Organisation(s)

AECC University College

Megan Wellman

MSc Occupational Therapy, pre-registration. Undertaking a year one placement, which was a seven week community mental health placement, split between two teams

Summary of placement

Throughout this placement, I was split across two locality teams. Mondays and Tuesdays were spent in one, and Wednesdays and Thursdays were spent in the other. Due to the long travel, Fridays were dedicated to remote work, including teams calls with practice educators, writing notes, creating interventions, and catching up with placement paperwork. I enjoyed a varied schedule of community visits and outpatient clinics. In one locality I worked closely with the OT and support time recovery worker, and in the other I worked closely with the OT, nurse prescriber and psychiatrist. Naturally, working between two teams, it is impossible to plan and think of everything. We realised soon on that I missed both MDT meetings. However, my practice educators were flexible, and we were able to amend my schedule to fit this in. I particularly loved the community aspect of this work and felt benefitted that my practice educators were so opposite, with one providing structure and the other excitement for what the day would bring. Overall, this split placement provided me with a varied range of experiences and insights, and left me eager to delve deeper into community mental health.

Benefits

  • Best of both: My PE’s in each setting were opposites of each other, providing me with a varied range of perspectives and methodologies within different situations

  • Networking: Worked with different professionals in each team, providing more experience across the mental health fields

  • Always busy: Working across two settings means there is always something to do!

Challenges

  • Balancing timetable constraints: juggling schedules can lead to clashes and missed experiences. Communicate well and this can be overcome!

Advice you'd give to others

  • Stay organised: Keep track of paperwork and ensure both practice educators have the necessary information for smooth support

  • Keep everyone updated: Share experiences with both practice educators to ensure a varied range of experiences

  • Be proactive and speak up: It is impossible to plan everything. Speak up if you want to explore something, and voice concerns as this can often lead to solutions

  • Maintain communication: Although practice educators communicate with each other, they are busy. Facilitate communication between them to ensure deadlines are met