GNH Internship LHE student Irma Witt @m13-irmawitt - Tumblr Blog

Workshop 1

I have just finished my workshops with patients, who signed up for my Nutrition course. Both groups - monday and tuesday, there are around 8 participants. I investigated who my participants are and what kind of disabilities do they struggle with. Therefore, first workshop was about proteins, the main learning goal I set for them is for participants to gain general knowledge about proteins and why our bodies constantly need them. I decided to focus on proteins, because according to research that I have made, post-polio patients and spinal-cord injured patients mostly lack this macronutrient. There is evidence to suggest that this protein intake should exceed 1.2 gram/kg in people with pressure ulcers and may reach up to 2 gram/kg in grade III and IV pressure ulcers. For general population, protein intake should be 0.8g /kg of body weight. As you can see, there is a quite a difference in those numbers here. Furthermore, it was very important to understand what kind of processes our body is under during the day and why proteins are so important. The first session I had was very stressful. I was worried, if the participants are going to be open for conversation and whether they will be interested in this topic. I have previously talked to some of them in rehabilitation center to try to find out what are they expectations about this course. I wanted to enhance their motivation to change and therefore it was essential to find out what do they want. I also prepared exercises, where they had to calculate their own protein needs and then compare those needs to amounts of food from the rich-protein tables, that I have handed to them. This exercise was a success and some of them were really suprised of how little proteins they eat. The other exercise’ goal was to talk to someone about their favourite meal and try to remake the recipe, so it will contain more proteins. I encouraged participants to be creative and open-minded. The exercise itself was a big success, as the background of participants was very different and so they could share new perspectives on what do they eat and share recipies with each other.

According to evaluation forms I handed in the end of the session, participants were satisfied and thought that my workshop was helpful.

m13-irmawitt

Good information about protein need for injured patients

My first to weeks of internship in Trampoline house were spent outside working in the garden 😊 The garden team as well refugees worked together to make garden look nicer. First of all it was created a working plan - what we want and should do. We wanted to bring more colors and life in the garden so first step was to plant flowers and herbs (to grow from seeds), some of flowers we bought in the shop; also to color old chairs in different colors - light blue, red and yellow. We had a lot of palettes in the house so we came up with idea to build sitting benches and a big stand for herbs/flowers. House visitors like to spend time outside and therefore we had enough of helpers as well it created a nice atmosphere for socializing. I felt very welcome from the first day in Trampoline house. And my first impression was and still is that everyone is friendly and helpful, and of course it feels at first a little bit chaotic in the house because of so many people with different nationalities. But this feeling goes away as soon you start to know everyone ☺️

#trampoline house #garden #summer

My other task in Trampoline house is to help in Sisters' Cuisine - Trampoline house catering service to privat and public events. Sisters' Cuisine makes food then delivers it and serves food in the event if it is necessary. Food is made by refugee/asylum seeker women who comes to Trampoline house and mainly dishes is from all over the world - Maroco, Afganistan, Pakistan, Iran etc. I am responsible for job coordination in the kitchen - to make an agreement with cookers, help with a grocery shopping, sometimes to help with the cooking, deliver food and serve. Most of the times it is very challenging to communicate with cookers especially if they are very pure in English and Danish languages 😊 but very nice experience in learning how to communicate without common languages as well to learn other countries traditional dishes.

All interns and volunteers from Trampoline house are invited to visit refugee camps in Denmark once a month. This time we went to Sandholm camp. We had a guide person who been living in there for many years. He showed us the place around and explain how is it feels to live in places like this. In this camp people get food every day but it is the same food every single day. Close to the camp is a beautiful nature where military performs training and refugees/asylum seekers don't feel safe. In the other side of camp is a prison and some of refugees a put there until they are deported from country (Denmark). That was a good opportunity to see the camp life from inside and I think everyone should see it and know how it is for real...

My main task in Trampoline House is to coordinate jobs in the kitchen. I have to make sure that we have interns/volunteers to cook dinner for that day. Kitchen team (including me 😊) makes a decision what dishes should be made and most of the times it is challenging because the budget for the food is low and it should be enough food for all visitors, as well delicious and healthy. Then we go for shopping and later we help each other to make dinner. Dinner have to be served at 17.30 sometimes at 18.00. All the House visitors (refugees/asylum seekers, volunteers, staff) are very helpfull and therefore we always help each other with cooking, setting the tables for dinner, serving the food and cleaning.

#trampoline House #food

Hi everyone 😊 I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer vacation (internship ☺️). I am doing my internship in Trampoline house in Copenhagen, Denmark. My internship started in the end of May. Trampoline house is closed in July so will continue my internship from 1 of August until October but my plans is to stay in this house and do volunteer job til December. Trampoline house always need volunteers. A little bit about Trampoline house and what the do: "Trampoline house is an independent community center in Copenhagen that provides refugees and asylum seekers in Denmark with a place of support, community, and purpose. Four days a week, the house offers different classes and activities, legal counseling, and friendship with the aim of breaking the social isolation and sense of powerlessness that many refugees and asylum seekers experience. Trampoline house brings together asylum seekers and Danish citizens, refugees and other residents of Denmark, united by a desire to improve the conditions for asylum seekers and refugees. Trampoline house is a self-governing institution with a board of directors, a paid staff, and a large group of interns and volunteers. Financial support comes from public and private funding, donation, and membership." My learning objectives during this internship are: 1. Kitchen coordinator in the house - to use knowledge and gain more experience of how food culture and the social context of eating is forming food choices. 2. Gain experience in how to involve refugees in urban garden project by using PAR approach and how urban garden(ing) impacts health of target group. 3. Workshop for women asylum seekers: changing health behavior - how to improve for a healthier meal with focus on attitude, beliefs and and values. 4. To create and implement physical activities for refugee women by using PAR approach and coaching skills to set a personal goal and training plan. Stay tuned to see my other posts about my internship 😊

#internship #copenhagen #denmark #refugees #learning objectives

Survival tips

Here are a few tips for the future interns..

1. Search for internship place as early as possible In my case I found the place almost in the last minute. Because it was in my home country I didn’t had to apply for the visa and therefore paper work was easier and done fast. But anyway it was stressful and I know for my second internship I will start to search at least a year before and will make decision faster so everything can be done in an easy mode. So if you want to avoid stress and to have an internship place on time - do your search, be open for all kind ideas, make a decision and start to do paper work because it takes time.

2. Search for living place It was challenging for me to find an apartment for affordable price. And it is also why you need to find internship place as soon as possible because when you know where you will go you can start to search for apartment. In Lithuania usually apartments are rented in short period - paying per day; or long period - paying per month if renting time longer 3 months. If you rent for short period then the rent gets really really expensive. I needed only for two months and I wanted to live in the centrum, closer to my internship place. Because I began to search for apartment 1 week before I had to leave for my internship it made almost impossible to find the place. Of course I found apartment but I did not had so many options to choose between, actually only two and the final rent price was higher then I could afford.

You have to decide how much you want to pay, what type of apartment and in which region of the city; and do your search. Later contact the renters and negotiate the price (advice: do not be afraid to negotiate, it is normal in Lithuania)

3. Language I didn’t had problem with the language because lithuanian is my mother tongue. Actually I can see the problem for other language speakers in this internship place and I would even suggest not to do internship in this company if you can’t speak fluently lithuanian. Internship host can speak English but work should be done and everything should be translated in lithuanian.

4. Be ready to spend many hours in the office If you are the person who like to work on your own and do information searching day after day then you will like this job and internship. Otherwise I suggest you to be active, share your ideas and ask for more challenging tasks.

5. Leisure time Is it your first time in Lithuania? Find a new friends outside the work and get out, explore new places and you have to try lithuanian traditional dishes. Weather in this country is not the best at this time of the year (internship time) but there are many nice places to go inside and relax.

Enjoy your internship and good luck!

#survival tips #internship #lithuania #Vilnius

Challenges

The biggest challenge during my internship was how to survive many hours of work with computer - searching and typing, searching and typing... and how not to go crazy before internship ends :) It were times when I could not look anymore at the computer...headache, pain in the eyes... as well it got boring from the same type of work. How I overcame this challenge? I began to observe what is happening in the company and how I could help to them. I had to be open for new tasks and challenges if I wanted to learn and do more, not only searching for information. When I saw the possibility I stepped in and offered my help. And so I got a task to check personal nutrition plans of the clients designed by dietitian, later on I began to work together with IT guy and create a calorie calculator. Well it was also work with the computer but it was different, more exciting and I worked together with other people so I got a chance to share my ideas with others and discuss. Furthermore I asked my internship host to take me with her when she had to work outside her office and this is my favorite time of internship. I visited police department and listen the lecture about the health and nutrition; I went to the news portal for the health conference; as well I participated in the opening of the new project ‘Losing weight with the celebrities in a healthy way’ organized by the biggest internet news portal and last but not least I observed filming of the TV show where internship host talked about babies nutrition. I met many new and amazing people and some of them are Lithuanian celebrities :) :)

#internship #challenge #work

My last day of internship which was very exciting! I had a chance to see how one of tv shows is filmed. Lithuanian tv show 'Mommy club' appears on tv once a week. This show is mainly for parents who have children: parents can learn about babies/children health, nutrition and get many other relevant advices. This time my internship host was invited to talk about benefits of vegtables and dairy products for children, as well when it is the best time to introduce these products for the baby.

#tv show #filmming #baby #children #nutrition #internship

Internship host (Vaida Kurpiene) began a new project together with newspaper portal and the Health studio. The purpose of the new project is to help for 3 women (actress, singer and office worker) to loose weight in 1 month. Internship host will guide and give advice about healthy nutrition and will help to set up a smart goal. The Health studio will provide with a new exercise mashine and will guide the women during the project time. And last but not least newspaper portal will write about women succes every week so readers will follow news and will support their favorite participant. The pictures are from the first day/introduction day- when everyone met for the first time, were introduced about the project, also participants were weight and measured.

#project #internship #health #weightloss

Internship host and mine office room where I spent the most of the time during internship. The second month of the internship we had to share this room with the new assistant.

#office #internship #vilnius

Typical day at the office

My internship host is working from home at this moment because she is a mom of a seven month old boy. Therefore it is easier for her to work from home and be with son when he needs her. The house is big and there is a perfect spot for office room where it was also my office for these past two months. My working hours from 10am till 5pm every day but also were days that I worked from home and even longer hours.

Usually me and my internship host begin working day with discussion about the plans of the day or all week. We decide which tasks should be done first and how. Later, I have time for questions and answers; meaning that I can ask questions related to my work and new tasks, and get answers from my supervisor, and the rest of the day I work on my own.

The first two weeks of my internship, most of my work time, I spend searching for information about Omega 3, health benefits of fruit and berries consumption, I did a research on seasonal fruits and berries sold in Lithuanian supermarkets. As well did some administrative work such as I helped for my internship host to find a new assistant: I had to check all CV’s we got and classify by education, experience, working hours and hourly payment; also I had to read homework that was giving to do for candidates and find the best one , furthermore I shared my opinion with supervisor which candidate would be the best for this job position.

With the time, tasks related to information searching became very boring to me. I decided that I need to get out from the office and give a break for my eyes from computer screen once in a while. It was hard in the beginning because my internship host thought that interns mostly can do and learn only from technical job. She was out of the office doing presentations, lectures and different projects related to the healthy nutrition in various organizations. I was very curious to see how and with whom she is working therefore I asked her to take me with her. So, not always but some of the times she took me with her and I was very happy J This way I learned more about my internship host individual practice as well who is interested in her practice and what is the purpose of it. Besides I got more responsibility with other tasks: to check and correct personal nutrition plans, to create a calorie calculator on excel sheet (I worked together with IT expert) which took the most of my working time.

Furthermore my work will not be finished after internship. I will be continue working with internship host in the future….

#internship #office #daily tasks #Vilnius

My internship host provides learning course about healthy nutrition - 12 lessons in 12 weeks. During lessons clients Can learn about carbohydrate, fat, protein, water, how to plan own menu and more. We have to measure clients (13 persons in each group) before course begins for the new group. This time was me who took measurements. I used Omron Body Composition Monitor to find out persons weight, BMI, procentage of fat and muscle, visceral fat, as well metabolic rate. I wrote numbers on a special card, which clients have to keep till the next measurement so they can see changes of their body ( in total 5 times of body examination in 12 weeks).

#body composition #measure #internship

m7-aytenhasan

Detox (n.) - a process or period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances; detoxification.

Being an intern in a retreat, where guests are coming mostly for detox, implied that me and Desi also needed to try the detox programme out. Prior to arriving to...

m13-irmawitt

I decided to reblog one of my classmates Ayten blog about her detox experience. I think it is well described story, step by step explained how it should be done, as well her own reflections, many nice pictures so we can see how detox drinks look like. I really like that Ayten and Desi decided to try detox programme so they can share their experience with the customers.

#reblog #detox #experience #internship

My Learning Objectives

Learning objectives I: Contribute to daily work at ‘Valgau sveikai’ including planning a new healthy diet for their target group, as well to plan other activities relevant to healthy lifestyle.

Key strategies:

· *Observe different work areas of ‘Valgau sveikai’ employees

· *Identify target groups of ‘Valgau sveikai’ and how they reach and attract their new clients

· *Observe and analyze company’s teaching courses

*Help with nutritional information and upload/update on homepage

I have definitely learned more about the company, their work and target groups during my internship. Most of the time I spend and work together with my internship host so it is easy to get necessary information for me straight from the company founder. It is very interesting to see the difference between the understandings I had about the company before the internship and how I see it now.

After observing teaching courses I have learned and understood how it is important to communicate with the clients so they are motivated to participate, to learn and reach their goal; as well attracts new clients to participate in the course.

Learning objectives II: Workshop: Healthy nutrition 5 days programme for adults

Key strategies:

· *Prepare a healthy food recipes and calculate nutritional value

· *Upload recipes on homepage

· *Help to prepare for the workshop days

· *Assist during the programme

· *Observe and evaluate the workshop

My second learning objective took the most time of my internship. I spend a lot of time searching for healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which most of it is porridge and salad recipes. After that I had to translate into Lithuanian and calculate nutritional value. Also I was allowed to create my own healthy recipes, which helped me to gain more knowledge about the allowed ingredients and amount of it for the healthy dish. Furthermore was a great experience to upload all recipes on the company’s homepage.

Learning objectives III: Investigate nutritional intake of children with the specific allergy at the age 5-10

Key strategies:

· *Search for credible information about the specific allergy and children’s nutrition based on allergy type

· *Write a short article about children’s allergy and nutrition based on investigation

· *Reflections and suggestions for further investigation

Learning objectives IV: Help to establish a new project. Workshop: Healthy nutrition for children

Key strategies:

· *Search For information about kids nutrition in books, as well online using databases such as PubMed, GoogleScholar, CINAHL Plus and WHO

· *Prepare a healthy food recipes and calculate nutritional value

· *Help to plan a teaching course for the target group

My third and fourth learning objectives are related to each other. For now I do not have to say so much about it because we just began to work on it this week (I still have two weeks till my internship ends). I began to search information about the children’s nutrition and allergies to food at the age 5-10. I know for sure that I will gain more experience for searching and finding precise information. It always seemed to me mission impossible when I need to find specific information but during this internship I learned how to search, what keywords I need to use and ect.

#learning objectives #internship #Vilnius

At the Police department in Vilnius. I was listening a lecture of my internship host about healthy nutrition. She was shortly presenting her 12 weeks teaching program about how to eat healthy and stay healthy. Police officers are very interested in this programme because their work is hard and they want to know how, what and when to eat that to be healthy and full of energy; and especially for those who work in the night shift. During the Q&A time police officers asked many questions about water - how much to drink or how to know how much the person should drink. The answer is very simple: the weight multiply by 0.03 and we get the amount of water we need to drink during the day. As well they asked a lot what to eat if they have to work in the night, or is it better not to eat at all, or what kind of products would be the best to eat in this situation... There was no end for guestions but sadly it had to be stopped due the time pressure. But good thing is police officers liked it and decided to participate in a full 12 weeks programme and learn more :)

#police department #healthy nutrition #lecture

"Valgau sveikai" home page - www.sulieknek.lt (only in lithuanian) - here customers can find information about current and new programmes; healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks; and articles about healthy nutrition - healthy living...

#internship #homepage #healthy nutrition

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GNH Internship LHE student Irma Witt