My Placement Year at Older Adult Mental Health Services,Medway. Katie Snow Supervisor: Reinhard Guss My Expectations I was worried at the start of my placement that I would not be able to meet the expectations of the placement. My supervisor helped me with my anxieties and was available if I needed help. Difficulties? At the beginning of my placement I had difficulty managing my time. I found it hard to chop and change between tasks. I got a diary which I relied heavily on - I highly recommend one! I also found some of the work emotionally draining. Throughout my placement I visited a lady with anxiety and depression weekly. After my first visit I was so drained. However with time, this became a lot easier and I saw other clients on the same day. A client who I saw weekly on my placement, passed away near the end of my placement. I found this really emotional. However, with supervision to reflect on my feelings with my supervisor, I learnt from my experiences and deal with my emotions. Advice for Future Students ‘ Don ’ t judge a book by it ’ s cover ’ - Many students aren ’ t interested in working in Older Adults. I admit I wasn ’ t. However, I got such a vast range of client contact and really enjoyed working with such a fascinating client group! Keep on top of the diary from the start. It ’ s hard to remember what you did in week 1 when you are in week 15! It is invaluable experience, it puts you in a strong position coming out of an Undergraduate Degree. Seize every opportunity you can on your placement. Why Do The Applied Course? I decided to do the Applied Degree as it seemed a valuable opportunity to gain experience in the competitive world of clinical psychology. I also thought it would give me experience in clinical psychology to help me decide whether it was a career which I wanted to pursue. My applied year out I would class as the most beneficial year out of my four year degree. I have learn so much about a clinical psychologist, more than any book could have taught me. The Reflective Diary The reflective diary was useful as it helped me think about what I was learning from my placement. Keeping the diary up-to-date was difficult. Each week, I wrote down all the important things from my week. I then edited them when it came to writing up my diary. The Research Project My project focused on the Memory Strategies Group. This is a ten week group, for people in the early stages of dementia. In the first half of my project I helped with the development of the group. In the second half I looked at evaluating the group and clients filled out measures before and after the group which I completed a statistical analysis on. My project was very relevant to the service as due to specialist Memory Services, people are being diagnosed with a dementia in the early stages when more cognition's are intact. As a result there is a need to support these people who are coming to terms with a diagnosis, grieve for their losses and plan for the future. The results of the study had no statistical significance (which could be because of the low number of participants). However, many clients showed a positive clinical change in subjective wellbeing. Also the verbal feedback I gained supported theories on group therapy. I found my project extremely interesting. I have expanded my placement project into my final year project. This has helped me greatly in my final year as I already have project in place and have done most of the background reading. Placement Details & Responsibilities My placement was in Older Adult Mental Health Services, Elizabeth House,Medway. The service was split into two teams:Functional Team (for mental health problems e.g. depression,anxiety,psychosis,OCD etc) and the Dementia Team for people experiencing memory problems of who had a dementia. I worked in the psychology department which consisted of 2 Consultant Clinical Psychologists, an Assistant Psychologist and 2 trainees who are on rotations from the Doctorate programme at Salomons (training to be a clinical psychologist) There was a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, nurses psychologists,occupational therapist and support workers. My responsibilities were: Support work with 2 clients for an hour each week.One clients had anxiety and depression and another who experienced anxiety and psychosis. Helping at the Horticultural Project- a gardening therapy group for people with young onset dementia (before age 65) Organising and helping in the Memory Strategies Group - a therapy group for clients with a recent diagnosis of dementia in the mild to moderate stages. Helping with the running of the Memory Clinic- a specialist service providing assessment,diagnosis and treatment for people with a suspected dementia. Audit Work - I completed various audits for the service which would benefit the service. I also fed back the results of the audit in meetings with professionals. The placement had a good mixture of practical and research work. A benefit of my placement was the amount of practical experience I got.