GCU placement taster provides professional development opportunity for students

Second year BA (Hons) Social Work students have been given the chance to prepare for placement thanks to on-campus simulation sessions.

Two sessions, held two weeks apart, allowed students to experience what they are likely to face when they spend time in local communities across Scotland in the years to come.

The simulations, which were run by BA (Hons) Social Work lecturer Louise Mackellar, involved a visit to a young man named Charlie - an actor provided by the City of Glasgow College. Students teamed up in pairs and were faced with four different scenarios, which explored themes of domestic abuse, alcohol misuse and mental health.

Video cameras were also set up in the room, giving other social work students the chance to learn and provide feedback to those involved.

Nova Kumwenda, Elan Caldwell, Katie Kirkland and Angela Brown sat down for a chat with GCU Student Life, where they had the opportunity to reflect on their involvement over the two sessions at GCU’s Simulation Centre.

What were your thoughts when you first heard about this opportunity?

Elan: “I was quite excited but also nervous because I didn’t know what it would be like. Thankfully it was a really good experience.”

Nova: “The thought of everyone watching me doing it was terrifying – I think that was the most nerve-wracking part for me. I don’t speak to everyone in the class yet so I thought people might be judging me.”

Katie: “I was also quite nervous at the thought of everyone watching – especially given the fact that I’m on this course straight from school. At the same time, I was actually quite excited because it gave me the chance to do something before placement and that opportunity to actually try it out.”

Angela: “I was raring to go, but I actually didn’t realise that they were going to be recording with the class watching it. I was very excited for it though - it’s such a great way to learn and develop.”

Were you briefed before you went into the sessions?

Elan: “Not really. The whole idea behind it was to basically assess how we would handle a situation that was new to us. We had a session a couple of weeks ago with Charlie and that allowed us to find out a bit about him and the overall situation.”

Angela: “We were given a case study about Charlie around what the initial scenario was. We had a police referral because a neighbour had phoned and there had been fighting. When the police arrived at the flat there were bruises found on Charlie. Our role was to follow that up as an initial assessment as part of our first simulation session a fortnight ago. The event today was basically to follow on from that session and see how we could help him.”

What did you think of the simulation room?

Nova: “I don’t know what I was expecting but the detail in it was so cool – it did feel real! Even the door looked like a real door you would have in a flat. The situation in the flat was also adapted for each session. Some of the groups would go in and it was really messy, some of the times it was a lot neater – they really did put a lot of thought into it.”

How was it working with an actor throughout the simulation?

Katie: “I thought he was really good! You honestly couldn’t tell that he was an actor - he played it off really well. It definitely helped us settle into the whole situation.”

Elan and Angela, you both got the opportunity to interview at the last session, what was the situation this time around? Did you have a tactical approach going into the room for this one?

Elan: “We basically found out how he’d lost contact with his son, how he was drinking quite a bit and how there were issues with his ex and his job. We spoke to him about how he was feeling overall and how he was handling everything. We then discussed Family Group Decision Making with him, explained what it was and found out if it was something he’d be interested in.”

Angela: “I didn’t plan it in my head. I’d tried going in with a plan to the last session because it’s good to have an idea around the issues and how you might tackle things, but it’s quite difficult to go in and think it’s exactly going to be a certain way. Instead, I had a think more about the sort of things that might actually help him beforehand in terms of local community groups.”

Katie and Nova, you were both observers at the last session, this was your first time asking questions. What were you thinking before going into the room?

Nova: “I’d thought about going in with questions but realised from watching the last session that you couldn’t really plan it. Once the conversation starts it can go in any direction. I had different resources written down but I barely even spoke about them. Our situation focused on the mental health side and I had two resources down relating to that – he then said that he wasn’t doing either of them so I didn’t really know where to go. I then had to think on my feet which was really good experience at this point in my career.”

How beneficial was being involved in something like this?

Angela: “I definitely feel more confident, even though I’m quite a confident person anyway. It’s helped me realise that you’ll never really know what to expect and that you can’t go in thinking you know what to expect. The most important thing is to know your stuff and do a bit of reading around ways you might be able to help them.”

Katie: “I was definitely overthinking going into the simulation and definitely thought it would be worse than it was. The first time around I didn’t want to interview at all but I think I’ve become more confident as a result and found it beneficial. Some people on the course have worked in schools or as support workers, but I’ve literally had no experience coming into this. Being involved has definitely prepared me for the future.”

Elan: “I found it really beneficial – I loved it. It gave me a much better insight into what it will be like on placement when I visit service users on their own. I think it’s important for us to understand that it’s not always going to go the way we think and that we need to be prepared for the unexpected."

Nova: “I think I’m the same as Katie in terms of feeling a bit insecure around my level of experience in comparison to others. I also overthought it and was actually surprised when I got positive feedback – it was nice to hear. It’s a good thing to experience overall because this is the type of stuff we’ll all be doing once we start placement.”

Louise Mackellar, BA (Hons) Social Work lecturer:

“I thought that everyone involved did really well. When students first start in their placement, they tend to get caught up in what they can actually do for people; rather than giving the space to let people talk about their situation and feelings around different subjects. The idea behind this was to encourage the students to create that safe space.

“These sessions equip students with the skills they need to not just offer services, but to create an empowering relationship with the service users where they can come up with the solutions collaboratively. I think we really achieved that and you can see that their confidence really increased. Irrespective of knowledge and prior experience, everybody gained something from it.

“A big thank you to Jane McKay and David McKendrick from GCU and Joanna D’Annunzio from City of Glasgow College, who supported the sessions and made them such a success.”

You can find out more about GCU’s BA (Hons) Social Work programme here

By Ross Clark      
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter