Student placements – why choose the voluntary and community sector?
Our role at Community Chesterfield is to link up the knowledge and skills within the voluntary and community sector here in Chesterfield with those within the University of Derby.
Part of this remit as a project is to support student placements, working both to highlight the opportunities that are available to nursing students in the wider health and social care sector and to help community groups to place a student within their organisation.
Completing a placement in the voluntary and community sector can be enriching for the students, allowing them to experience what support exists within health and social care outside the public sector - along with numerous other benefits. The benefits for the community groups can be equally as positive – you can visit our student placement pages here to read more about the benefits it can bring.
One of the community groups we work alongside, EMH Care and Support, is currently hosting two occupational therapy students from the University of Derby and we spoke to them about their experiences of completing their placements within the community sector…
Becky said:
“Having an opportunity to work with EMH Care and Support has given me an excellent experience to work with service users in a real-life situation. It has provided me with appropriate skills to be able to develop a rapport with a specific client group and improve my communication skills. The charity has also given me an experience of working in a community and seeing how potential challenges that arise. But overall being given an opportunity to meet new people and make a difference has been a great experience.
“It has given me the chance to practice skills that I have learnt whilst studying at the university. When using the skills, I have also been able to identify improvements with the service users mental and physical wellbeing.
“When working with the service users I have received great satisfaction knowing that I am making a difference to their lives.
“Community organisations and charities can sometimes have difficulty getting other services to help them. They may not have the sufficient funds to employ other staff or health professionals, therefore offering a student a work placement could be a great benefit to your charity.”
Megan said:
“I have spent the last 10 weeks on placement organised by the University of Derby and EMH Care and Support. This placement has given me the opportunity to develop as a student and expand my knowledge on the local community. I am a local girl and being on this placement has opened my eyes to see how many voluntary services and charities there are locally that are so supportive and eager to be involved.
“I have had the opportunity to spend time with different charities and their events whilst on placement, which has broadened my knowledge even more, and this has been fed back to our university educator and Meadow View’s manager to encourage engagement and to spread the word. I have also found that it has positively allowed me to expand my knowledge in the field I’m studying by discussing the roll with a variety of different people and helping them to understand different professions within the health care setting.
“Being on this placement has been a really enjoyable experience, being able to spend everyday with the service users has been the highlight. Watching them engage in activities and develop their skills and independence has been amazing and fulfilling.
“As a student I believe this placement has overall been a great learning experience and really given me the opportunity to develop as practitioner in the field I’m studying.”
If you’d like more information about student placements, whether you are from the University of Derby or part of a community group, you can visit our webpage here or watch our Community Development worker, Alison, discuss more detail about what a placement involves.