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!
Friday, 20 January 2012
A quiet week in placement
This week was quite a difficult one.
THe community was so quiet on Monday and Tuesday that i started to be concerned about whether there was enough going on for me to be able to write all the reports needed for my portfolio. All the clients were in bed all day or out for the day, so i spent most of the day waiting around in the office. GRoups were getting cancelled as clients weren't coming and the client who i was told i would start key working with in a few weeks went out all day both days and so i didn't get a chance to even introduce myself. The other two students told me that the community seemed to be in a dip and they had never seen it this quiet. We believe part of it is due to two staff members and one client leaving, but as i have now found out two more staff are to leave shortly, i'm not sure what effect this will have.
Thursday picked up as i attended my first community meeting which 4 clients came to and although the level of engagement was fairly low, it gave me more opportunity to get to know some of them, including the one i would be key working with. I was supposed to shadow someone keyworking with him this week but that wasn't able to happen so i look forward to doing so next week. All clients present their challenges, but the main one here will be making him believe there is a role for us in the community to support and help him, and that perhaps he does need this help. But it's a challenge i really want to engage with.
Although i'm slightly worried and frustrated by the pace, i do think i could learn a huge amount from this placement if there were more clients around in the day. I also really enjoy the reflective environment, where staff meet before and after every group that takes place to discuss how they feel about how it went, issues that occured, behaviours of clients etc I learn a huge amount from this. Equally i enjoy watching the therapists engage with the clients. I feel i can learn quite a bit about style of communication, putting boundaries in place, dealing with more aggressive clients, or those wishing to avoid the topics at hand.
For now, it's fingers crossed that it picks up a bit.
THe community was so quiet on Monday and Tuesday that i started to be concerned about whether there was enough going on for me to be able to write all the reports needed for my portfolio. All the clients were in bed all day or out for the day, so i spent most of the day waiting around in the office. GRoups were getting cancelled as clients weren't coming and the client who i was told i would start key working with in a few weeks went out all day both days and so i didn't get a chance to even introduce myself. The other two students told me that the community seemed to be in a dip and they had never seen it this quiet. We believe part of it is due to two staff members and one client leaving, but as i have now found out two more staff are to leave shortly, i'm not sure what effect this will have.
Thursday picked up as i attended my first community meeting which 4 clients came to and although the level of engagement was fairly low, it gave me more opportunity to get to know some of them, including the one i would be key working with. I was supposed to shadow someone keyworking with him this week but that wasn't able to happen so i look forward to doing so next week. All clients present their challenges, but the main one here will be making him believe there is a role for us in the community to support and help him, and that perhaps he does need this help. But it's a challenge i really want to engage with.
Although i'm slightly worried and frustrated by the pace, i do think i could learn a huge amount from this placement if there were more clients around in the day. I also really enjoy the reflective environment, where staff meet before and after every group that takes place to discuss how they feel about how it went, issues that occured, behaviours of clients etc I learn a huge amount from this. Equally i enjoy watching the therapists engage with the clients. I feel i can learn quite a bit about style of communication, putting boundaries in place, dealing with more aggressive clients, or those wishing to avoid the topics at hand.
For now, it's fingers crossed that it picks up a bit.
Friday, 13 January 2012
My first week of placement
This week was my first week of placement and a pretty exhausting one, coming straight after a pretty relaxed 3 week Xmas holiday.
I am working in a residential home for adults with mental illness. Most of the clients have had many other placements that have broken down and this one comes after a difficult journey.
I need to set the context for my blog in that I have virtually no experience in mental health and many of the views expressed might come across as incredibly naïve or downright stupid, so apologies for this in advance! I welcome all advice, criticism, suggestions or anything else!
I knew from my trial day that there would be some aspects of the role that i was less sure about and I has concerns as to whether there was enough social work esque roles to do to help me really learn and develop.
After my first week, I have quite a different opinion. Those tasks do still frustrate me and there are some days I don’t particularly enjoy, days where I barely see a client and only do the above tasks but, the amount there is to learn about mental health is truly incredible. Being in an environment like this is so different to going on weekly visits to service users – it really feels like you see people in all different moods/spirits, you observe different interactions between clients and staff and the pace of the place is quite unreal. Although cheesy, I actually feel quite priviledged to meet some of these people and engage in the way we are able to, joining in community lunches, listening to clients open up about the voices they are hearing and the struggles they are coping with.
I particularly enjoyed Thursday when I had my first proper interactions with clients, one particular session involved myself and another student taking a client to the café as part of “leisure group”. Although it was only 1.5hours, it felt incredibly intense and draining but I also really enjoyed the time I spent with the client. I did notice emotions I felt a bit ashamed about too – while X was engaging with members of the public, talking to them on the street or walking into shops, I was anxious and felt relieved when we left. I think there was a part of me that felt I wanted to protect X from how these people might react to them, or whether they might embarrass themselves – and I felt very guilty for these reactions after.
I had a similar experience one night when on the way home from my shift I encountered a client pleading with a member of public for money. It was for us to decide whether to interact as we were officially “off duty” – it brings up interesting questions around our roles and our boundaries.
Similarly, I think the issue of choice and responsibility within mental health is one that is at the forefront of my mind at the moment. You can’t force people to engage with groups, or therapy or take medication, but at what stage are there consequences for certain types of behaviour? Should there be consequences for not taking part in cleaning the house, or playing music too loudly? We have started to have discussions about what this might look like. (I am obviously presenting this in a very simplistic manner, clearly there are reasons why someone is not engaging but equally is there a point when sometimes it can be used as a scapegoat?)
Today a new referral joined and I will be starting keywork with them in 3 weeks which I’m really looking forward to. I have been reading a lot about task-centred practice and person-centred, strengths based approaches – the humanistic approach is one that I really value.
The staff are great and every Friday there is a staff meeting all afternoon including a staff therapy group with an external facilitator. It’s an intense environment but I can totally see the need for it as even in the short time I have been there so many incidents have occurred. It seems like an open and transparent way to vent frustrations is very useful. I think in many ways its quite incredible how some of the staff are able to challenge the manager about decisions they feel uncomfortable with in this kind of setting.
In all I think I’ll learn a great deal from this placement. I already feel like I want to question so many of the practices and think it is an environment that really encourages reflection. I also am looking forward to having the freedom to research things that feel important to me or to the particular clients I’m working with, and opportunities I can take to carry out the most effective keywork, rather than work strictly around a university syllabus.
The first part of this will just be getting an understanding of some of the main diagnoses in the house; bipolar, schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorder.
I am working in a residential home for adults with mental illness. Most of the clients have had many other placements that have broken down and this one comes after a difficult journey.
I need to set the context for my blog in that I have virtually no experience in mental health and many of the views expressed might come across as incredibly naïve or downright stupid, so apologies for this in advance! I welcome all advice, criticism, suggestions or anything else!
I knew from my trial day that there would be some aspects of the role that i was less sure about and I has concerns as to whether there was enough social work esque roles to do to help me really learn and develop.
After my first week, I have quite a different opinion. Those tasks do still frustrate me and there are some days I don’t particularly enjoy, days where I barely see a client and only do the above tasks but, the amount there is to learn about mental health is truly incredible. Being in an environment like this is so different to going on weekly visits to service users – it really feels like you see people in all different moods/spirits, you observe different interactions between clients and staff and the pace of the place is quite unreal. Although cheesy, I actually feel quite priviledged to meet some of these people and engage in the way we are able to, joining in community lunches, listening to clients open up about the voices they are hearing and the struggles they are coping with.
I particularly enjoyed Thursday when I had my first proper interactions with clients, one particular session involved myself and another student taking a client to the café as part of “leisure group”. Although it was only 1.5hours, it felt incredibly intense and draining but I also really enjoyed the time I spent with the client. I did notice emotions I felt a bit ashamed about too – while X was engaging with members of the public, talking to them on the street or walking into shops, I was anxious and felt relieved when we left. I think there was a part of me that felt I wanted to protect X from how these people might react to them, or whether they might embarrass themselves – and I felt very guilty for these reactions after.
I had a similar experience one night when on the way home from my shift I encountered a client pleading with a member of public for money. It was for us to decide whether to interact as we were officially “off duty” – it brings up interesting questions around our roles and our boundaries.
Similarly, I think the issue of choice and responsibility within mental health is one that is at the forefront of my mind at the moment. You can’t force people to engage with groups, or therapy or take medication, but at what stage are there consequences for certain types of behaviour? Should there be consequences for not taking part in cleaning the house, or playing music too loudly? We have started to have discussions about what this might look like. (I am obviously presenting this in a very simplistic manner, clearly there are reasons why someone is not engaging but equally is there a point when sometimes it can be used as a scapegoat?)
Today a new referral joined and I will be starting keywork with them in 3 weeks which I’m really looking forward to. I have been reading a lot about task-centred practice and person-centred, strengths based approaches – the humanistic approach is one that I really value.
The staff are great and every Friday there is a staff meeting all afternoon including a staff therapy group with an external facilitator. It’s an intense environment but I can totally see the need for it as even in the short time I have been there so many incidents have occurred. It seems like an open and transparent way to vent frustrations is very useful. I think in many ways its quite incredible how some of the staff are able to challenge the manager about decisions they feel uncomfortable with in this kind of setting.
In all I think I’ll learn a great deal from this placement. I already feel like I want to question so many of the practices and think it is an environment that really encourages reflection. I also am looking forward to having the freedom to research things that feel important to me or to the particular clients I’m working with, and opportunities I can take to carry out the most effective keywork, rather than work strictly around a university syllabus.
The first part of this will just be getting an understanding of some of the main diagnoses in the house; bipolar, schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorder.
Friday, 28 October 2011
5 weeks into my career change
I’ve just come to the end of my study week – my 5th week, in which we have no lectures, just time to study and prepare for essays. I can’t actually believe I have only been in uni 5 weeks. I feel I have learnt such a ridiculous amount in such a short time.
It’s funny – social policy, although interesting, was probably the module I thought would be hardest to relate directly to social work – when compared to some of the others such as critical theories. In fact, I’ve found the module so helpful, both for getting a better understanding of the news and just a context for the world we live in.
Last night I watched John Humphry’s programme on The Future State of Welfare. I wanted to throw something at the screen for the incredibly biased opinions given about welfare recipients, but the one aspect I did enjoy, was feeling so much more familiar and so much more empowered to disagree with what was being said, since having learnt about many of the key aspects. Before my module I admit I hadn’t even heard of Beveridge and the terms ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving poor’ meant little to me. Now I am beginning to have a much greater appreciation of policy decisions and as my essay title was about whether women are treated as secondary citizens within the welfare system, could particularly relate to the way lone mothers were portrayed on the show. I have just submitted my complaint to the BBC. Check out this blog for more info and help complaining, http://otonwheels.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/complaint-to-the-bbc-re-humphries-tfsowwjh/
The course really is such an educational experience and I really am enjoying it. I can’t pretend that I’m not finding it pretty stressful – getting back into essay writing and preparing for two 4000 words essays is tough going but the breadth is incredible. My second essay which I have not yet started writing, asks me to look at three critical theories, and assess how useful they are to social work practice. Initial reading has proved really interesting and although I realise that in practice, it would never be quite as mechanical as to stop and think about theories, I believe the more I can understand about them, perhaps the easier they’ll be to use naturally.
I’ve also started having experience interviewing other members of the group – so far I’ve only been an interviewee, but next week I play the social worker – learning how to listen, to encourage, to show empathy – but not to advise – before we then go on to interview service users. I will also soon be doing three days of shadowing a social worker, as well as spending 6x1 hour sessions observing and reporting on a child under the age of 5 as part of the life span development module. This begins next month.
Am also looking forward to our law module which begins next week, even if it’s a four hour lecture each week as the last tutor resigned at the end of the last term and so while replacing them, they changed our 2hr lectures to start later in the term and become 4hrs. Lucky us!
Anyway, in all, it’s great – it’s a rare opportunity to learn so much, so fast.
Admittedly the thought of starting placement in January, having seen the amount of work that needs to be completed next term, with no holiday until August is a tad daunting. But as I immerse myself more in the course, I certainly feel excited about what’s to come. Possibly more excited now I’ve written one essay!
It’s funny – social policy, although interesting, was probably the module I thought would be hardest to relate directly to social work – when compared to some of the others such as critical theories. In fact, I’ve found the module so helpful, both for getting a better understanding of the news and just a context for the world we live in.
Last night I watched John Humphry’s programme on The Future State of Welfare. I wanted to throw something at the screen for the incredibly biased opinions given about welfare recipients, but the one aspect I did enjoy, was feeling so much more familiar and so much more empowered to disagree with what was being said, since having learnt about many of the key aspects. Before my module I admit I hadn’t even heard of Beveridge and the terms ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving poor’ meant little to me. Now I am beginning to have a much greater appreciation of policy decisions and as my essay title was about whether women are treated as secondary citizens within the welfare system, could particularly relate to the way lone mothers were portrayed on the show. I have just submitted my complaint to the BBC. Check out this blog for more info and help complaining, http://otonwheels.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/complaint-to-the-bbc-re-humphries-tfsowwjh/
The course really is such an educational experience and I really am enjoying it. I can’t pretend that I’m not finding it pretty stressful – getting back into essay writing and preparing for two 4000 words essays is tough going but the breadth is incredible. My second essay which I have not yet started writing, asks me to look at three critical theories, and assess how useful they are to social work practice. Initial reading has proved really interesting and although I realise that in practice, it would never be quite as mechanical as to stop and think about theories, I believe the more I can understand about them, perhaps the easier they’ll be to use naturally.
I’ve also started having experience interviewing other members of the group – so far I’ve only been an interviewee, but next week I play the social worker – learning how to listen, to encourage, to show empathy – but not to advise – before we then go on to interview service users. I will also soon be doing three days of shadowing a social worker, as well as spending 6x1 hour sessions observing and reporting on a child under the age of 5 as part of the life span development module. This begins next month.
Am also looking forward to our law module which begins next week, even if it’s a four hour lecture each week as the last tutor resigned at the end of the last term and so while replacing them, they changed our 2hr lectures to start later in the term and become 4hrs. Lucky us!
Anyway, in all, it’s great – it’s a rare opportunity to learn so much, so fast.
Admittedly the thought of starting placement in January, having seen the amount of work that needs to be completed next term, with no holiday until August is a tad daunting. But as I immerse myself more in the course, I certainly feel excited about what’s to come. Possibly more excited now I’ve written one essay!
Monday, 17 October 2011
A month into the MA
So, I haven't really been posting recently but i've now done about a month of the MA course.
I've learnt so much in such a short space of time. My course is very full on, we're in uni four days a week - in total about 16 hours a week, with everyone living in the library between lectures. I've just handed in my practice social policy essay and just been given the first of my two 4000 word assignments in for after Xmas, and also working on my reflective diary. Having heard about other courses, it seems that they're not all consistent and this one may be a higher workload than some - shame i didn't know that before, haha!
One of the things i am enjoying about the course is the reflective element - not just the explicit stuff i.e write a reflective diary but a lot of the other modules, particularly the psychology aspects of our critical theories model often lead me to think of ways i have behaved, or certain ways i have communicated and how i might have done it better. We've also had debates about our culture and ethnicity and how it affects the way we are today, where our values come from and a range of broad questions that you tend to take for granted but I've found very interesting to probe into a bit.
The breadth of the course is mad, covering social policy, psychology, life span development, research methods (possibly my least favourite),the more practical side of social work, and in two weeks time, my 4 hour law lectures begin! But I'm loving learning so much and for me, pretty much every single class is totally new information. The majority of the class have studied psychology or sociology which means they seem to know a lot - so i do feel i'm working hard to play catch up but it also means i find everything new and interesting.
One of the things i really enjoy is that we get set two totally random articles to read for one of our modules each week and then discuss in class. This week the theme is human rights, so one article is about human rights and whether the social work code of ethics in different countries overlap enough with the human rights act, and the other was specifically about the gypsy traveller communities and the application of human rights. Last week it was about systems of management within the workplace and another on ecological theory and how you can apply lessons from the environment to groups around us...very broad!
I also enjoy how topical it is, and the fact it's helped me interpret the news a bit better - i.e today's class was on globalisation - something that pervades most news stories.
Next month i'll also be doing 3 days shadowing a social worker, and start my child observation - 6 x one hour sessions observing a child under 5, which should be really interesting.
It's certainly exhausting, but as i know i'm lame at working in evenings, i'm making sure i still go out and have fun then - i find it great way to switch off from the essays in hand/ my form of self - care (!) and i'm at my most productive in the days anyway, even if it means weekend working!
Anyway...basic summary of a boring post is that it's all going well so far! Just slightly scared about essay writing!
I've learnt so much in such a short space of time. My course is very full on, we're in uni four days a week - in total about 16 hours a week, with everyone living in the library between lectures. I've just handed in my practice social policy essay and just been given the first of my two 4000 word assignments in for after Xmas, and also working on my reflective diary. Having heard about other courses, it seems that they're not all consistent and this one may be a higher workload than some - shame i didn't know that before, haha!
One of the things i am enjoying about the course is the reflective element - not just the explicit stuff i.e write a reflective diary but a lot of the other modules, particularly the psychology aspects of our critical theories model often lead me to think of ways i have behaved, or certain ways i have communicated and how i might have done it better. We've also had debates about our culture and ethnicity and how it affects the way we are today, where our values come from and a range of broad questions that you tend to take for granted but I've found very interesting to probe into a bit.
The breadth of the course is mad, covering social policy, psychology, life span development, research methods (possibly my least favourite),the more practical side of social work, and in two weeks time, my 4 hour law lectures begin! But I'm loving learning so much and for me, pretty much every single class is totally new information. The majority of the class have studied psychology or sociology which means they seem to know a lot - so i do feel i'm working hard to play catch up but it also means i find everything new and interesting.
One of the things i really enjoy is that we get set two totally random articles to read for one of our modules each week and then discuss in class. This week the theme is human rights, so one article is about human rights and whether the social work code of ethics in different countries overlap enough with the human rights act, and the other was specifically about the gypsy traveller communities and the application of human rights. Last week it was about systems of management within the workplace and another on ecological theory and how you can apply lessons from the environment to groups around us...very broad!
I also enjoy how topical it is, and the fact it's helped me interpret the news a bit better - i.e today's class was on globalisation - something that pervades most news stories.
Next month i'll also be doing 3 days shadowing a social worker, and start my child observation - 6 x one hour sessions observing a child under 5, which should be really interesting.
It's certainly exhausting, but as i know i'm lame at working in evenings, i'm making sure i still go out and have fun then - i find it great way to switch off from the essays in hand/ my form of self - care (!) and i'm at my most productive in the days anyway, even if it means weekend working!
Anyway...basic summary of a boring post is that it's all going well so far! Just slightly scared about essay writing!
Friday, 30 September 2011
Trial placement day
Today I had my trial placement day, in preparation for my start in January. I'm not going to discuss my opinions on the placement or details today because I quite want to wait until I start, however one thing that was v interesting was the 4 hour meeting conducted every Friday afternoon.
Alongside admin issues, staff have a group one hour therapy session facilitated by an outside moderator, and group supervision and training where each week someone discusses a designated article or clinical case. I really enjoyed this session and some really big questions came out of it:
- at what point is one the therapist vs a member of the community? If you have a finite 1 hour therapy session with a client which is stuctured, should you behave in a consistently controlled manner the ret of the time or react more "normally" to client's behaviour?
- if you don't give enough feedback to their behaviour, does the residential setting reflect the real world enough and aid rehabilitation?
- age. If you've just turned 18 you're technically an adult, but if you've been used to being treated as a child for so long, it doesn't change in a day and yet the way the services work do. How can that transition be smoothed?
- was also quite intersting to see how different clients bring out such different emotions in staff. While one enjoys working with one client, another can find it near impossible. Its a lot about your own personal issues, being particularly in tune with a client or them bringing up something in your past.
- lots of questions about boundaries, the process of detaching, and the role of the professional vs the human.
The less enjoyable part of the day was hearing a story about recent self harm with a needle, repeated to many staff members. I have the worst needle phobia of anyone i know. Not fainting was an achievement.
That's all folks.
Am rather ready for the weekend!
Alongside admin issues, staff have a group one hour therapy session facilitated by an outside moderator, and group supervision and training where each week someone discusses a designated article or clinical case. I really enjoyed this session and some really big questions came out of it:
- at what point is one the therapist vs a member of the community? If you have a finite 1 hour therapy session with a client which is stuctured, should you behave in a consistently controlled manner the ret of the time or react more "normally" to client's behaviour?
- if you don't give enough feedback to their behaviour, does the residential setting reflect the real world enough and aid rehabilitation?
- age. If you've just turned 18 you're technically an adult, but if you've been used to being treated as a child for so long, it doesn't change in a day and yet the way the services work do. How can that transition be smoothed?
- was also quite intersting to see how different clients bring out such different emotions in staff. While one enjoys working with one client, another can find it near impossible. Its a lot about your own personal issues, being particularly in tune with a client or them bringing up something in your past.
- lots of questions about boundaries, the process of detaching, and the role of the professional vs the human.
The less enjoyable part of the day was hearing a story about recent self harm with a needle, repeated to many staff members. I have the worst needle phobia of anyone i know. Not fainting was an achievement.
That's all folks.
Am rather ready for the weekend!
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