First Placement Experience

The placement was very hands-on and allowed me to really dip my toes into what social work is all about. I was allocated my own individual cases (six in total) and I was able to co-facilitate one of the agency’s therapeutic groups for children aged 8-12. My cases consisted of two children cases where the main concerns included social isolation and discrimination, and four adult cases with women who were all affected by honour-based violence. For those who are not familiar with the term, honour-based violence can take many forms, but in my practice most often demonstrated itself through physical and emotional abuse, forced marriage and/or female genital mutilation (FGM). 
My involvement with the service users ranged from practical to emotional support and required me to utilise my knowledge and skills gained over the past two and a half years at university and apply them to practice as well as familiarise myself with new theories and methods. As social work strives to be a highly collaborative field, I also had a chance to discover other organisations around Edinburgh as well as work with other professionals, mostly schools, health professionals, the Police and the local authority and finally get over my phone anxiety (strangely enough if you’re forced to do something every single day, it eventually stops being an issue—although it did take me about 10 minutes of hyping myself up before I made my first professional phone call). 
While I was left mentally and emotionally exhausted at times, I have to admit that the cliché in this case is true and it is incredibly rewarding to work and build relationships with people and see a change in people’s lives, no matter how small. I was surprised by how close of a bond I had with some of my service users after just three months and I was genuinely sad to be leaving in the end. The idea of not seeing someone ever again and not knowing where their life will take them is quite difficult to accept after you get invested in someone’s well-being, and while it was never my intention to work with children, they were definitely the hardest to say good-bye to-- admittedly, I almost cried (twice). 
And so, with saying good-bye to my service users and my first placement, I also said good-bye to my third year of university, which feels surreal, but I’m looking forward to what my last year of undergrad brings.