Counselling appointment

@rav3n yeah, so the placement is pretty much like a 'trial' i would say, where you do the actual role during your 'placement' period but you have like a placement supervisor that's there to supervise you in real-time throughout the whole shift until the end of your shift. they check to see how you go with the interactions with the microskills you're using along with the CARE framework to the help seeker.

then after your placement shifts are over (which is usually like around 2 placement shifts within 4 weeks) depending on the skills you've applied onto the interactions from your training, then yeah they'll determine whether you're eligible to move onto the next stage which is the official 'crisis supporter' stage

makes sense! @Blackcloud it'll definitely be great practice.

Ah, yes! Apologies. I shall correct - I am glad you have found a counsellor you click with. 🥰 @Blackcloud

Hey @rav3n @so my first placement shift that I did today didn’t go well as I expected it to be…

I even had one of the help seekers asking me if I was a real person or an AI :face_with_rolling_eyes:

hey @Blackcloud sorry to hear it didn't go too well - but yay for completing your first placement shift! no ones expected to be perfect during placements, and it's always a great learning experience.

haha i've had someone ask me if i was a bot once! was your supervisor helpful?

@rav3n oh yes he was very helpful and was there to help and support me throughout my whole shift! he did give me some constructive feedback on what i did wrong with that interaction though, especially with what i said to the help seeker that then led them to ask me if i was a real person or an AI since i was 'repeating' what they were saying.... as well as my response after that that he also gave me constructive feedback with.

so yeah i've been doing a bit of a reflection on that interaction in one of the training courses since we're required to write a reflection as part of our placement shifts. but there's other things i would have to i guess do and potentially get better at the more i do it.......

I've been able to debrief with the supervisor before I my end shift on how I'm feeling about my shift today and stuff like that so it felt great to be able to debrief it to them.

@Blackcloud that's so good to hear!! constructive feedback, writing reflections and doing those debriefs are such a good way to learn and process things. i love debrief sessions hehe it's nice getting things off our chest!

ahh yep, that's fair - at least now you know for next time about the repeating part! when's your next placement?

@rav3n yea but not gonna lie it was actually a bit upsetting to hear the constructive criticism I've got...

my next placement is in more than 2 weeks time.