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- Students tell us, and this is supported by research,
that the field experience is perceived
as the most important component
of their social work education.
We know that a successful field experience
requires a number of components.
This videotape includes five standalone segments
that provide triggers for discussion and for reflection.
Following each segment,
we provide optional discussion prompts.
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- Just as beginnings are important in our work with clients,
beginnings are critical in developing a base for learning.
The following are clips from two separate discussion groups.
Experienced field instructors and first year students
at the start of their practicum.
Notice how these separate,
unscripted discussions mirror each other.
- [Voiceover] Orientation lays the the foundation
for what the whole experience is going to be
like for the student.
- I think, for myself I try to
put myself in the shoes of the student.
And I think about them coming both
with some anticipation about the placement,
but a fair bit of anxiety.
- I, personally, was incredibly concerned about,
you know, what was gonna happen when I first got there.
Were people gonna look at me
like I was a 15-year-old high school girl coming in,
not really knowing anything?
So I was more worried about how I was gonna blend
with the rest of the team
than the actual practicum itself.
I was really comfortable with the field instructor
from what I knew about them,
so I wasn't as concerned about that relationship.
It was more, everything else that was going on.
- [Voiceover] I think to prepare myself,
I thought about what I had done in the past
that I could take with me as skills and things
from volunteer work and from, you know, summer jobs
that are social work-related.
And when I thought of those things,
then I didn't feel nearly as much like a beginner.
- Going into this thing, sort of, with the hopes
of learning and gaining a lot of things,
so as far as preparing, I just sort of
tell myself we're just sort of, let myself know that yes,
I do in fact have, although I'm a student,
I do in fact have some skills.
I have something to offer.
- [Voiceover] My field instructor I talked to
on the phone prior to actually going in
for my first day of my practicum
and he encouraged me to read various articles
on the population.
- First day back after the break, I received a letter
from the agency, not necessarily from my advisor.
Just kind of saying, oh here, we're going
to have a little orientation day and stuff,
and that just made me feel way better.
- Yeah, I was gonna say that I'm also concerned
because I'm a person with a low vision,
with a disability and that, of course, is always a concern
going into a new setting.
So I was concerned that I wouldn't
that quickly enough accommodated at my setting
and I wouldn't be able to keep up with the demands.
But it's all worked out very well and I'm very pleased
to know that, and to see that, they have,
they take it as a priority, and they've enlarged everything
and, you know, they've done as much as they can.
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- [Voiceover] The most important thing to me
is to make the students feel welcome.
So prior to starting their practicum,
I would send a notice to everyone in the division
telling them that students would be joining us
and I would like them to help welcome the students.
Any way they can help the student in making their experience
a meaningful one would be appreciated.
- Organize lunch for them for the first day
to meet the social workers in the setting.
So we have lunch together.
We do all mundane things too,
like showing where the washrooms are,
where the office is.
We have them on e-mail, voicemail,
keys, library.
- How the infrastructure of the place
you're working at works.
How everyone's connected and who talks to who.
All of the little details.
- Once we started, that was one of the first things we did.
We spent some time going through where social work fits
into this, sort of, multidisciplinary team
and that sort of thing so I think that was really helpful
in learning what my role is, where I would fit in
and that sort of thing.
So that was, yeah, quite helpful initially.
But it was a concern at first.
- [Voiceover] That's something that I have been learning,
actually, in the setting where I am
is this, working with other people,
from what I'm able to observe,
social workers work more with other staff
than they actually do with the patients in the unit.
- Because we're a smaller agency,
we can actually arrange for several
face-to-face kind of meetings with people
all the way from the executive director down to, you know,
the receptionist, and really give the student
a broad range of exposure.
- Our orientation takes place over a number of weeks
and we do it because of the multi-centered nature
of the setting.
They do it with various social work persons
who are part of each service.
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- Perhaps not the first day, but as soon as possible,
I like to bring all the students together
and look at their own, their needs and setting up
their own agenda for the learning as a group.
So as soon as I'm able to bring them together as a group,
I would like to help them address some
of the identity issues.
Looking at their own identities in relation
to the diverse populations they work with at the setting.
- I think the patients in my unit,
most of them are still confused about who I really am
because there are ambulatory staff
who are all younger.
And there are patients who are mostly older.
And not ambulatory.
And various assortments of wheelchairs.
And then I come in and I've got keys,
so I can actually go in and out and go where I want,
but I've got grey hair and a wheelchair,
so they sort of look at me, you know.
I've been there a month now.
I don't think they're still figured out really why I'm there
and who I am.
- I'm being allowed to be a student.
Like, that's encouraged.
It's, you're a student, you're here,
you're doing a practicum, you're here to learn.
Your learning is the priority, pretty well, for you.
- What I found helpful was to discuss
what the expectations were from us as students
with my supervisor.
And then also having her give me the opportunity
to give feedback as to what I would expect
from the practicum and from the staff,
from the supervisor, and negotiate that
so that, if something were to come up,
we would be able to have open dialogue around anything.
- [Voiceover] I'm so impressed.
I just thought, they really are practicing
what they're a part of in terms
of how they look after students.
I just found, like telling me the same sort of thing,
the open negotiation, at one point she kept checking in.
You know, how are things,
debriefing after the first meeting,
and, was that too much.
Checking everything out, such great attention to detail.
And then, saying, and I said no, it was great,
it was great.
You know, I'm a little stressed the first week, but.
And then at the end of it, she said,
I had said, you know, it was all great.
She said, well hopefully there will also be space of like
safety as we go along for you to tell me
when things aren't good, too.
I just thought, isn't that neat.
We all need social work.
- I learned by doing, I learned by just kind of jumping in
and being thrown into it.
So yeah, I kinda had the same concerns
that no one was gonna let me do anything.
That you were just gonna be sitting in some dark room
reading article after article.
- [Voiceover] I was concerned that they were
just gonna throw me into it.
I would have been happy if I had a couple days
of reading, but I was concerned that they were gonna be,
okay, here you go, start doing something.
I wouldn't have known what to do.
- [Voiceover] I guess one of my concerns was
that it would be too quick to throw me into the fray.
Not enough preparation.
Like it would be, you'd be shown something once
and then you'd be expected to remember it
and do it always that way, the correct way.
I guess that was one of my fears.
- I guess my concerns were how to engage with clients
that don't have very complex problems.
- I like that, though.
I like the fact that I wasn't thrown into a case
where I would feel completely overwhelmed.
I'm glad that the first couple of things that I've done
have been easier, to kind of get the ball rolling.
But I have watched more complicated assessments,
so that when I see, or when I'm thrown into those,
then I'll feel a little bit more comfortable.
I think for me that's a lot easier.
- We do try to give them a lot of leeway
in terms of what they would feel comfortable with.
Would you prefer me sit in with you
in the first couple of sessions?
Or do you think we should be behind the mirror
and do you prefer that we not phone in too often?
These kinds of things.
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- When I had a student in the first day
they were shadowing me and sitting in on clinical sessions.
Depending on the student and their experience,
I like to, by the second week,
have them have a case of their own,
because I think if it goes on too long,
they start to get very anxious and it becomes
a much bigger issue than it needs to be.
- Also I believe that an assignment, the direct assignment
should come very quickly as they enter the practicum
so they're not worried about, somebody else has cases,
I don't have cases, what's gonna be expected of me,
how could we, well I need to have an interview.
What will I do in that interview?
Who's gonna help me know what to do?
And I think the most important part,
we have found, is the shadowing.
Being able to sit it on various interviews
and watch how professionals conduct interviews successfully
and not always successfully
so they can pick up various pitfalls
that they might fall into.
- [Voiceover] One of the things that I do with students
in the initial orientation to the setting,
as they're shadowing me, I ask them to,
after the session, to go away and write up
a reflection log, if you will, of observing the session.
It struck me that when you talk to a student
after a session, you ask them,
so do you have any thoughts on the session?
Often, you know, you'll hear, well it was interesting.
So if you send them away and they have to think about it
and the have to write stuff and you give them
a structure of how you'd like them to write this down
about observations of the sessions,
things they noticed about my interventions,
questions they may have had, speculations they may have had.
It's a really wonderful way to get a sense
of where this student it at, what their thinking is.
It's a good springboard for discussion and consultation.
- [Voiceover] I think it really, in the end boils down to
how do we build relationships.
It's about helping students feel good in relation
to each other as a peer group, to their field instructors,
to the agency, to the people they're working with.
It's about building community in a very, kind of, quick way.
I think the orientation begins that process
in a very important way.
It establishes a sense of belonging.
I really think it's just like our work with clients.
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- Research informs us
that a positive student, field instructor relationship
is a critical factor in terms of student satisfaction
with the practicum.
Interpersonal dynamics between the student
and the field instructor can be affected
by the power imbalance.
In the following segment, Brian brings
a typical student dilemma to Tamara's attention.
In the first scenario, Tamara
is not effective as an educator.
The second scenario demonstrates an improved version.
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- I wanted to discuss the end of the practicum.
Three weeks left and I'm having some issues
regarding termination and one client in particular, Shawn.
- Shawn, right, Shawn.
- So I haven't mentioned the termination to him yet,
but I'm sort of afraid because,
he has no other form of support.
He has no one else to talk to
and I was wondering if it would be totally inappropriate
if I were to give him my number.
Or even if you can recommend
that I continue working with him.
- So you're finding it hard to think about ending with him.
- Yeah.
Considering the circumstances,
his family, his family atmosphere isn't
conducive to him coming out at all.
- How does that make you feel to hear all those things
and knowing you're ending?
- I feel horrible for him.
So that's why I wanted to know if,
if you could recommend that I continue working with him.
Or maybe even giving him my number
so that he has some form of support.
- We're pretty clear around your placement ending.
And your obligation with the school is finished.
We knew this time would come, but it's a hard time.
I'm wondering, you know, if we can talk a little bit more
about your feelings about leaving,
and leaving Shawn particularly.
- With Shawn in particular, I think it's
more the fact that I sort of understand
where he's coming from.
I can empathize with his situation.
We're from the same cultural background
and it's totally intolerant towards homosexuals.
So he has trusted me, I think,
mainly based on that.
I know what it's like.
I've been through it.
- So knowing what it's like,
what kind of feelings do you have about leaving?
- I feel as if I'm abandoning him.
I'm the only person he feels comfortable
talking to about this.
- [Voiceover] You know, we probably need to talk a bit
about where that comes from.
'Cause abandoning, that's a pretty strong feeling.
- Yeah.
Because he has no support at home, right,
and even his friends, they're totally intolerant as well.
I feel a little bit responsible, if that makes sense,
so maybe that's where the abandonment issue's coming from.
- What do you mean?
Responsible in what way?
- Responsible because
I am a representation of what he could be.
I mean, same cultural background, same experience.
He's invested some trust in me, right?
- [Voiceover] Moving it back to your feelings,
'cause I think it's important we talk a bit
about your reaction and what this is bringing up for you.
So if I can move that back.
What, you know, you said abandonment.
What other kinds of feelings are coming up for you?
What are you identifying with with Shawn?
- Well, mostly it's triggered by the fact
that he's really depressed.
That's my main concern.
- [Voiceover] Have you experienced that before in your own--
- Not to that extreme, I mean.
I've been fortunate.
In comparison I have very supportive friends.
While the rest of my family wasn't
as accepting as my mother,
at least I had her.
He doesn't have that.
Even his friends aren't understanding.
His friends are from the same intolerant mentalities.
- I know you wanna discuss Shawn and what's going on for him
and that's important, but I find that whenever I'm trying
to get at your reactions, you're sort of pulling away.
Maybe a little resistant to talking about it.
But I think it's important to look at.
What do you think?
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- I wanted to discuss the end of the practicum.
Three weeks left and I'm having some issues
regarding termination.
I'm really concerned about one client in particular, Shawn.
17, he's in the process of coming out.
And I'm concerned mainly because
he has a tendency to get really depressed,
and I feel really bad.
I feel like I'm abandoning him.
- [Voiceover] I'm glad you're bringing up the termination
and you're bringing it up before the last week.
This is sort of something we needed to talk about.
You ending.
But feeling badly about it
is a pretty normal feeling.
Particularly when you've developed the therapeutic alliance
that you have with Shawn.
Tell me a bit more, just about what you're worried about.
- I think, I sort of understand where he's coming from.
We share the same cultural background.
So I can identify with what he's going through.
He's comfortable talking to me based on that.
I was wondering if perhaps you'd recommend me
continue working with him
or if it's totally inappropriate
if I could give him my number.
- Okay, you're worried about leaving
and particularly, as you said, based on the fact
that you've the therapeutic relationship
and are now strategizing
about how to hang in there with him.
We sometimes go through these things,
especially when we've connected really well,
but I think that, you know, we have structured,
from the beginning you've contracted
that you would be leaving in April.
You know, that's a requirement, really, of the school
and that's a requirement of us.
So we probably have to figure out
how to make that leaving okay for Shawn
in a way that he gets what he needs.
What are you worried about with Shawn?
What are your, what are some
of the outstanding concerns you've got?
- I think the major one is the cultural,
the issue regarding culture and being gay.
I think, mainly because he doesn't have the support at home.
And not from his friends either.
It's, I guess, sort of the same mentality
where homosexuality is just not tolerated.
He has some assurance when he's talking to me
that there's hope.
I feel like termination is gonna kinda bash that hope.
- [Voiceover] It's important to recognize
that part of this are your feelings.
Because we haven't discussed them, necessarily,
with Shawn yet.
And, you know, the counter-transference that you're feeling
around, I come from the same background,
I've been through that process,
I don't wanna leave him during this hard period.
You know, a lot of that has to do
with your own emotional reaction,
which is natural, but we can't give into that.
Because it's not really helpful for Shawn in the end.
You've gotta sort of figure out the difference between
your feelings and Shawn's feelings
about the process of ending.
So have you brought it up?
- [Brian] No, I haven't, and I think the main reason, too,
is he does have a history of depression
and I didn't really bring it up.
And I'll have to, but I wasn't sure
how to approach it either.
- When are you meeting with him again?
- In a couple of days.
- [Tamara] Okay.
And it is important that you go through the process together
of discussing you leaving.
The fear around his reaction is natural.
Again, your feelings, your counter-transference.
Don't let that get in the way
of allowing him express him feeling.
Whether it's sad, depressed, angry.
Because these are normal feelings to feel
when someone's leaving.
Someone who you've developed
a therapeutic relationship with.
I'm wondering how you think you can use the realtionship
that you've developed with him
to help him through that process.
- I think, by pointing out his progress.
Because he has made a lot of progress.
- And that's an excellent idea.
Because again, when we're terminating with clients,
to be able to, sort of map out for them
where they were and where they are now
can be a very hopeful thing.
And, given your fear of making him more depressed,
this could be a way of really building upon his strengths.
So I think that's a great idea.
- I think another one of my concerns is
having him continue sessions
and, if not with me, then,
well, I don't know if there's anyone who could really
connect with him the same way.
Does that make sense?
- In what, why?
- I think the cultural thing has a big part in it
because,
there's trust invested because of that, I think.
I don't know, I can't think of anyone here
who could fill that.
- Well there's certainly no one here
who's sharing the same cultural background as you or Shawn.
So that's been a benefit in the development
of your relationship with him.
And we know, realistically, that we can't offer that to him.
How do you think you can use the other elements
of your relationship, therapeutic relationship
you've developed to help him connect with somebody else?
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- Conflict is a normal component of all relationships.
How we deal with conflict determines
whether the outcome is constructive or destructive.
The following illustrates
a typical student, field instructor dilemma.
In the contracting interview, Sally had agreed
to one half day of intake duty, even though
she would have preferred to spend her time elsewhere.
The following discussion takes place three months
into an eight-month practicum.
- Sally, I'm really glad that you were free
to speak with me this afternoon
because I wanted to share some information
that I've gotten earlier today
from Carol, the intake supervisor.
And I wanted to also get some feedback from you
about her information.
Carol's mentioned that she's concerned
because you've missed a couple of mornings
of intake over this term,
that you've been late a couple of times,
and that the quality of your recording,
the written recording, has gone down lately.
And I wonder if you could tell me
how you see that situation.
- Well, it's true.
I have missed a couple of times.
One, I think it was late September and one more recently.
I have these debilitating migraines
and the two times I was absent,
I had a migraine.
I guess there was one at the end of September
and maybe one more recently.
Yeah, I did, I called in.
- Yeah, she did say you called in.
- [Sally] Yeah, I called in and said I was sick.
I guess I'm concerned about the fact
that she thinks that my recording isn't up to par.
You know, I thought I'd been filling them out just fine.
- Well I think you had been doing them,
they were really pleased with what you were doing
earlier in the term, so we know you have the ability,
it's just that things seem to have slipped
and I'm wondering how things are going
in intake for you that morning?
- Well, I thought things were going fine in intake.
It's not really a very difficult task.
Pretty much anybody could do it.
There's just lots and lots and lots of forms to fill out.
You know, it's kind of boring.
Especially since, you know, it's what I did,
I've done intake, geeze, for different agencies
for many years.
You know, before I came back to school?
- I hear from students a lot that there's not a lot
to be learned from intake sometimes.
And yet you and I have discussed,
and I've certainly talked about it
in our staff meetings as well,
that you're really the entry point,
that you're the person who's the first receptacle
when somebody calls, that you are the hook
that brings people in to see our workers in person,
so it's really important to not just listen
to the factual data, but to be listening to how people
are feeling about a situation and how to make them
want to come here.
- Yeah, well, you know.
I think intake is one of those things
that everybody has to take their turn at
if that's the way the agency operates.
Like this one is.
I just, I don't know, I just feel like, you know,
it's one of the downsides of the job and I don't even,
you know, even get paid for it.
Everybody else here gets paid for it.
Not only don't I get paid, but as you know
I've sacrificed, you know, a pretty decent salary
to come back to school and I'm paying to go to school
and I'm doing intake, which is not, you know,
which is not something I need to learn how to do.
I know how to do intake.
I've done it for years.
So I'm feeling kind of used, really, on those mornings.
- Yeah.
So you really are thinking that somehow or another
the agency isn't being fair to you.
But, you know, I guess the other thing I'd like to say
about that is that
there has to be some kind of give and take here.
- I came here to get,
you know, to sort of hone and develop my clinical skills.
That's what I was really hoping for
when I came back to school.
And intake, you know,
doesn't do that for me, whereas, you know,
Dr. Jones is there on Wednesdays presenting
and doing consultation and, that's exactly
what I would have loved to be learning here at this agency.
- Well, that is a really good opportunity for the staff
of the agency, and I'm sure you hear them talking about
how much they get out of it.
But I guess the other part I wanna keep referring back to
is that you say 19 hours of your week
you are getting something really out of it.
Even in relation to intake, there's always something new
you can learn, because you're in a new organization.
- Well.
I'm not finding that I'm learning a whole lot,
if anything, from doing intake.
I'm finding it boring and tedious,
and I just feel kind of used.
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- Well, that was a kind of frustrating meeting.
I...
You know, as understanding as Roxanne was trying to be,
I just don't think she gets it.
I'm having to do a job that I've been doing for years,
that I don't need to learn about,
that I'm paying to learn.
And missing out on some of the most important pieces
of learning that I could possibly have
in an agency like this.
- That was a really tough discussion with Sally.
I started to wonder about what was happening with her
because she was missing the Wednesday intake
but not her other days of work.
I was concerned that maybe how she felt about that
was starting to affect her attendance
during that particular time in practicum.
But since she told me she'd been ill,
I really wanted to not go into that
and to trust and respect what she was telling me
at this point in time.
I guess I'm also very concerned that I'm going to have
to start to be a mediator because staff are starting
to notice her absences.
It may mean that I'm going to have to do some kind of
buffering between her and staff.
The other piece that I'm concerned about
is that she seems to very much want
to have time with Dr. Jones, even though the rest
of her practicum is going very well.
On one hand, I certainly understand
that she's made a lot of sacrifices to come back to school,
but I also see that Dr. Jones is probably
one of the biggest perks for our staff,
who would say in fact that most of their work time
isn't as successful, isn't as fulfilling,
as perhaps Sally sees her practicum.
So I can begin to see that there may be
all kinds of organizational issues
that may occur as a result of this.
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- A major challenge for most field instructors
is the transition from practitioner to educator.
Charmaine models effective teaching
by assisting Gina to openly discuss
the multiple complexities involved in working
with diverse populations.
- So I was wondering how things are going
with the work you're doing in the community?
- I'm glad that you actually asked me that question,
'cause I'm finding that,
on the one hand I think it seems like things are going okay,
and on the other hand, I'm just having difficulties
connecting with people in the community.
I'm not really sure what that's about.
I'm just having a hard time connecting with people.
And getting the word out that we're trying to start
a group for young black women.
- I'm not sure what you mean
when you say difficulty connecting.
- Well, I mean, it's not that anybody
has said anything directly, so I just,
whenever I approach people individually
or in small groups and I try to tell them
about this group that we're trying to start,
I just get very polite, kind of, nods,
and oh that sounds interesting,
I don't have time or yeah, yeah, okay, let me know when.
But not a lot of,
I'm not sure if I'm not explaining it well
or presenting it well, but it just seems
that people are being, again, really polite,
but I've just gotten the feeling
that there's something that I'm missing.
- No, I'm glad you brought it up
because I've been wondering
about how that project's been going.
When we had done the preliminary groundwork
to sort of talk with people about the potential
for having a student do this in their placement,
it seemed like it was something
that could get off the ground.
But I know in sort of recently talking
with some of my contacts with the community,
there has been a bit of an issue
in the sense that they're wondering about
whether or not it's going to be possible
for you to establish this group.
And specifically because they're wondering if maybe
some of these people that might potentially
be involved with the group might be unsure
how to work with or react to the fact
that you're a white woman.
And they're, as young black women,
sort of wondering if that's going to work
in terms of whether this is somebody who can
really understand, I guess, what the issues are
and be able to work with them.
- I really wondered if that was part of it.
If, because I'm not from this community.
I'm not black, and what it's, is it really appropriate
that I be trying to start a group
for young black women as a white woman.
So I wondered if that had,
if that was part of it, because I really
care very much about this group
and I think it's really important.
- I think it has to do with issues
that are much larger than that.
Because a lot of the communities
that we're reaching out to now
haven't had a history of working with us in partnership.
There's some reluctance, some uncertainty
about what this could mean.
And I think that, you know, regardless of how
you may be presenting yourself as an individual,
people may see you as representing something
in your race, in your class,
in your being a university student, whatever.
They may have ideas about what that represents.
It's a barrier that we have to try to work through.
It's an issue we have to be able to talk about
and an issue we have to be able to address
since, you know, while sometimes it is possible
to match people up in terms of age or gender
or sexuality or ethnic or racial difference,
in a lot of situations, we're working across a difference.
And learning how to address that
both in terms of how it makes us feel
to realize this difference is there,
but also how it makes our clients feel,
or groups that we're working with feel.
I think it's a very important part
of looking at practice now, in a time
when our communities are increasingly diverse.
So when you think about, you know,
working with this group of women,
it sounds like you weren't getting,
really a hostile reaction.
Just maybe some, you know, I guess reticence.
Maybe they just weren't sort of very forthcoming
and really engaged or ready to engage with you.
So while I might wonder if maybe this is just something
that is not going to work with this group of people,
that doesn't seem like the immediate answer,
because I know we got that indication up front
that this was something that would be welcomed.
So I guess we have to think a bit about what might be
behind that kind of, I don't know, I guess reluctance
to get involved.
- I think I have had questions about
whether I'm really the appropriate person
to be starting a group like this.
I am white, I'm wondering if that's influencing
some of the young women's willingness
to take part in the group
because I'm, my experience so far
is that they seem really hesitant to kinda wanna talk
to me, so they might see me as someone who just,
who may talk the talk, but doesn't really get it
'cause I don't live it everyday.
I think that might be one thing.
I don't, maybe another issue
is that they've had negative experiences
with not just social workers, but maybe other professionals.
I wonder if that's part of it too
is their concern about what kind of stereotypes I have.
I mean there may be lots of potential barriers
and maybe I've kinda been going about it the wrong way.
- Well, you know and I don't know that I'd necessarily,
I don't think that you should take this all on yourself,
because even as we talk about what kind of issues
might be affecting the situation,
clearly a lot of them don't have anything to do with you.
Their previous experience with other agencies
or other social workers is not something
that you can control.
In the wider sense, their experience of being in the city,
of kind of stereotypes that are applied to them
as young women and young black women,
these are things that you haven't individually
sort of been responsible for.
And when you talk about the fact
that you don't know what their lived experience is
as black women living with racism and other kinds of,
you know, systemic problems, that's very true
and nothing's going to change that,
but I think it's also important to remember
that you're not there because you're supposed
to be bringing your lived experience,
necessarily, to that.
You're bringing some resources and some ideas
that come from your experience as a social worker
or as a social work student at this point.
So I don't think that it's any problem
to be able to say to people,
look, obviously I do not understand this aspect
of your experience, in the same way that I could say
that as a black woman, I have some understanding of that,
but as a black woman that's older than them,
that has a very different sort of background,
that sits here with this job in this agency,
I can't sit there and say that I, either,
have a full understanding of their experience.
So, I mean, I think it's important to be honest
with people about that.
That you recognize that difference,
that you recognize it's an important difference,
and that it's something that you're going to have to
learn from them about.
And that the contribution that you wanna make
is not based on some assumption
that you know everything about what's going on
with them, but that you hopefully have some ideas
that can be put together with what they're dealing with
to do something creative and hopefully productive
in their community.
So, I mean, I guess I'm thinking about how
to sort of move forward.
I know that sometimes when there's these kind of problems
with establishing a group,
there's been an unfortunate tendency
to think that the problem is that they're just not ready
or you even hear people talking about certain groups
that are resistant to receiving help.
And I think that one of the things
that we understand now better is that sometimes the way
that we're going about things is problematic
and the issue is not that they're resistant
or that they aren't open to change,
but just that the way we're going about it
isn't an effective way to work with certain groups.
So I'm wondering about how can we get a clearer sense
of what the barriers are.
- Could you and I work together and try to maybe
arrange an opportunity, like have like an open forum
where people can come out
and speak about some of these barriers?
- I think that's a great idea,
'cause I think it's important for them, too,
to see you as attached to, you know, people and agencies
in the community that they have some experience with
and some trust in.
So certainly, yeah, I think, you know,
sort of reflecting on it, while I thought that
the preliminary work we had done talking with these groups
would sort of create a good foundation,
I think that probably it's important
for me to get more involved and for the agency
to get more involved because it's a lot to expect
somebody who's in a practicum to break this ground
on their own, and I think this is gonna be a valuable thing
as well for the agency too.
So if you're okay with that,
why don't we start making arrangements
to have a meeting like that,
maybe in the next couple of weeks
and we'll take it from there.
- Thank you very much.
- [Charmaine] Okay, great.
(soft pop music)
(soft orchestral pop music)
- This segment presents clips of graduating students
reflecting on what they valued in their field experience.
Despite a range of settings,
common issues and themes emerge.
- Both my field instructors really, I think,
supported the person I was coming in.
And so they respected me a lot.
And so, because they treated me with respect,
I think the team treated with respect,
the agency treats you with respect,
and it sort of it, sort of like a domino effect.
- The culture of the agency where I was at,
creating an environment for staff and for students,
the same kind of environment that you would create
for your clients.
- I learned a lot from my field instructor
about how good working relations
were essential to my learning and the outcomes
I was trying to achieve.
For a while, I stayed on safe subjects and supervision.
She asked me how things were going,
and I always told her about my projects,
but not my uncomfortable feelings being around
very experienced, vocal workers.
- It really is that relationship piece.
And she said for her, this was a fun experience.
She hadn't had a student in a while, she said,
and she wasn't sure, was it going to be a lot of work,
was it gonna be, oh, I shouldn't have taken this on.
But she got as much out of it as I did,
and I think that speaks to the relationship you develop,
how you work together collaboratively,
how you both bring something to this relationship.
- I think it's really important for supervisors
to take into account the person you were
before you came into the placement
because that will in some ways determine
where you're gonna start.
- I spoke her a lot about my cultural orientation,
my cultural background,
influence of my culture on what I'm doing,
how I conduct counseling or assessment, or.
It was really great because I'm sort of reserved.
I'm Japanese and sort of, like, my culture is that,
it's very difficult for me to be a little bit assertive.
And you know that piece
could be understood as incompetence.
She wasn't judgmental.
I could be myself, I could use that part of me,
like politeness or whatever.
Those elements may work in a nice way,
but at the same time, I had to learn
how to be more assertive.
- I think both of my supervisors in both years
tried to walk a mile in my shoes as a student
and figure out what opportunities would be
very interesting for me.
- My field instructor and I worked really well together
in terms of finding the balance between
having structured learning and unstructured learning.
- I come from a small town
where everyone knows each other for years.
And I was so afraid of making an offensive remark.
Especially as the only white male
and a student working in an area
that I wasn't that familiar with.
- I did a process regarding
because last year I was in a hospital setting
and the population was completely different
so for me it was very useful to offer to see
my own reaction.
- I don't know if you guys did any taping, or?
- [Voiceover] I taped every session in the very beginning.
Toward the end I didn't tape as much,
but I found that taping and then watching the tapes
really helpful, and my field instructor could also watch me
from behind the mirror at the very beginning
of my practicum.
Which I thought would be really nerve-wracking,
but if it's done in a really safe and supportive way,
it's amazing, it's the best learning.
- I just think it's really important
for a student to be hands on
and have every opportunity to observe and watch
and listen and see exactly what their supervisor does.
- Because I really felt like, I knew that if anything
came up, that we were gonna be able to work through it
and be respectful of each other,
and it ended up benefitting, I think, us.
Certainly deepened my relationship with my clients.
And I think that made me feel really good.
- I just think it's so comforting to know
that if you do feel that there's a difference of opinion,
if you and your supervisor aren't
on the same page with something,
if you've had a couple of positive experiences,
where you've gone in and sat down
and talked about these different,
the reasons why you're feeling differently with each other,
and you come out, I think, learning a lot
because you listen to the other person's perspective.
- And it makes you feel safe to say,
oh, I think I messed up here
or I think I didn't do the right thing here,
and that's gonna be okay, you can work through it.
Huge.
'Cause you are gonna make mistakes.
You're not always gonna be perfect.
- It's so important to have a space
where you can just sit and say,
this was really difficult.
- One day, on the way back to the office together,
she commented on my silence in a very heated meeting
we had just left.
I was still stunned from the meeting
and I let my guard down.
It was a real turning point for both of us.
- [Voiceover] I would have to say that one
of the most important things that I've taken away
is the relationships that I got to have
with both of these women.
They have been, like, just the most
incredibly important people
in my life in the last two years.
(soft pop music)