Carrie W.

Meet Carrie

• Speaks English and Spanish
• Comfortable with pets

All of my job experiences since I was a teenager have been with children of all ages. I love working with children! My Experience with Children: • I had the typical teenage babysitting jobs. • I helped care for my younger siblings from the time they were born! • I was a camp counselor with girls ages 5-14 during the summers while I was a college student. • I worked as a lead teacher and classroom aide for children ages 3-5. • I spent 6 years teaching Spanish at two inner-city high schools in Philadelphia. • After leaving teaching, I worked with children ages 7-14 as a Mental Health Worker (MHW) in a long-term residential facility. • When I decided to change jobs again, I returned to where all of my experience with children began--back to babysitting. How These Jobs Influenced Me: • Having experience both professionally and personally as Read more a teenager set a solid foundation for me to build my experience with children upon. • As a camp counselor, I had the opportunity to learn how to run various fun activities (my favorite being arts and crafts!). I supervised children swimming and on hikes. I also learned how to comfort children who were homesick being away from home. • As a lead teacher/teacher’s aide I gained experience learning how to teach and work with very young children. • Due to the challenges facing the children I taught in the inner-city, I learned creative methods to help motivate them and show them that they had the potential to learn and succeed in my class. I cared much more about their pride in themselves from getting their first “A” than their ability to tell me that “the cat is black” in Spanish. • As an MHW, I wore many hats. I had to enforce the rules of the unit in a caring way. I had to remember at all times the difficulty the children experienced and how this played into their behaviors. I helped children with the issues on their treatment plan. We created incentive charts and other special plans to motivate them to work on their goals. I also intervened and used techniques to help children remain safe when they were a danger to themselves or others. And while doing all of the serious work of being an MHW, I was also able to run art and crafts groups, take them on trips and to the pool, and hug and tuck them in at night. • As a babysitter I have the opportunity to take all of the experience and knowledge I have gained through my other professions to provide the best care possible for the families I work with.

Trust & safety

Experience

References

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