Cognitive Intervention Connection

Mckenzi Kerrigan

A theme that I found in the India narrative that connected to my service learning and community partner was that surrounding the idea of money (from growth to sufficiency). “Natural goods have a limited time to be consumed before they perish. Money is nonperishable, therefore seemingly infinite and immortal, it is an abstraction that defies both life and the limits of our mind, but defines our culture. And we are trapped in it” (WOWO 148). At Tax Aid we do not let the number on W-2s or other income forms define the client. Often money can consume a person and their thoughts like described in the India narrative, but at Tax Aid in the Canal our community partner tried to create an environment in which this was not true, but a place where people felt accepted and comfortable in sharing information like their income with strangers.

Reflection: In Marin there are a lot of wealthy communities and people and sometimes ones that aren’t can be looked over easily while everything else happens around them. This does not mean that those communities are any less lively or rich with culture as the others are. “We want to be professional and efficient in getting clients their tax returns.” This was the main goal of all the volunteers at Tax Aid. However our community partner also helped us to step back and realize that numbers aren’t everything. We were also there to make connections and interact with a community that can often be misunderstood because people do not take the time to immerse themselves in the culture and with the people there.

A theme that I found in the Greece narrative was that of intervention for solving problems. This relates to the interview that I conducted with a service provider because she worked in health care in the canal and described her work contributing to the community’s physical and mental health. This center serves all different gender, ages, nationalities of people in the Canal community because it applies to any one in need of health care.  Not only physical but psychological or mental health care is available “We have mental health services for children as well as adults and adult beneficiary programs” (service learning interview). “Cognitive interventions” (WOWO 170) can be just as important and significant toward making sure a client is healthy as physical can be.