Midway point of placement and the Guardian Open Weekend

I'm now approaching the midway point of my placement. And i'm enjoying it more than ever. I'm particularly enjoying the work I do with one of my clients who was recently released from prison. After i set up our first keywork session to create some realistic goals we can work on together, i now regularly receive notes under the office door or thrust in my hand with more goals to work on! Whether or not they are achieved, it feels like a good mindset to be in and i feel like i've developed a really positive relationship with him.

And i found out yesterday that I'll be getting a third client next week, which is exciting as students normally only get 1 or 2. This might sound very small compared to the caseloads you get in stat settings but it's very different being a keyworker in a residential setting as the face to face support is much greater.

One of the things i'm loving is the randomness, the charmingness (i know it's not a real word!) of working with people everyday. The unpredictability of it. While some days may be stressful or emotional and full of incidents or clients shouting, many days are spent laughing with the clients. Or sharing lovely days out, like our recent picnic and ice cream in the park which the clients have been talking about ever since.

My uni work has been driving me pretty mad as the uni have totally mucked up all our portfolio requirements. They have realised now, at the midway point, that most of the students on the course were working to the criteria set out by our course leader, that was in fact wrong. So all the students and their supervisors have become somewhat panicked, realising the evidence that has been 'ok-ed' at the midway point, may in fact not be OK. Joy!

Next week I start to have some days off for exam revision. I admit i'm pretty tired now, trying to sustain uni work, placement work etc so I'll be glad when exams are over and I can have a weekend away for a proper break.

Last weekend, I had a fantastic time at the Guardian Open Weekend. I went to four back to back sessions.


One was a panel debate about the nature of communities, including Camila Batmanghelidjh, the founder of Kids Company, and somewhat a hero of mine! She spoke about the fact that the issue of revenge has still not been addressed, young people don't feel they have been heard, for example young people feel they are being used to sell the Olympics and then won't benefit from it. She also discussed how we need somewhere for young, unemployed people to go and do something even if there is no labour. They shouldn't be stuck in their own living space, they need to be encouraged to create a community. She explained that people assume that behind every child is a competent carer but that is not true for 1.5m children in UK who become marginalised with their needs unmet. These sometimes, vulnerable individuals may not have the baseline competences to seeks out social cohesion. You need economic resources and social confidence to seek this out.

Sue Marsh was one of the panellists in a talk about the shape of the welfare state, discussing issues such as the fact that the child in poverty is more likely to have a parent in work than unemployed, alcoholic etc. Parents are not able to make a living wage. She also said that we have the lowest level of benefits in the developed world with 94% of those on JSA getting jobs in the first 6 weeks.

The talk on what the new age of protests was achieving was also interesting - discussing whether they are successful given that often they do not serve to veto law, ie tuition fees, NHS bill etc or is it an acheivement anyway, to get those who are voiceless onto the front page? or to raise the consciousness of a generation. It was also mentioned that while once you could not imagine the end of capitalism, now radical systemic change is more on the agenda.

It was amazing to have so many under 18s in the room asking questions and expressing their desire to be able to vote. It was such a fantastic, buzzing atmosphere and I loved the opportunity to listen to such a range of speakers and be surrounded by people who give a bit of a sh*t about the world we live in. I really wish there were more events like this, even if not on this scale, but with opportunities to hear experts speak and debate on their subject.