Meet Izzy

Izzy is a psychology graduate training with us in London.

We’re following her training journey with us to get a feel for life on the programme and hear what it’s like to be a mental health social worker.

Catching up after the first placement

So, how’s your first placement been… Really?

It’s definitely been up and down!  I found it hard to begin with because things seemed much slower than I was used to and I didn’t feel like I was doing enough. I had two and a half years’ experience as a support worker in mental health and that job was much more reactive, helping find short-term fixes in times of crisis.

But I’ve come to appreciate that this is about sussing things out together. Meeting a person’s needs at their pace. You have to find out what is important to the person you’re working with, where they want to be, what their goals are, and then help them get there.

Sometimes you’ll be supporting people who know exactly what they want, with them leading the way. Other times it’s up to you to help show them the support available and encourage them to take it up.

I’ve also struggled with the academic side of things if I’m honest. Not necessarily the work itself but prioritising it and getting back into it all. I enjoy learning the theory and reading around the research, but sitting down to write an essay just feels so long!

Where were you training?

In the Early Intervention in Psychosis team. It’s quite a niche team, made up of around 25 mental health nurses, social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists.

And who are you supporting?

I was working with adults and young people who’d had a psychotic experience for the first time. They would be experiencing things that no one else is, which could be seeing or hearing things, but could also be paranoia.

What was your first day like? And week?

Good, but if I’m honest quite surprising. I think I’d almost expected everyone I’d be working with to be in crisis because of my previous role working in a mental health unit, but it isn’t like that. You can be supporting someone for three years in this team so it’s a much more gradual process than I’d imagined.

For the first month, my Consultant Social Worker (who is like my manager) arranged lots of shadowing for me to really understand the role.

I remember being so surprised by the first service user meeting I sat in on. It was really chatty and informal, I couldn’t believe it. We were sitting down having a conversation – like an everyday conversation that you’d have with anyone.

The professional connected in such a natural way and you could see the person they were supporting felt really comfortable, knowing they were getting “what I need, for now”.

Were there any standout moments for you? Anything that made you feel particularly proud to be doing this job, or anything you’ve found particularly tough?

Having said this role isn’t about times of crisis, one person I was working with rang the office late one Friday afternoon when they were feeling suicidal.

You have to think on your feet in situations like that. You can’t be in your emotions.  I made sure they knew they could go to A&E if they needed someone immediately. Then I referred them to the crisis team to make sure someone could check in on them over the weekend and keep them safe.

I knew what I needed to do and didn’t panic under the pressure. I felt like: I can do this!

And what next?

So for me now, I’m having to really focus on writing up my portfolio showing all the experiences I’ve gained and the learning I’ve taken from them.

Then, after the holiday’s I’ve got my contrasted learning experience working in a children’s safeguarding for a Local Authority. I’m really looking forward to it because I haven’t done a lot with children or families before.

Anything else you’d like to share at this stage in your journey?

For anyone starting out I’d just say really try your hardest not to have any expectations. No matter how much you think you know, there’s a lot more to learn and it won’t necessarily be what you’d expect.