A few years ago, while studying for my social work degree, I started a placement with a third sector agency supporting adults with additional support needs to participate in community activities.
I only managed to complete three weeks before having to terminate the placement. This short article cannot adequately analyse the issues that resulted in my placement being terminated, but I hope to help students understand that feeling unwelcome, unsupported and powerless is frankly unacceptable.
My first week went well. I managed to meet the staff and build the foundations of what I considered would be positive relationships. How wrong I was.
Do you have a story to tell?
We’re looking to amplify social workers’ voices on our site, so if you have an experience or opinion you’d like to write about, have a story to share, or would just like to be considered in the future, please contact our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com. No writing experience is required.During a conversation with a service user, a staff member interrupted and said: “Why are you both sitting here? You are supposed to be working. Go and help the other service users finish digging the garden."
To me, this staff member completely disregarded the importance of relationship-based practice, which lies at the heart of all social work interaction. Their ethos was clearly not in the best interests of the service users.
Hostility and disrespect
As the days and weeks progressed, I begun to observe a negative pattern emerging that I was unwelcome at this agency. This pattern was woven together with threads of microaggression, passive aggression, hostility and disrespect.They criticised me for not cleaning the bathroom correctly. They criticised me for not folding dish towels correctly. They criticised me for not knowing how to do tasks that I had not been previously shown. Furthermore, they did not adequately support me with the mental health issues that I had disclosed before attending the agency.
I also observed worrying undercurrents of anti-intellectualism taking place within the organisation. The staff member who criticised me for speaking with a service user almost fell off her chair in dismay when I asked her a question relating to social work theory.
She replied: “You don’t need to know any of that when you are here. Why are you asking about theories?” My response to that is simple – I wouldn’t be able to do my job without ample knowledge of social work theory.
Towards the end of my third week, I decided to report the agency to my practice educator and university. The reason why I had not reported them until this point was because I felt powerless and was faced with an extremely difficult decision.
A defensive resposne
Reporting the agency to the university made no difference whatsoever. The agency was extremely defensive in their stance, blaming the issues on my mental health. They were essentially implying that I was overreacting to the problems and completely downplayed how I felt.The placement was formally terminated, and I had to wait several months before being offered another one. This was only thanks to the support of an advocacy worker at the student union. The university did nothing whatsoever to help me.
In summary, it was completely unacceptable to feel unsupported or unwelcome on placement. As a student, you are in a relatively powerless position, at the mercy of the agency and the university. You are continually being assessed, which naturally creates anxiety and stress.
More student reflections
The importance of raising your concerns
However, when these feelings become unnatural and are the direct result of a placement, it is important to raise your concerns.I have since qualified as a social worker and am now working for a local authority in the UK. This was a very negative period in my life, but I am now more aware and attuned to recognising bad practice and negative attitudes and encourage all students who are on placement to ensure their mental health and wellbeing is the priority.
There will always be another opportunity to study when the time is right, and if in doubt, ensure you speak to a representative from the student union. I cannot stress this enough.
