Student social worker Review

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this placement. I was able to work with both service users and carers with a wide variety of presenting issues. I was allocated adult, children and families and education cases. I have looked forward to going into placement everyday and am genuinely sad to have left. I could do my second placement there I would.

I believe I built a good relationship with all members off staff at The Sweet Project. I found they listened to my opinions and took me seriously. Staff were friendly and happy to chat about anything I needed to. The nature of SWEET meant there were multiple other students on site and whilst I found co-working with certain people difficult the vast majority of other students there were also greatly supportive.

I could not imagine a more supportive team of staff. I received one to one supervision fortnightly and always found this to be worthwhile and a good time to reflect on my week. Case managers were always willing a for you to walk into their office and fire questions at them and if the case manager was unavailable all other staff members are prepared to offer advice.

I was responsible for managing my own diary and as such was as busy as I made myself. Between direct work, visits and case recordings I was never left with nothing to do. If I closed a case I was able to request I was allocated another and throughout my placement carried an average of nine cases.

Once I had been allocated my cases and attended the initial case management meeting I was allowed to continue to work the case as I saw fit. Policy stated that case management must sought a minimum of once every four weeks but other than that you are allowed to work your cases your way. I found it frustrating at times that all correspondence has to be checked by staff before leaving the building but can understand why.

A compulsory aspect of this placement is completing a theory to practice presentation and whilst I initially resented having to do this I found it a very educational experience. I have developed much better report writing skills, am improved understanding of how to apply legislation to practice and observing the staff interact with service users has demonstrated to me how to address sensitive situations.

The general atmosphere in terms of staff and student relationships was good. Staff interact really well with students and will happily joke and have banter with students and one another alike. There was frequently tension between students however as in such an intense environment disagreements between co-workers are frequently blue out of proportion. When this had happened staff have effectively intervened and in my opinion managed student conflicts well.

SWEET is managed very professionally and every aspect of the induction programme was well planned and structured. The duty rota was published a month in advance to enable students to plan their diary around duty cover and the training timetable was published a term at a time.

Whilst in placement it was arranged for me to spend two dats at the local authority children's services department to shadow qualified workers. A comprehensive training programme was in place and external agencies such as specialist LA teams, drug and alcohol organisations and high court judges were brought in to deliver training

Students socialised within their friendship groups and on Fridays the whole office generally sits and eats take away together.