As promised here is a blog from one of our past students Lee Gallacher;
“I was a final year student when I was allocated Anchor House as my final placement. Throughout my time at Anchor House I worked alongside a great team of dedicated workers who made my experience not only a great learning opportunity but also one of my most enjoyable periods of university career. I was welcomed into the team and made to feel valued as a member of the team and not a student social worker. This allowed me to feel comfortable from the beginning ultimately allowing me to maximise my learning.
I worked with a large range of clients throughout my time at Anchor house learning something different from each. This variety makes Anchor House in my opinion an outstanding practice learning opportunity for a university student. The opportunity to work both within the temporary accommodations units and as part of the out-reach team provided me with an opportunity to develop my communication skills in different settings and also when working with other organisations. It also enabled me to gain an understanding of the challenges that service users face when living in the community which can lead to becoming homeless.
Now fully qualified and working as a children and families social worker, it has become clear the effect that my time at Anchor House has had on my ability as a social work practitioner. Although I am now working with children and their families the skills I developed when at Anchor House have been easily transferrable. I believe the understanding I gained of the challenges facing families living in the community in relation to housing, poverty and social exclusion have provided me with a knowledge base that I can utilise to provide effective and flexible support to the parents as well as the children I am supporting”.
Well done Lee – loved having you with us, you were a very competent individual who will go far in your career x Here is lee on his graduation day.
