My placement is very big on reflective practice (which I realise would be less the case if I was in a social work setting but I’m actually in a therapeutic setting.) There’s lots of positives about this, obviously.
But at times it can be quite difficult. For example, I came to supervision today with a few concerns that I wanted to raise about my placement at the moment. I’ve felt a bit demotivated recently. Partly this is because I have one client who is barely ever in the project and has currently left (can’t disclose more details) and we’re not yet sure will return. My placement should now be picking up pace and I should be getting my second client soon, but I have only had one actual keywork session with my first client and what I feel is fairly little client interaction of late. Although I see clients around the project to have little chats with, I haven’t had a much of a supporting role to any.
My supervisor turned it all back on me and asked me to think about the issues it brings up for me – am I too driven by getting things done, and isn’t the fact my client isn’t around, giving me things to think about and write about too. I meed to think more about my own issues and how I’m dealing with my feelings.
I’ve thought about this quite a lot. At the time I felt quite angry – I felt that my supervisor was absolving himself of any responsibility towards my placement (not just for the above issue but for others brought up too) – but then I thought, there is definitely some truth in the things he is saying. I can be very goal driven, wanting to be busy, efficient etc and perhaps don’t quite know what to do, when there isn’t anything to do.
On the other hand, as this is my placement, I would like to feel constantly challenged and as if I am developing and I feel that the placement can be incredibly slow, with days going by where I really don’t feel I have done anything at all. Today for example I took part in cleaning group with two clients, spent a few hours doing “room checks” – ie measuring the temperature of the water in each bedroom and checking the room for safety reasons. Did some uni work and then had supervision. When a lot of days are like this, I don’t feel I’m achieving too much.
But it is interesting. Partly because I think its teaches me a lot about me. Definitely one of the biggest things I have been struggling with is learning how to give up control – something so important when you’re working with people, as opposed to standard targets – learning the limit of your role and how to leave responsibility with the client.
On the other side, I do wonder how this would differ in a social work setting. As I’m in a therapeutic setting, there’s no abundance of case loads. We have 7 clients in the project at the moment – everyone keyworks with one or two- or is therapist to one or two, and it’s not about working through a time scale, it’s an ongoing process, of possibly years – so in many ways it feels a lot more relaxed, less pressure to get things done…which is counter to all the managerialism and target driven culture complaints that social workers often receive.
Anyway…that’s my rambling.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Friday, 3 February 2012
Questions on residential homes within mental health settings
While lying in bed, having left placement early today as not feeling well, and feeling sorry for myself, I thought it was time for a short blog post.
I’m not going to write another diary type one, this is a more pondering post…
I had a short chat this week with a senior staff member at my placement about whether we thought social workers should recommend clients to this place.
The setting for my placement is a residential home with groups including therapy group, art and music, gardening etc.
We discussed whether, although it was beneficial to a few people to be there, could it do more harm than good for others?
Whilst I very much like the recovery model, I do question how many of the clients in the house are likely to recover, and obviously recovery is in itself a relative term, but I mean recover to feel confident living in independent accommodation at the least.
While there is obviously a question as to whether this place or places like it can help as much as we’d like towards that goal, there also remains the question as to where these people might be if these places didn’t exist.
Perhaps the answer is the old style institutions. So in that respect, surely these residential communities are a positive step on.
The difficulty with places like this, in typical systems theory – is that everyone in the place has a big effect on others, every incident can be hugely impactful and can serve to slow down or halt other people’s recovery.
Equally, as people choose whether to engage with groups etc, if they choose not to engage with them, or even their therapy, or at worst not to comply with medication, often little progress is seen.
Whilst I understand the trend has been towards community mental health, it’s clear for some that’s not an option – so is there a better alternative than these places? And is it wrong to categorise them as “these places” – do they differ wildly? I assume if there were some renowned for amazing recovery rates it would be known, but maybe I’m wrong. Equally, just because one recovers doesn’t mean one doesn’t relapse shortly after – so it’s difficult to measure success.
Finally but importantly, there’s the question as to what the clients themselves want. There is one client who has been there 5 years, rather than the 1-2 years they predict – and is seen to have been barely progressing of late (although i understand since they joined has progressed a huge amount). But perhaps this person doesn’t want to move on, is comfortable where they are. If the aspiration is not towards independent living then the motivation to engage is low – what’s ideal then??
Anyway, what a disorganised ramble! Apologies!
I’m not going to write another diary type one, this is a more pondering post…
I had a short chat this week with a senior staff member at my placement about whether we thought social workers should recommend clients to this place.
The setting for my placement is a residential home with groups including therapy group, art and music, gardening etc.
We discussed whether, although it was beneficial to a few people to be there, could it do more harm than good for others?
Whilst I very much like the recovery model, I do question how many of the clients in the house are likely to recover, and obviously recovery is in itself a relative term, but I mean recover to feel confident living in independent accommodation at the least.
While there is obviously a question as to whether this place or places like it can help as much as we’d like towards that goal, there also remains the question as to where these people might be if these places didn’t exist.
Perhaps the answer is the old style institutions. So in that respect, surely these residential communities are a positive step on.
The difficulty with places like this, in typical systems theory – is that everyone in the place has a big effect on others, every incident can be hugely impactful and can serve to slow down or halt other people’s recovery.
Equally, as people choose whether to engage with groups etc, if they choose not to engage with them, or even their therapy, or at worst not to comply with medication, often little progress is seen.
Whilst I understand the trend has been towards community mental health, it’s clear for some that’s not an option – so is there a better alternative than these places? And is it wrong to categorise them as “these places” – do they differ wildly? I assume if there were some renowned for amazing recovery rates it would be known, but maybe I’m wrong. Equally, just because one recovers doesn’t mean one doesn’t relapse shortly after – so it’s difficult to measure success.
Finally but importantly, there’s the question as to what the clients themselves want. There is one client who has been there 5 years, rather than the 1-2 years they predict – and is seen to have been barely progressing of late (although i understand since they joined has progressed a huge amount). But perhaps this person doesn’t want to move on, is comfortable where they are. If the aspiration is not towards independent living then the motivation to engage is low – what’s ideal then??
Anyway, what a disorganised ramble! Apologies!
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