Ramblings of a Social Work Student

Endings

2007-06-03T18:09:00.000Z

In social work, they say endings are important. At the moment I am feeling simliar feelings in my social work life and in my life in general. So I'm devoting a whole blog post to endings, because I'm feeling sad and reflective and something that I can't describe, as I always do at this time of year. I don't know what I'm going to do when I don't have a long summer to think about life, because that's what I'm looking forward to now.

Today in Chaplaincy we had a picnic in the garden to mark the end of an era. The garden that I fought so hard to save is being bulldozed tomorrow. I'm still angry and sad even though it's a battle I lost what seems like a long time ago now. We do have a compromise but it's of little consolation to me. I hate it when green spaces get destroyed.

Last year in halls I had a lovely view out of my window of a big tree. When I moved into my room I thought how lovely it would be to see the tree change through the seasons. But before it could grow it's new leaves again in the spring, they chopped it down. I loved my tree, and then it was gone. I will be glad not to be around Chaplaincy when they start pulling the trees and bushes down tomorrow. I am still on placement so I'll be at work. The best place for me. I would cry. I dread to think what it'll be like when I return to Chaplaincy next week when I'm back on campus again.

On Wednesday I'm finishing my placement at the residential home. It hasn't been the best time of my life but I have learnt a lot and there are people who I will miss. Over the last six weeks I have been doing a split placement between there and a hospital social work team. So on Thursday it will be last day there. I will miss that too, in the short time I've been there they have been so welcoming and lovely.

Then I have 3 weeks of lectures during which time my friends will slowly drift home. The academic year will end gradually. At the Chaplaincy service this afternoon we wrote down what we loved about Chaplaincy and about each other. It was lovely to see how everyone appriciates each other and that we have made such good friends. I've never had so many lovely friends all in one place before. Friends, if you are reading this (you know who you are)- I love you.

Then after my lectures I will have to pack up my stuff and move house. I will miss my peaceful little room. My window looks out onto the garden which has lots of trees, and so do the houses either side, so I'm up in the tree tops. It is mostly quiet apart from the birds singing. This morning it was lovely to be woken up with the sun streaming in the window and the woodpigeons cooing. But I won't miss my fussy-about-the-cleaning housemate, being woken up by people being sick at 5am, not being proper friends with my housemates and the fact that I've now got more stuff so it doesn't fit in my room very well.

In my next house there will be 3 of my friends, with others promising to visit often. I will have a bigger room, which may work out to be a little cheaper than my current one in the end (work that one out!). When I am on placement I won't feel like I'm missing out because my friends will be there when I get home. I'm really looking forward to it.

Life and social work- sometimes the line in between is blurry. Endings are one of those things.

The Image of God in others

2007-02-06T17:27:00.000Z

For a long while I loved the idea that there is a part of God's spirit within each of us, along with the idea that everyone is made in the image of God. This really helped me today when I was thinking about my struggle to find purpose in my placement. I thought about The parable of the sheep and the goats. God whispered in my ear, ‘I was silent and you gave me a voice’. He said that he was calling me to give these people a voice. Here is my own version of Matthew 25:35-36. Imagine a user of social services saying it to you.

I was hungry and you fed me
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink
I was homeless, and you found me somewhere to live
I was shivering, and you gave me some clothes
I was sick, and you visited me
I was in prison, and you still cared
I was cast out, but you included me
I was ignored, but you took the time to talk to me
But most of all, I was silent, and you gave me a voice.

Autumn term, Christmas, New Year and Beyond...

2006-12-30T16:26:00.000Z

You'll have noticed that I haven't blogged. Like, ever. I didn't have time last term and I don't know if I will next term. If I do have time I shall endeavour to write some more social worky stuff, which should be easier as I'll be on placement. For now, I will try and summarise what I did last term.

I've started the ball rolling on SCM opening it's own bank account, which it now needs as an affiliated society, organised training for the committee, plugged the conference like nothing else and did the usual in terms of the day to day running like committee meetings etc. I'm pleased with how it has progressed, and next term's plans are looking good. As President I've had to sit on Chaplaincy Student Council and Chaplaincy Advisory group, on both of which I have been as vocal as possible, pushing the 'garden agenda' as hard as I could. I coordinated a petition to try and prevent the University building a car park on the Chaplaincy garden, and went to countless meetings and got suitably stressed being in the middle of the irate students (and Chaplains!!) from Chaplaincy, the SU and Estates and Facilities. It was worth it, though, because we came to a suitable compromise without messing up any of the relations between any of the parties involved.

I somehow also found time to attend Chaplaincy services twice a week and do a bit of hanging around in Chaplaincy. I've had some nice weekends with Ian and some time at home for family events. I have carried on with Contemporary Dance every week except the last and made it to Ballet when I could. I've been at the pub an awful lot, doing the quiz on a Thursday night with friends, which has been fabulous fun. Oh and I haven't missed a single lecture or tutorial.

So, that was the last 11 weeks. Since coming homes it's just been Christmas, Christmas, Christmas and now it's nearly New Year. I still haven't done enough reading for the courses I took over the Autumn term and I've only got a few available days left before I have to return to Southampton and begin my placement ('So what are you doing blogging then?' I hear you ask).

The placement is at a Social Services run older people's home. More than that I cannot say, due to confidentiality. I hope it will be ok, my only concerns are a) that they don't employ social workers so I will not have any experience of actually doing the work of a social worker, I will be doing only similar work and b) that I do not yet have a practice teacher with whom I can discuss my concerns and who will be able to suggest ways in which I can creatively make this placement meet my needs. What my supervisor has already suggested sounds great to me, but I need to check that it will help me to meet the National Occupational Standards in social work.

Next term promises to be less busy in terms of the societies and so on, but I do have things such as the SCM conference, and the summer promises my 21st Birthday celebrations, Taize, Greenbelt, mediaeval reenactment, another holiday to Cornwall- much to look forward to in the coming year.

I'm also beginning to look further into the future. I'm now about halfway through my degree, and the end is in sight. I know I have more than a year still, but I know that my final year will be full of planning for the end and applying for jobs and so on.

Oh well, best concentrate on the here and now I suppose. That means that sadly I must sign off and go and read some of my course handbook so I know what on earth I'm supposed to be doing for the next few months, before our New Year guests arrive. Ho hum.

Holiday

2006-09-22T10:12:00.000Z

Well I did really well with that promise to myself didn't I? Oh well. I'll get round to blogging about all that stuff I've got saved up at some point.

Anyway, had a great holiday last week with my boyfriend in Cornwall. Here is the beautiful view out of our tent:

As you can see, the weather was quite kind to us as well. We packed a lot into our 4 days, one of the highlights being the very impressive Eden Project. They really practice what they preach, providing recyling facilities at every turn and considering the impact they will have on the environment when they build a new building, and trying to minimise it. I was also very impressed by the way they have just put that little bit more thought into everything to make the whole of the Eden experience inclusive to everyone. The variety sandwiches in the cafe catered for meat eating people, vegetarians, vegans, those with allergies such as gluten. Most of the site was accessible for wheelchairs and so were the buses that transport you from the car park to the main site. Braille was used appropriately on some exhibits and most of the signs telling you about each plant or project had a simple Widgit (a symbol language for those with a learning disability) translation at the bottom. I think this just goes to show that a little more thought goes a long way towards including everyone.

Rebel

2006-08-24T14:51:00.000Z

During my first year of uni I changed quite a lot. I won't go into all that now (I may at another time if I feel comfortable doing so), although a couple of people who read this might know what I'm getting at. Anyway, when I got home for the holidays and was back with my family, I changed back. Probably because it was easier to fit back in that way. It has done me no good however, and so for the past couple of weeks I have had to go back through and try to get back to where I was when I finished uni for the year. Which has resulted in me at times being very moody and selfish and unlike me, and caused considerable tension at times between me and my boyfriend. It was like I was rebelling against myself by being the exact opposite of everything I am.

However, today I put all that behind me and decided that I need to feel alive again. Because I don't experience life to the full unless I feel that way- unless I feel like me. That may not make sense to some people who read this, but it makes sense to me.

Today I also resolve to use my blog more. During times when I didn't have time to sit down and create it, let alone write anything in it, I made some scribblings about stuff I eventually wanted to blog about. So, over the next few weeks, I hope to get out those notes and try and make sense of them by blogging every day if I can.

First Blog

2006-06-07T16:06:00.000Z

I have blogged! Yet another new way of communicating. Several people I know have recently started blogging. It's one of those things where it seems like everyone is doing it, so everyone does it. And then everyone really IS doing it. Two people who I told that I was starting a blog said that they had/ were going to start their own. And yes, I am fully aware that I too started because other people did.

It's like any new form of communication. Once you've discovered it, you realise what you were missing out on and suddenly, you can't live without it. Like texting, or MSN. Think about it. What would your life be like without those ways of communicating? I know I'd have lost a lot of friends by now, especially if I didn't have MSN.

Take Simon for example: http://www.darksidechaplaincy.blogspot.com If you look at his first post, he seems rather critical of the whole blogging thing. Yet more and more has he blogged, he just can't get enough!! Other people have said the same.

I fear that I may go the same way. You'll probably be hearing a lot more from me in the near future!