Reality Check

There were a lot of great take home messages in yesterdays class. One of of these had to do with a my personal reality check that occurred during the "benefits and support" exercise. When, as a group, we answered the benefit that our target population would get from participating in Project SOL we didn't question our answer. In fact, I don't think we felt that our answer was inconsistent with what our population might really find as a benefit. After Dr.Engelberg's feedback I had a total reality check moment realizing that being in public health really shapes my thoughts and opinions. I mean its kind of obvious that what you study influences the way you see the world. But this realization was more about recognizing how as a future public health professional I always need to keep in mind where I am coming from in creating messages and where my audience is coming from. The other take home message I walked away with had to do with sticking to our core values when making decisions. Again, it seems so obvious but sometimes you just need someone to remind you of these kinds of things. Acknowledging that our core values are there so we can stay grounded, step back to make decisions, and avoid the influence of risk communication, is a concept that I think, as public health professionals, we should keep close to us.