Today was not meant to be my last shift, however I got asked to come in 4 hours early which means I will of completed all 50 hours. Today was a CCV day which is a child centred visit. I got asked to start early so that we had time to set all of the activities up for the children. On CCV days prisoners are given more freedom; they are allowed to get up and walk around the room, get closer to their partners and play with their children.
I was nervous about today because I have not experienced a CCV day so I was unsure of what to expect, however, as soon as I started doing activities with the children my nerves disappeared and I had a really fun day!
Today we set up various games and arts/craft stations, the kids really enjoyed playing and making lots of mess! It was not bust today which means I got to spend most of the time playing rather than making lots of toasties.
The only bad experience I had today was cashing up I found it difficult and made mistakes; I felt that I made myself look stupid. This was a bad end to the day and I went home feeling the opposite to how I felt in the middle of the day- I went home feeling frustrated, sad and annoyed. On the train home I was overthinking the mistakes I made whilst cashing up and it made me feel even worse; but I kept thinking about the lady who I work with called Sam who is always so positive and full of praise for me, I keep wondering if she is just saying it to me to try and make me feel better about everything, or does she actually mean it?
Overall, I have had a lovely time at this placement and I am looking forward to my future at Choices Consultancy as a paid worker; I am keen to have more responsibility and to learn more about the services that we provide. My aim for my next shift is to ‘master’ cashing up because once I have managed that I feel that I will be more confident in my job role. Having a work placement module is a fantastic idea as it provides students with experience in a field that they may pursue a career in and it can also boost confidence levels. Before going to placement I had never got on a train before let alone getting one by myself; but since starting I get two trains each day with no issues. I also think that the placement has helped me to mature more as a person and even though it has been a struggle at times it has been a positive experience.