself. Balsan loved the horse races very much; he had his own horse stables at the estate. He would have many friends over and they would always go horseback riding. Coco didnt enjoy horses or the clothes women wore while riding, tight fitting jackets and long loose skirts. So Coco decided to switch it up a bit. Coco always admired mens clothing, so she had a tailor make a riding outfit consisting of jodhpurs and leather pants that ended at the knee; she wore this with a loose shirt and a scarf. Many women admired Coco for her astonishing ensemble. Coco designed also with hats. She would buy the plainest hats at large department stores then redesign them. Balsan loved her designs, so he offered Coco an apartment he owned in Paris. So she ...

A Format for Case Conceptualisation

Many professional and personal challenges confront practicum students as they work with clients. For example, students must establish a counseling relationship, listen attentively, express themselves clearly, probe for information, and implement technical skills in an ethical manner. Those counseling performance skills (Borders Leddick, 1987) center on what counselors do during sessions. At a cognitive level, students must master factual knowledge, think integratively, generate and test clinical hypotheses, plan and apply interventions, and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. Those conceptualizing skills, within the cognitive operations used to construct models that represent experience (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988), show how counselors think about clients and how they choose interventions. It is highly desirable for instructors of practica to have pedagogical methods to promote the development both of counseling performance skills and conceptualizing skills. Such methods should be diverse and flexible to accommodate students at different levels of professional development and with distinct styles of learning (Biggs, 1988; Borders Leddick, 1987; Ellis, 1988; Fuqua, Johnson, Anderson, Newman, 1984; Holloway, 1988; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993; Stoltenberg Delworth, 1987). RATIONALE FOR THE FORMAT In this article, we present a format for case conceptualization that we developed to fill gaps in the literature on the preparation of counselors (Borders Leddick, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991). Although many existing methods promote counseling performance skills, there are few established methods for teaching students the conceptualizing skills needed to understand and treat clients (Biggs, 1988; Hulse Jennings, 1984; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983; Turk Salovey, 1988). We do not discount the importance of counseling performance skills, but we believe that they can be applied effectively only within a meaningful conceptual framework. That is, what counselors do depends on their evolving conceptualization of clients; training in that conceptualization matters. Given the large quantity of information that clients disclose, students have the task of selecting and processing relevant clinical data to arrive at a working model of their clients. Graduate programs need to assist students in understanding how to collect, organize, and integrate information; how to form and test clinical inferences; and how to plan, implement, and evaluate interventions (Dumont, 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Fuqua et al. , 1984; Hoshmand, 1991; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Turk Salovey, 1988). Although systematic approaches to collecting and processing clinical information are not new, the case conceptualization format presented here, as follows, has several distinguishing features: 1. The format is comprehensive, serving both to organize clinical data (see Hulse Jennings, 1984; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983) and to make conceptual tasks operational (see Biggs, 1988). The components of the format integrate and expand on two useful approaches to presenting cases that are cited often and that are linked to related literature on supervision: (a) Loganbill and Stoltenbergs (1983) six content areas of clients functioning (i. . , identifying data, presenting problem, relevant history, interpersonal style, environmental factors, and personality dynamics), and (b) Biggss (1988) three tasks of case conceptualization (i. e. , identifying observable and inferential clinical evidence; articulating dimensions of the counseling relationship; and describing assumptions about presenting c oncerns, personality, and treatment). In addition, the format makes explicit the crucial distinction between observation and inference, by separating facts from hypotheses. It advances the notion that observations provide the basis for constructing and testing inferences. Thus, the format fosters development of critical thinking that is more deliberate and less automatic than the ordinary formation of impressions. The approach is compatible with recommendations that counselors receive training in rational hypothesis testing to reduce inferential errors (Dumont 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Turk Salovey, 1988). 2. The format can be adapted to the developmental stage of students by its focus on stage-appropriate components and implementing those components in stage-appropriate ways (Ellis, 1988; Glickauf-Hughes Campbell, 1991; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993; Stoltenberg Delworth, 1987). As an example, beginning students use the format to organize information and to learn the distinction between observation and inference, whereas more experienced students focus on using the format to generate and test hypotheses. 3. The format is atheoretical, thereby permitting students to ncorporate constructs from any paradigm into their case conceptualizations. In this sense, the format resembles the cognitive scaffolding described in the constructivist perspective (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). Rather than being an explicit template through which observations are filtered to conform to an imposed representational model, the format provides an abstract set of cognitive schemas. With the schemas, the student actively fashions a conceptual framework from which to order and assign meaning to observations. Simply put, the format is a generic structure that the student uses to construct his or her reality of the case. COMPONENTS OF THE FORMAT The format has 14 components, sequenced from observational to inferential as follows: background data, presenting concerns, verbal content, verbal style, nonverbal behavior, clients emotional experience, counselors experience of the client, client-counselor interaction, test data and supporting materials, diagnosis, inferences and assumptions, goals of treatment, interventions, and evaluation of outcomes. Background data includes sex, age, race, ethnicity, physical appearance (e. . , attractiveness, dress, grooming, height, and weight), socioeconomic status, marital status, family constellation and background, educational and occupational status, medical and mental health history, use of prescribed or illicit substances, prior treatment, legal status, living arrangements, religious affiliation, sexual preference, social network, current functioning , and self-perceptions. Initially, students are overwhelmed by the data that they assume need to be collected. Guidance must be provided on how students are to differentiate meaningful from inconsequential information. In our program, for example, we ask students to evaluate the relevance of background data, for understanding clients presenting concerns and for developing treatment plans. We advise students to strive for relevance rather than comprehensiveness. Presenting concerns consist of a thorough account of each of the clients problems as viewed by that client. This task might begin with information contained on an intake form. We assist students in developing concrete and detailed definitions of clients concerns by showing them how to help clients identify specific affective, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal features of their problems. For example, the poor academic performance of a client who is a college student might involve maladaptive behavior (e. g. , procrastination), cognitive deficits (e. g. , difficulty in concentrating), negative moods (e. g. , anxiety), and interpersonal problems (e. g. , conflict with instructors). Counseling students should also explore the parameters of presenting concerns, including prior occurrence, onset, duration, frequency, severity, and relative importance. We further suggest that students explore how clients have attempted to cope with their concerns and that they examine what clients expect from treatment, in terms of assistance as well as their commitment to change. In addition, students should assess immediate or impending dangers and crises that their clients may face. Finally, we instruct students in identifying environmental stressors and supports that are linked to presenting concerns. Verbal content can be organized in two ways. A concise summary of each session is appropriate for cases of limited duration. Alternatively, verbal content can include summaries of identified themes that have emerged across sessions. Occasionally, those themes are interdependent or hierarchically arranged. For example, a client may enter treatment to deal with anger toward a supervisor who is perceived as unfair and, in later sessions, disclose having been chronically demeaned by an older sibling. We teach students to discriminate central data from peripheral data through feedback, modeling, and probing questions. Students need to focus their sessions on areas that are keyed to treatment. For instance, we point out that clients focal concerns, along with the goals of treatment, can serve as anchors, preventing the content of sessions from drifting. Verbal style refers to qualitative elements of clients verbal presentation (i. e. , how something is said rather than what is said) that students deem significant because they reflect clients personality characteristics, emotional states, or both. Those elements can include tone of voice and volume, changes in modulation at critical junctures, fluency, quantity and rate of verbalization, vividness, syntactic complexity, and vocal characterizations (e. g. , sighing). Nonverbal behavior includes clients eye contact, facial expression, body movements, idiosyncratic mannerisms (e. g. , hand gestures), posture, seating arrangements, and change in any of these behaviors over time and circumstances. Instructors can assist students in distinguishing relevant from unimportant information by modeling and providing feedback on how these data bear on the case. As an example, neglected hygiene and a listless expression are important nonverbal behaviors when they coincide with other data, such as self-reports of despair and hopelessness. Clients emotional experience includes data that are more inferential. On the basis of their observations, students attempt to infer what their clients feel during sessions and to relate those feelings to verbal content (e. g. , sadness linked to memories of loss). The observations provide insights into clients emotional lives outside of treatment. We caution students that clients self-reports are an important but not entirely reliable source of information about their emotional experience. At times clients deny, ignore, mislabel, or misrepresent their emotional experience. Students should note the duration, intensity, and range of emotion expressed over the course of treatment. Blunted or excessive affect as well as affect that is discrepant with verbal content also merit attention. To illustrate, a client may report, without any apparent anger, a history of physical abuse. Initially, students can be assisted in labeling their clients affect by using a checklist of emotional states. We have found it helpful to suggest possible affect and support our perceptions with observation and logic. Empathic role taking can also help students to gain access to clients experience. Instructors may need to sensitize students to emotional states outside of their own experience or that they avoid. Counselors experience of the client involves his or her personal reactions to the client (e. g. , attraction, boredom, confusion, frustration, and sympathy). We strive to establish a supportive learning environment in which students can disclose their genuine experiences, negative as well as positive. Students often struggle to accept that they might not like every client. But students should be helped to recognize that their experience of clients is a rich source of hypotheses about feelings that those clients may engender in others and, thus, about the interpersonal world that the clients partially create for themselves. The feel of clients often provides valuable diagnostic clues (e. g. , wanting to take care of a client may suggest features of dependent personality disorder). Sometimes students need assistance in determining whether their reactions to clients reflect countertransferential issues or involve normative responses. We draw on parallel process and use-of-self as an instrument to help clarify students feelings and to form accurate attributions about the origins of those feelings (Glickauf-Hughes Campbell, 1991; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993). Client-counselor interaction summarizes patterns in the exchanges between client and counselor as well as significant interpersonal events that occur within sessions. Such events are, for example, how trust is tested, how resistance is overcome, how sensitive matters are explored, how the counseling relationship is processed, and how termination is handled. Thus, this component of the format involves a characterization of the counseling process. Students should attempt to characterize the structure of the typical sessionspecifically, what counselors and clients do in relation to one another during the therapy hour. They may do any of the following: answer questions, ask questions; cathart, support; learn, teach; seek advice, give advice; tell stories, listen; collude to avoid sensitive topics. Taxonomies of counselor (Elliott et al. , 1987) and client (Hill, 1992) modes of response are resources with which to characterize the structure of sessions. At a more abstract level, students should try to describe the evolving roles they and their clients play vis-a-vis one another. It is essential to assess the quality of the counseling relationship and the contributions of the student and the client to the relationship. We ask students to speculate on what they mean to a given client and to generate a metaphor for their relationship with that client (e. g. , doctor, friend, mentor, or parent). Client-counselor interactions yield clues about clients interpersonal style, revealing both assets and liabilities. Furthermore, the counseling relationship provides revealing data about clients self-perceptions. We encourage students to present segments of audiotaped or videotaped interviews that illustrate patterns of client-counselor interaction. Test data and supporting materials include educational, legal, medical, and psychological records; mental status exam results; behavioral assessment data, including self-monitoring; questionnaire data, the results of psychological testing, artwork, excerpts from diaries or journals, personal correspondence, poetry, and recordings. When students assess clients, a rationale for testing is warranted that links the method of testing to the purpose of assessment. We assist students in identifying significant test data and supporting materials by examining how such information converges with or departs from other clinical data e. g. , reports of family turmoil and an elevated score on Scale 4, Psychopathic Deviate, of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 [MMPI-2; Hathaway McKinley, 1989]). Assessment, as well as diagnosis and treatment, must be conducted with sensitivity toward issues that affect women, minorities, disadvantaged clients, and disabled clients, because those pe rsons are not necessarily understood by students, perhaps due to limited experience of students or the homogenized focus of their professional preparation. Diagnosis includes students impression of clients diagnoses on all five axes of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994). We guide students efforts to support their diagnostic thinking with clinical evidence and to consider competing diagnoses. Students can apply taxonomies other than those in the DSM-IV when appropriate (e. g. , DeNelsky and Boats [1986] coping skills model). Instructors demonstrate the function of diagnosis in organizing scattered and diverse clinical data and in generating tentative hypotheses about clients functioning. Inferences and assumptions involve configuring clinical hypotheses, derived from observations, into meaningful and useful working models of clients (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). A working model consists of a clear definition of the clients problems and formulations of how hypothesized psychological mechanisms produce those problems. For instance, a clients primary complaints might be frequent bouts of depression, pervasive feelings of isolation, and unfulfilled longing for intimacy. An account of those problems might establish the cause as an alienation schema, early childhood loss, interpersonal rejection, negative self-schemas, or social skills deficits. We help students to elaborate on and refine incompletely formed inferences by identifying related clinical data and relevant theoretical constructs (Dumont, 1993; Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). We also assist students in integrating inferences and assumptions with formal patterns of understanding drawn from theories of personality, psychopathology, and counseling (Hoshmand, 1991). As with their instructors, students are not immune from making faulty inferences that can be traced to logical errors, such as single-cause etiologies, the representative heuristic, the availability heuristic, confirmatory bias, the fundamental attribution error, and illusory correlations; (Dumont, 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987). As an example, counselors tend to seek data that support their preexisting notions about clients, thus restricting the development of a more complete understanding of their clients. We alert students to the likelihood of bias in data gathering, particularly when they seek to confirm existing hypotheses. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to generate and evaluate competing hypotheses to counteract biased information ]processing (Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Kanfer Schefft, 1988). Instructors, therefore, must teach students to think logically, sensitizing them to indicators of faulty inferences and providing them with strategies for validating clinical hypotheses as well as disconfirming them (Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991). The proposed format can accomplish this task because it separates inferences from the clinical data used to test inferences and thus deautomatizes cognitive operations by which inferences are formed (Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). We have found it beneficial to have students compare their impressions of clients with impressions that are independently revealed by test data (e. g. , MMPI-2); this exercise permits the correction of perceptual distortions and logical errors that lead to faulty inferences. Although students intuition is an invaluable source of hypotheses, instructors need to caution them that intuition must be evaluated by empirical testing and against grounded patterns of understanding (Hoshmand, 1991). We also model caution and support for competing formulations and continued observation. This approach fosters appreciation of the inexactitude and richness of case conceptualization and helps students to manage such uncertainty without fear of negative evaluation. With the development of their conceptualizing skills, students can appreciate the viability of alternative and hybrid inferences. Moreover, they become more aware of the occasional coexistence and interdependence of clinical and inferential contradictions (e. g. , the simultaneous experience of sorrow and joy and holistic concepts such as life and death). The increasingly elaborate conceptual fabric created from the sustained application of conceptualizing skills also enables students to predict the effect of interventions more accurately. Goals of treatment must be linked to clients problems as they come to be understood after presenting concerns have been explored. Goals include short-term objectives along with long-term outcomes of treatment that have been negotiated by the client and trainee. Typically, goals involve changing how clients feel, think, and act. Putting goals in order is important because their priorities will influence treatment decisions. Goals need to be integrated with students inferences or established theories and techniques of counseling. In their zeal, students often overestimate the probable long-term aims of treatment. To help students avoid disappointment, we remind them that certain factors influence the formulation of goals, including constraints of time and resources, students own competencies, and clients capacity for motivation for change. Interventions comprise techniques that students implement to achieve agreed-on goals of treatment. Techniques are ideally compatible with inferences and assumptions derived earlier; targets of treatment consist of hypothesized psychological structures, processes, and conditions that produce clients problems (e. g. , self-esteem, information processing, family environment). Difficulties in technical implementation should be discussed candidly. We provide opportunities for students to observe and rehearse pragmatic applications of all strategies. Techniques derived from any theory of counseling can be reframed in concepts and processes that are more congruent with students cognitive style. To illustrate, some students are able to understand how a learned fear response can be counterconditioned by the counseling relationship when this phenomenon is defined as a consequence of providing unconditional positive regard. In addition, we teach students to apply techniques with sensitivity as well as to fashion a personal style of counseling. Finally, legal and ethical issues pertaining to the conduct of specific interventions must be made explicit. Evaluation of outcomes requires that students establish criteria and methods toward evaluating the outcomes of treatment. Methods can include objective criteria (e. g. , grades), reports of others, self-reports (e. g. , behavioral logs), test data, and students own judgments. Instructors must assist students in developing efficient ways to evaluate progress over the course of treatment given the presenting concerns, clients motivation, and available resources. USES OF THE FORMAT We developed the :format for use in a year-long practicum in a masters degree program in counseling psychology. Instructors describe the format early in the first semester and demonstrate its use by presenting a erminated case; a discussion of the format and conceptualization follows. The first half of the format is particularly helpful when students struggle to organize clinical data into meaningful categories and to distinguish their observations from their inferences. The focus at that point should be on components of the format that incorporate descriptive data about the client. Later in their development, when students are prepared to confront issues that influence the counseling relationship, components involving personal and interpersonal aspects of treatment can be explored. As students mature further, components that incorporate descriptive data are abbreviated so that students can concentrate on the conceptualizing skills of diagnosis, inferences and assumptions, treatment planning and intervention, and evaluation. When conceptualizing skills have been established, the format need not be applied comprehensively to each case. Rather, it can be condensed without losing its capacity to organize clinical data and to derive interventions. The format can be used to present cases in practicum seminar as well as in individual supervision sessions. It can also be used by students to manage their caseloads. Also, the format can be used in oral and written forms to organize and integrate clinical data and to suggest options for treatment (cf. Biggs, 1988; Hulse Jennings, 1984; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983). For example, practicum seminar can feature presentations of cases organized according to the format. As a student presents the data of the case, participants can construct alternative working models. Moreover, the format compels participants to test their models by referencing clinical data. Written details that accompany a presentation are also fashioned by a student presenter according to the format. The student presenter can distribute such material before the presentation so that members of the class have time to prepare. During the presentation, participants assume responsibility for sustaining the process of case conceptualization in a manner that suits the class (e. g. , discussion, interpersonal process recall, media aids, or role play). Supervision and case notes can also be structured more flexibly with the use of the case conceptualization format to give students opportunities to relate observation to inference, inference to treatment, and treatment to outcome (Presser Pfost, 1985). In fact, supervision is an ideal setting to tailor the format to the cognitive and personal attributes of the students. In supervision, there are also more opportunities to observe students sessions directly, which permits instruction of what clinical information to seek, how to seek it, how to extract inferences from it, and to evaluate the veracity of students inferences by direct observation (Holloway, 1988). FUTURE APPLICATIONS AND RESEARCH The format is a potentially valuable resource for counselors to make the collection and integration of data systematic when they intervene with populations other than individual clients. Application of the format to counseling with couples and families might seem to make an already conceptually demanding task more complex. Yet counselors can shift the focus from individuals to a couple or a family unit, and apply components of the format to that entity. By targeting relationships and systems in this way, the format can also be used to enhance understanding of and improve interventions in supervision and with distressed units or organizations.