Placement is going okay, kinda enjoying myself. I’ve been spending some time with Community Support Team (kinda like a secondary care service for supporting people with mental illness in the community. There’s no emphasis on medication or the mental illness itself, it’s just like a support network really. It’s quite cool.

Anyway I’m hoping to go back there next week or so; I went out with one of the senior support workers and met one of his clients who said he’d enjoyed himself on our little trip to a bakery/cafe. That was lovely, and I hope to go next week to have like a continuity with service users. One thing that I don’t like when I’m out with the community/going out with a worker for outreach is that I see a service user once and then that’s it. I’m unlikely to see them again, so I can’t see what progress (if any) they may make and I only get to see a snapshot of them and their life. Going back to CST would be great especially as I don’t finish this placement till September (I think).

I’m quite tired so this entry doesn’t feel as ’solid’ as my other entries. I dunno why I’d be concerned about that, but I’ve just got disjointed thoughts about this placement that I want to note down but I’m too tired/not bothered to untangle those thoughts into a logical order that’ll make sense to me when I read back at a later date.

Anyway I’ve got a study day tomorrow and it’s in uni. We’ve got a journal we have to complete every two weeks, and I have to complete it before I go to bed. But I might just complete it during my lunchreak tomorrow if the reflection/supervision lecture is in the afternoon and if I’m too tired to do it tonight.

But yeah, placement’s not too bad. Though I have spent quite a bit of time just stuck in the office reading policies etc to while-away the time. That’s one thing I don’t like about the community – it’s kinda sedate with not a lot to do. I guess that’s good in a way because you’re supporting people in the community, in their ‘natural’ environment, so there’s less of a need to do something for someone. If that makes any kind of sense. But I prefer the ward environment – more busy and ‘hectic’ and there’s usually always something to do. Plus it’s like you’re in your comfort zone. This may sound bad but, being on a ward it’s a familiar territory, so you know what to expect what to do in certain situations etc. But in the community, although there’s more flexibility, it’s more ‘up in the air’.

Wow, I’m really not making any sense whatsoever here; think I’ll call it a night!