What having a practice educator meant to me

Introduction

To highlight our new approach to social work education and training we recently published a blog titled ‘My role as a practice educator’, by Kirsty Madden, who supports social work students in the North East of England. Here we catch up with newly qualified social worker Sophie Williams, who reflects on her time at Teesside University, from where she recently graduated, and the positive impact of the support provided by her practice educator.

Why I wanted to become a social worker

My own personal experiences inspired me to start a career in the care sector. I supported a member of my family who faced challenges with his daily routine due to a number of complex issues. I encouraged him to attend support meetings and helped to monitor medication. Every day brought a new challenge and required structure and patience. This experience gave me a real insight into different aspects of social care.

I was also a support worker with a local care provider for 5 years. It instilled a passion for delivering an excellent standard of care, whether it be taking somebody to the cinema, or a simple medication call in the morning. Being a support worker was strenuous, requiring patience but also immediate reaction and a lot of empathy. I learnt to deal with challenging behaviour, build trusting relationships with people and address pressurised situations in a confident and calm manner.

I worked with people of a variety of ages in a person-centred way. This was crucial to providing a tailored approach to their care and support. Being a support worker gave me an ambition to become a social worker so that I could have a greater impact on improving outcomes for vulnerable people. I successfully applied to Teesside University to do a 3 year degree course in social work.

What I learnt from my university placement

My 100-day placement was with a locality team in adult social care and confirmed my ambition to be a social worker with adults. The team worked with vulnerable adults over the age of 18 who had a diverse range of short and long-term needs. I built up my own caseload that really helped to expand my knowledge and experience.

I gained an understanding of key legislation, such as the Care Act 2014, which enabled me to complete full care needs assessments. I gained experience of working with the Mental Capacity Act 2005, which involved completing capacity assessments, making a decision in someone’s best interest and working with Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DoLS). I also developed a greater understanding of the Mental Health Act 2007 and the Human Rights Act 1998.

The placement taught me how to plan an appropriate package of care, balancing the overall assessment need, agreed policies and budgetary provision. I learnt how to complete continuing healthcare checklists and follow the process of activating financial support from the NHS.

The importance of having a practice educator

My practice educator worked with me closely to support and monitor my learning throughout my placement. I was offered regular supervisions to discuss my cases and study theory related to the people I worked closely with, as well as study law. My practice educator was on hand for informal supervisions which I used at any point I felt overwhelmed. I feel lucky that I had a practice educator who was based off-site, as this gave me the ability to work outside my comfort zone and gain shadowing opportunities.

I would not change anything about the role of the practice educator. It is crucial to have a practice educator who is supportive and knowledgeable to guide you throughout your placement experience and I was lucky to have this.

Further support and the impact it had on me

Another student and I were part of a ‘pod’, which is a small group of students with a practice educator. If I was to comment on anything, I would say that more students should experience being part of a pod. Having someone else in the same position as yourself made the whole experience a little less daunting. That close support is really beneficial when you are in your third and final year of university, as the overwhelming amount of study on top of working through your placement can be tough. Having someone else to lean on in that time really helped me. We also used our student time to shadow other teams within adult social care to gain an understanding of how they worked.

Now, I look back and really appreciate all the different opportunities I had as a student. They gave me the ability to build relationships and broaden my knowledge, leading to my registration as a social worker with Social Work England and new role at Middlesbrough Council.