Community Chats with Alison – the benefits of a student placement

Student placements within the voluntary and community sector can be a rewarding experience, both for the organisation and for the student.

There are huge benefits of placements for both. For a community group, some of the key positives include increasing your delivery capacity by adding a member to your team, your organisation contributing to strengthening the future voluntary sector workforce and upskilling your own staff by improving management and mentoring capabilities. It also allows you to promote your work and increase the reach of your organisation.

For the student, it creates an opportunity to have a positive impact on a local charity through your specialist skills and knowledge, allows you to care for people with a wider range of health and social care needs, enabling you to broaden your practical and interpersonal skills, as well as allowing you to gain an increased understanding of how the voluntary and community sector works.

In our latest Community Chats with Alison feature, we hear from Alison about student placements and how we work with both community and voluntary sector groups and the University of Derby to help both make the most out of the opportunity.

We also spoke to two occupational therapy students, Becky and Meghan from the University of Derby, who are currently completing their placements at EMH Care and Support. They tell us about the work they are doing and what they enjoy the most.

If you are interested in hosting a student placement within your organisation, email Alison at alison@dva.org.uk.